Come and chat with Trijntje...!

Trijntje from 9292, your interactive OV-travel consultant on MSN, Twitter and Hyves

Recently, 9292OV has done a large research with 7200 visitors that are active users of the website of 9292OV (www.9292ov.nl). They execute this survey every year to see if the profile of their users is changing. But in the latest survey the questions also include the use of social media. At the moment it appears that 79% of the respondents is using social media. The most common social media among the visitors of 9292ov.nl: MySpace (56%), Hyves (55%), Windows Live Messenger (25%), LinkedIn (18%), Plaxo (8%) and Twitter (4%).

9292 has developed a new service for Facebook, Windows Live Messenger and Twitter: ‘Trijntje from 9292’. This a THE new interactive OV-travel consultant!!! Everyone can make use of this new application in four different ways: webchat via 9292ov.nl, twitterbot @trijntjevan9292, MSN chatbot and by making use of the Hyves gadget.

Currently, Trijntje 9292 is almost done but is still looking for your help! Would you like to be the first one who is testing this new service???

In addition...Trijntje is not a real OV-travel consultant and is not controlled by humans. Furthermore it does not replace other communication channels, but it is a new additional channel to ask travel-advice in an interactive way.

Recently, Trijntje from 9292, is trying to learn as much as possible so many (travel) questions can be answered as optimal as possible. The researches think that this new applications is already quite successful, but they also noticed that Trijntje is not smart enough to answer all questions. At this moment it is not exactly clear what you, as a potential user, would like to ask to her. Therefore: Would you like to ask Trijntje from 9292 a few questions?

Trijntje zegt:
Ik ben Trijntje van 9292. Ik kan je helpen met het plannen van je reis. Dit doe ik door jou je vertrekpunt en je bestemming te vragen. Het werkt heel simpel, zeg: PLAN tegen me en we starten gelijk met het plannen van jouw persoonlijke reisadvies. Zeg HELP tegen mij voor mijn handleiding.

So take a look at www.trijntjevan9292.nl and plan your own OV-trip with the personal help of Trijntje! Furthermore there is also a webchat available (the easiest way to ask questions), by which you can chat anonymously with Trijntje. Besides planning a travel advice, you should make use of the cleverness of Trijntje! Come online and try it!

These chatsessions will be analyzed, and by this findings they can improve Trijntje as your personale travel-assistent. So actually, besides chatting with Trijntje you really do not need to do anything to help 9292OV. But if you would like to let everyone know what you think about this new service, you can leave a message at the following applications:

Twitter: Follow @ trijntjevan9292, add her and send her messages.
Windows Live Messenger: Add Trijntje via chat@trijntjevan9292.nl.
Hyves: http://trijntjevan9292.hyves.nl.

So go chat, msn, hyve and twitter with Trijntje and take advantage of this new possibilities!

Trijntje van 9292

The Coca-Cola Company goes BIG with Social Media!

We are constantly seeing new examples of big companies and famous brands, embracing and using social media to connect with their customers. Still, it is impressive to see a company the size of Coca-Cola, not only talk the talk, but actually follow-through. Nothing matches better than big brands and advertising, and brand names do not get any bigger than Coca-Cola. Therefore, it is fascinating to watch Coca-Cola embrace social media and unveil strategies designed to connect with consumers.

Currently, Coca-Cola is using Facebook and Twitter to connect with their consumers and find this possibilities an unique way to sell their products. Both social media allows users to submit suggestions and have them voted on by other customers.


Campaigns like this, have allowed major multinationals to connect with their customers even more, by asking consumers what they expect (on a personal level) of Coca-Cola. This networks are useful to see what consumers’ trends are and to make their products relevant.

Coca-Cola’s Social Media Happiness Ambassadors to Visit 206

Countries Last year Coca-Cola was searching for a few brand ambassadors. At this moment these ambassadors are on a mission to find happiness in the 206 different countries that sell Coca-Cola products across the world. With this campaign (“Expedition 206), Coca-Cola is tapping regular people to be their ‘Happiness Ambassadors’ and travel the world during 2010 and document their quest via blog posts, Tweets, YouTube videos, TwitPics, and other social media mentions.


