I hope Mashable doesn't have any RCMP followers..

New marketing strategies are popping up all the time, literally, in whatever environment you place yourself in, be it driving down the street or sitting at your computer desk.  This isn’t new, but what is new is this: AT&T’s ShopAlert. 

ShopAlert is a mobile service that sends you messages when you’re close to a retailer that you have signed up for.  It’s done by using what they call a “geo-fence” that can detect where you are up to a radius of several miles. Is this something that we really need?  I can’t imagine myself driving around aimlessly looking at my cell phone (which the picture so inappropriately displays) waiting for amazing coupons to pop up on my phone.  Or say if I was driving for a purpose, chances are I’m not going to be late for my date because I had to get that 30% off on Mini-Wheats.

Another thought I’d like to bring up is will this be the snowflake that brings us a snowball effect of endless promotions?  A few weeks ago in class we touched upon the idea that maybe one day we’ll be getting ads right on our phone.  I can’t remember the whole discussion, but I do recall it not having a positive reaction.  Currently the AT&T ShopAlert is only in a small selection of cities in the US and you have to sign up to receive these messages.  But what if in a couple years this grows so big it’ll be seen as common and they can eliminate the signing-up stage altogether? 

Be this good, bad or just inevitable, all I ask is that they don’t use any urgency tactics.  Imagine the rise in U-turn caused car accidents because “There’s only 3 left! Hurry and get your savings now!”

English 2.0

Since last class, I’ve been thinking about the huge change in communication social media has brought to the world.  We’ve created avatars, developed an online persona, talked to people in countries we’ve never been to and have been exposed to information not even hours in the library or the freshest newspaper could bring us. 

Okay, so our channels of communication have changed, at least we’re still speaking in the same language.  Oh wait…

I’ve always known of urbandictionary.com to give me definitions of slang words even my 20-something year old self hasn’t been updated on.  But after doing a .11 second google search I encountered an entirely different realm of slang; the internet language.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not new to this cyber planet, I know the LOL’s and the BRB's, but I had no idea language has become this distorted.  You actually need a website to decode what’s being said in under a paragraph.  I introduce you to English 2.0

As shocking as this may be, it does make sense.  The social media revolution came about, as least for one reason, for the great efficiency it brings.  But will you just read this language in the cyber planet?  Trusty google gave me the answer in .21 seconds; no.

Yes, it was entered in the prestigious Oxford dictionary.

Will scientists 2000 years from now look at the internet language like we did when we first discovered the Rosetta Stone?  Will they be asking, "Why did their eloquent language turn into a bunch of cap letters and numbers?"...  "Who was this LOL?"