While social media has generally been a force for good in our lives, especially for those getting the word out about sustainability, there has also been a downside: information overload. Sites like MySpace and Facebook try to be everything to everyone, and, in the process, leave us overwhelmed with a mountain of work to sift through that which is meaningful and relevant from that which is, well, frankly, meaningless drivel.
In order to keep control over our content, who sees it and when, we are left with complicated privacy settings, and the unhappy task of dividing our “friends” into categories which may not fit all cases.
Blasterous.com founder and CEO Tim Reeth hopes to change all that, at least as far as managing the communications you have with your genuine network of friends, family and neighbors. To him, that means providing users better controls over organizing their connections into custom lists, which are 100% private, to those people in the list.
For example, I recently created a Blasterous list called “Sergeant Steve’s Cigar Pals,” and invited all my cigar buddies to it. In this list, we talk about our favorite cigars, and share what’s going on with our cigar brands and cigar smoking, both local and world-wide. Because Blasterous is so location centric, when we’re “blasting” about cigar lounges in another city, members local to that city will know exactly where we are talking about. With Blasterous Place pages, members can also find detailed info about the location, or link the location to a blast.
Currently in Beta, Blasterous, is a hyper-location-based social platform, available on the web or on the go; currently with an app for iPhone, and Android. Users can share local and time sensitive information in the form of a “blast”; which, unlike Twitter’s 140, are 240 characters in length, can have up to 5 images per blast and contain hyperlinks. Additionally, those with permission to view a blast are able to add their comments, thereby generating a stream of dialog. What makes Blasterous truly unique, is that users have the choice whether to share blasts publicly, via their geographic location (“geos”), privately, via custom lists, or both.
According to non-profit marketing organization SmartPower, even though 80 to 90 percent of the public agrees that energy from renewable sources is better than energy produced from fossil fuels, and they are willing to pay $5 or $10 more per month for that energy, the market penetration of renewable energy products still remains below 5 percent. The company aims to change that by researching exactly what barriers consumers face when they are considering a clean energy or energy efficiency purchase, and then combining innovative marketing campaigns with grass-roots action to overcome these barriers.
SmartPower’s latest campaign is the Energy Smart Ad Challenge, offering a $10,000 prize for the best 30-second Public Service Announcement (PSA) promoting how young adults can save money by being Energy Smart through energy efficiency and conservation. The 10 finalist videos were posted on YouTube Friday, and viewers are invited to comment on how well the videos “speak to young people about being energy smart.” Each day, one video will be eliminated from the competition, presumably with the viewer input weighing heavily in the decision. As of this writing, the video titled “Generation”, (posted at the top of this article), was far and away the viewers’ favorite.
Above: U.S. Hikes, a live data table by Factual.com: Click & Scroll to view & edit data.
“Decisions. They are made every day. Some are made on the fly such as when a low fuel alert prompts me to stop at the nearest gas station. Some are more considered, involving detailed research and analysis, perhaps on the Internet or consulting with friends or experts. And others are made for us, by our friends and family, or our government. An important question is: are we all, given the data available to us today, making good, well-informed decisions? One thing is nearly certain, if your data isn’t accurate and accessible, a good decision isn’t likely to follow.” - Factual, Inc. CEO Gil Elbaz
From Brazil comes a new concept in retail: collective selling. This store rents individual “cubicles’ to small designers. This gives a cohesive look-and-feel to the store, and gives the designers affordable access to a prime retail location.
I like this idea, because it represent one more way for the little guy to compete with the big retailers. I also like it because it doesn’t have the haphazard look of a consignment shop.
As design, manufacturing and production becomes more and more affordable for individuals, we can expect to see concepts like this for all kinds of products, not just clothing.
While social media has generally been a force for good in our lives, especially for those getting the word out about sustainability, there has also been a downside: information overload. Sites like MySpace and Facebook try to be everything to everyone, and, in the process, leave us overwhelmed with a mountain of work to sift through that which is meaningful and relevant from that which is, well, frankly, meaningless drivel.
From Brazil comes a new concept in retail: collective selling. This store rents individual “cubicles’ to small designers. This gives a cohesive look-and-feel to the store, and gives the designers affordable access to a prime retail location.