The winning three-person team has started their journey on January 1, 2010 and attempt to travel more than 150.000 miles in 365 days, visiting each of the 206 countries where Coca-Cola is sold. Their duty is to engage with local denizens and uncover what makes them happy, openly document and share their experiences online, and complete tasks in each country as determined by online voters. They will be sharing their updates on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and other social networking sites. If you like…you can follow the progress on those channels or see the real-time lifestreams at www.Expedition206.com.

In my opinion it is a pretty impressive undertaking, and one of the most unique and involved social media marketing and travel campaigns we have ever seen! The whole trip is all about interacting with people around the world and sharing the idea of happiness and connecting on a personal level and making connections that can exist beyond just language.

Future

Are campaigns like Expedition 206 the future of social media? Although the scale of Expedition 206 is obviously larger than what most social campaigns can be, the idea of connecting people globally using social media and real-life contact is something we hope other companies embrace.

What do you think of Expedition 206? Will you be following the team’s progress as they make their way around the world?

See you next time!

Microsoft Surface: Hands-on First Look

Touchscreen interfaces…is Microsoft Surface useful in businesses?

"What is Microsoft Surface?" That is what I thought when I heard about this in the course: User Interface Design. I was impressed! It was so new and fascinating to me that I would like to know more about this innovative interface…! And would it also be useful in businesses/organizations? What do you think?

First of all, Microsoft Surface has made an absolutely spectacular demo movie…take a look at the video you can see on the mainpage of my blog ("Microsoft Surface: Hands-on First Look")

When I first saw this video I was amazed about the possibilities and the design of this interface. You can manipulate objects on the screen with your fingers. Drag virtual photos to sort them, flick an on-screen globe to spin it and so on. This new Surface design, has a multi-touch screen. You can use two fingers (or even more) and, for example, you can drag two corners of a photograph outward to zoom in on it. But how is this possible? A projector sits underneath the tabletop, projecting images onto it. Five video cameras observe your hand movements and relay information to the computer.

Obviously, Microsoft Surface is the greatest multi-touch device on earth (in my opinion greater than the Iphone) and is rolling out to business customers in a variety of industries. Microsoft has designed an amazing device, one that essentially creates an entirely new market space. Although there are more multi-touch devices, but I had never seen anything that compares to the Surface…in terms of size, versatility and scalability!

A main aspect of this multi-touch design is an innovative twist, namely interaction, between people but also with other electronics. An example interaction with other electronics (which is obvious showed in the video demonstration) is that you can take some pictures. When you set the camera down on the table top, the fresh photos come pouring out of it into a virtual puddle on the screen, a slick, visual way to indicate that you’ve just downloaded them. Next, you can set a mobile phone down on the table, and copy photos into it just by dragging them into the mobiles zone.
The Surface design will also give an extra dimension in relation to the interaction between people, which is very useful in some organizations. This machine is already installed in T-Mobile stores, hotels, casino’s and video game stores. So Microsoft Surface is indeed useful in some businesses!!
Did I make you curious about how businesses really make use of the possibilities of Microsoft Surface? If so, give you’re reaction on this blog and tell me how you think businesses can use this Surface design?

In my next blog I will give you the details of how organizations implement Microsoft Surface and which opportunities, I think, this multi-touch screen brings, especially in relation with their customers.

See you next time!

Linda

Why am I blogging?

Why am I blogging?

First of all...It's obligatory: "In this course, we will all be blogging about the use of ICT in organizations"! That sounds 'bad', but it actually isn't. Last week we were 'inspired' to start our own blog, and above all this we were also expected to register ourselfs for Twitter. I thought Hyves was already good enough...!

So since last week I have been thinking about the 'educational' benefits of blogging and twittering. Of course there is a great link with the subject Media in Organisations, so I should not complain and just start blogging, blogging and blogging. But I still find it difficult and scary. I am publishing my words (in English, that is the hardest part of all;)) in a public space where anyone can see and read my stories. What if nobody likes my stories, or the way I am writing? I mean, I am still learning and I am far from an expert at this field. But on the other hand, I like to learn new things and it is also challenging me, this is also what I am studying for!

So I am going to try and do the best I can to create new and innovative stories in relation with the communication and information technology. And I hope that when I look back at my posts, in a few months, I am proud of what a created and above all I have learned a lot about this new experience!

Enjoy and 'keep up-to-date'...