I’ve been enjoying QR codes lately and have been busy dreaming up ideas for using them. One of these is the interactive scavenger hunt. First you will need a QR Code reader if one is not already included on your phone.
These are available for the iphone (see the apps store), the blackberry and a host of others. You can download here: http://reader.kaywa.com/
Here is how the scavenger hunt works. Use your reader to decode the content in the codes below. Send me the answers in a comment. Since comments aren’t sent live until I approve them you wont be giving the answers away. The first person to complete the hunt will win.
QR Code Scavenger Hunt Number One
QR Code Scavenger Hunt Number Two
QR Code Scavenger Hunt Number Three
QR Code Scavenger Hunt Number Four
After a reasonable time I’ll post the answers. This may take a little time because – lets face it – this blog is still an outpost on the web. We don’t get many strangers here.
I’ll respond to everyone who includes an email address.
More information and resources on QR Codes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code
http://2d-code.co.uk/three-rules-of-qr-codes/
http://www.google.com/help/maps/favoriteplaces/business/barcode.html
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/16/facebook-qr-code/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/191528/sxsw_notes_qr_codes_are_everywhere.html
Ok, well yes, that’s a provocative title and really I don’t actually think its dead but I do think it might have several chronic diseases.
The river of human effort tends to flow downhill and email is still one of the quickest and laziest ways to communicate. Best of all it doesn’t stop productivity dead the way phone calls are apt to do. But.
Several issues are becoming more and more prevalent.
If I send an email, in most cases I don’t know, and have no way of knowing, if it has been received or not. So usually there has to be second email asking if the first was received. There are ways to get a return receipt or report but this isnt implemented universally.
Usually the first email was actually received but we are so inundated by junk that it likely came in, was saved and then forgotten.
Perhaps it was deleted by mistake in the daily mass deletion process – a little needle in a vast haystak of spam.
Most people are so familiar with this process that if asked if they received an important email will say “No, it never came.” To which I usually reply “Have you checked your spam settings?” or “It must have gotten caught in the spam filter.
Basicially I am letting them off.
Problem Two.
Sending an email where you make several important points simply doesn’t work. Somehow our attention spans have reduced to about the length of the average facebook status update or Tweet. Its almost guaranteed that you have had someone say they were never told something that turned out to be in the second paragraph of an email you know they received because they responded or acted upon something in the first paragraph.
So basically our best option is usually to pick up the phone. We can use it to call or we can text.
This will be safe until spam overtakes texting at which point foot messangers and pigeons might be our most viable options.
Maybe its time we changed the terminology. The phrase “Web design” is so notoriously misunderstood. For that matter the word design is misunderstood.
Its not about being pretty.
It’s that ah. . . feeling when you arrive at your destination and everything is clear. Someone has thought about whether you tend toward edgy or conservative. They know what you want and they have placed a nice big link right there smack where you will find it. They probably know what browser you are most likely to have and have taken steps to ensure everything works properly. Care has been taken not to offend your culture if you are a likely visitor or user.
And continuing on. They know what else you are probably looked at – what other related sites you are apt to visit. Care has been taken to raise the bar and to offer a better experience than you probably had at the competitor’s web site.
Better yet – you found it. That’s probably not an accident.
And perhaps its really really beautiful too.
More on the use and benefit of social media
If your website is a combination 24 hour receptionist, marketing department and customer service representative then what is the function of social media?
Social media is the guy standing on the sidewalk wearing a great big sandwich board who goes right up to potential customers and hands them a coupon.
Social media is the customer sales rep who travels to the customers door, develops a sustained relationship and is there to guide them in when your customer is ready.
Social media is a means of updating your content instantly in several places at once.
Your website is a repository of information and may be the site where business actually takes place (e-commerce), where follow up requests happen – basically where conversions take place.
Utilize facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning and YouTube and others to initiate and foster relationships and eventually drive people to your website.
Its important that your updates and posts be spaced appropriately and -especially in facebook – Take care not to overdo. Its easy to block page posts from a personal newsfeed and you wont know you have been blocked.
rr.interactive is happy to consult with you on any questions you have about implementing your social media strategy.
Foursquare and Where in the World is. . ?
I’ve been using foursquare for several weeks now – you know – the social network slash game that allows you to check in at your favorite places. I’m mayor of several of these places which proves to me that not all that many people are playing foursquare in my area.
Those that are are truly dedicated.
Its cool that the game basically knows where I am so can provide a list of places near where I am. Its a great local marketing tool as well.
Here’s the problem (ok a couple):
First: Even though it has a pretty good geo-locater built in it will allow me to check in anywhere I want. I just checked into a golf course that I had forgotten to check into two days ago. Its about 20 miles away so I immediately know I can game the system. That’s a big fail when you consider that one of the best applications of foursquare is for businesses to offer special discounts or offers to customers who show their loyalty by checking in a certain number of times or better yet being mayor.
Second: Though the social aspect is aided by the ability for anyone to enter a location that doesn’t appear accuracy isn’t. I’ve checked into Cosi several times (a favorite eatery) but there is also a “cozi” on the list of places entered by someone who can’t spell and, who knows, perhaps a Cosi Restaurant or Cafe somewhere on the list. We can all be mayor of our own version of Cosi.
This is something facebook has gotten right. They make it very clear that if you are creating a facebook page for a business you need to be the owner of that business. Its a hard call. Entry by users makes the app far more viral and social. Balance that against the person checking into a restaurant 5 times in the car outside so they can get the discount (or even just randomly through the week because they know they are going later).
from → internet commentary