SendSocial Blog » glen http://blog.sendsocial.com Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:05:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 #swapshop http://blog.sendsocial.com/2009/12/swapshop/ http://blog.sendsocial.com/2009/12/swapshop/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:29:00 +0000 glen http://blog.sendsocial.com/?p=150 Just as SendSocial evolved from an idea on a blog, I thought I would blog an idea I had to see if it has legs.

The idea is #swapshop

I currently have 3 things I don’t need, these are:

  1. Pantone Swatch Book
  2. Apple 20GB 3rd Generation iPod
  3. Apple iSight Camera

I’m willing to spend £3.99 using SendSocial to send each item to someone else. In exchange for this I want an item in return, other than the iPod (for which I want an Apple Micro-DVI Cable) I’m open to offers!

Try it yourself! Here is the tweet syntax:

Offered: [item description] [optional: twitpic]. Wanted: [item description] #swapshop #sendsocial

I’m really looking forward to seeing how this idea is received by the twitter community. Will it trend?

]]> http://blog.sendsocial.com/2009/12/swapshop/feed/ 6 Who owns your data? http://blog.sendsocial.com/2009/10/who-owns-your-data/ http://blog.sendsocial.com/2009/10/who-owns-your-data/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:00:31 +0000 glen http://blog.sendsocial.com/?p=123 “Who owns your data?” – somewhat of an ambiguous question to ask, but seriously who does? How many times have you filled in a questionnaire, registration form, warranty card, store card application form etc … This begs the question, at least for me, who owns my data?

I can already ‘smell’ the blog comments citing various paragraphs from the Data Protection Act putting me firmly in my place. Through fear of rambling myself asleep I’ll not discuss the darker side of data protection but focus on the above-board side. Trust me, it’s for the best.

Okay, so if you ‘opt-in’ to marketing (you know, that box you ticked) you give permission to be marketed to. Here are a few questions that you probably didn’t think of asking before ticking that little box:

  1. When will you send me stuff and how often?
  2. What kind of stuff will you send me?
  3. What happens when I move address or my details change?

I’m holding back here as it’s all too tempting to list more, but you get my point hopefully.

I wonder (maybe you know the answer to this?) how much money is wasted on marketing material being sent to wrong address and then re-posted back as ‘return to sender’? How much does ‘return to sender’ cost the Royal Mail?

Does all this get you thinking about SendSocial yet? I hope so!

Effectively SendSocial is a repository of addresses that can be used, at the permission of the owner, to send stuff to without the sender ever knowing the address. Marvellous! So yes, I’m saying that the owner of the data becomes you. It puts you in control of your data.

Wouldn’t it be great if the next time you went to fill out a form instead of a tickbox you see the trusted SendSocial logo and next to it you put in your favourite social media ID (or e-mail address, that works on SendSocial). That way, next time someone wants to send you something like a product sample, illuminating pen, musical mug or simply a brochure you can decide whether or not to accept it and then choose an address to send it to like home or work.

Okay, I’ll confess [sigh] … this has been an elaborate way of generating interest in using SendSocial for direct marketing purposes. It would be interesting to hear feedback.

Who owns your data? Well, in theory – you! But who has control of your data might be a more probing question to ask perhaps?

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