Whoopaa is launched! The next big thing in social media?

This is my third blog for Business Information Technology at Tilburg University. During weekends you have a lot of social activities. Bars, restaurants, sports facilities, theatres, all these places are crowded and very joinable. You have fun, laugh, meet people and nowadays it’s not very uncommon that some conversations are very business related. During one if these last quick conversations, a got my first introduction with Whoopaa…

In the beginning of this week three young business men launched their brand. Whoopaa is a social network intergration for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Three social media sites were a lot of people have accounts. So, sounds as a good idea: your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn account combined in one application on your phone.

But doesn’t have my three accounts three different purposes? I use my facebook for friends, my twitter for quick posts to tell what keeps me busy and to communicate for school with students and lectures, and my LinkedIn? I hardly use it. But I should use it to keep in touch with students of my earlier studies, people I met during internships, etc. So more business wise. Whoopaa, noticed these different purposes of different social media very well. With their application you can switch between your ‘private’ social media and ‘business’ social media by just one button! Fantastic, if you want to post a picture of a great party? Only for your friends on facebook! And when you wonder how things going at your last internship company, just check LinkedIn! Simpely by switching one button. The application will be available at the end of February, but I already saw a very quick preview of a demo version. Your social pages will appear in blue on your screen, your business pages will appear in black on your screen. You can switch in between with just one button (like you switch from picture to video mode on the Iphone). Easy and clear.
Whoopaa doesn’t only combine these three existing social media sites in one application. They also add certain things. Like the Whoopaa timeline. This unique timeline shows you a perfect overview of all your activities. This will make it easier to have control over all your different pages. Besides the timeline Whoopaa offers a social media integration. Therefore, you won’t miss any update, message or post because your whoopaa will be integrated in your social pages. Whoopaa shows you very clear with post is sent from witch media (Twitter or Facebook) and if it’s social or business (LinkedIn). Besides the three existing social media, Whoopaa gives you also the opportunity for new Whoopaa contacts. Like a new social media.
I sketched a scene at the beginning of this blog which I think is not very uncommon for the most of you. As a student or business man you work on your social and business network. Social media are playing a bigger role in this more and more. I think Whoopaa offers a unique option to keep your business and social activities divided on your social media. You don’t want to share everything with this business environment. Whoopaa gives you the opportunity to manage all your social media through one platform, but keep your privacy in consideration like you want to. So if you’re tired by switching between your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts all time, start thinking about Whoopaa.

I like the idea because I agree with the philosophy that it’s getting very crowded with all those social media where I need to catch up with. Therefore also, I don’t see a big opportunity for Whoopaa as a new social media. That makes it even more chaotic! But the idea of one social media platform in one App on my phone, sounds very interesting. I am curious for the new Iphone application at the end of February. You need to be able to use it on your phone. But will there be an Android App as well (to reach a bigger target group)?

Whoopaa is young, enthusiastic and there is a good idea. But will it be the next big thing?

What do you think?

See you next time,

thijs.

check also: WWW.WHOOPAA.COM

Twittering a revolution

She wanted to get rid of the regime of Mubarak in Egypt. She didn’t know that it was possible. Internet activist Mona from Cairo turned out to be a keystone during the revolution in Egypt the last weeks.

My cousin is a cameraman for the Dutch national news. During his first days shooting the revolution in Egypt, he met Mona. A 24 year old internet activist. Somewhere in an old apartment building in Cairo, Mona built a social media centre. From this place they collect and spread out a non-stop flow of information about the protests on the streets in the whole country. In a country as Egypt where 60% of the people lives beyond the poverty line, Twitter and Facebook are only accessible for the higher educated students. But by organizing this small group all together on the 25th of January, the national media attention spreaded out their voices over the rest of Egypt. The mass got the message and a revolution was born. Egyptian Google manager Wael Ghonim got kept responsible for this first major protest and got arrested. Besides starting the revolution through social media, by all this tweets and posts activists are also able to keep the momentum of revolt. As Mona told my cousin: “I saw people beaten up with batons, rubber bullets and teargas. They separate as a group, but reorganize in a couple of minutes and keep on going with their protest”. That quick reorganization, the keeping of the momentum of revolt, is made possible by the posts and tweets on Twitter and Facebook.

Besides keeping the momentum, the social media are also very useful for support. Because of the social media, people all over the world can support the activists by posting messages and Tweets. The activists got moral support out of all these worldwide posts. And from the other hand, we all got informed very quickly and very well because of all the international journalists who were in Egypt and sent messages, pictures and video’s back home. Mubarak recognized this online threat and shut down the Egyptian internet. Mona kept going on Twitter. She had a Blackberry Twitter application. Something Mubarak couldn’t reach. Such as he couldn’t reach the international journalists. They keep on filming, taking pictures and sending Tweets. They became a target of violence by the pro-Mubarak people. My cousin got threaded, beaten and literally runned for his life. They left all their equipment, because that was the only chance to leave the country safe…

Today is Saturday, February 12th. We all know that Mubarak left his office yesterday. Fortunately the people in Egypt ended a very bad period of thirty years and they can start building a new future. Wael Ghonim got out of jail. I am happy for the people in Egypt. I admirer Mona’s and Ghonim’s work, courage and effort. I am glad that my cousin got home safe.

Keep in mind that we were witnesses of the first Twitter Revolution in the world.

See you next time,

thijs

My cousin shooting a revolution in Egypt:

Welcome to Jewels, Apples and Eggs

I welcome you on my first blog. The next ten weeks I will post messages about my study Business communication and Digital Media (BDM) at the Tilburg University. Just random, anything that crosses my mind during one of my classes, walking on the campus, waiting for the train or studying at home could be the inspiration for a new blog. It started as an assignment for the course Business Information Technology, but probably I am going to like this. I appreciate any forwards, reactions, questions or messages referring to my blog.

Sometimes people are asking me why I study Communication. I like talking, I like sharing visions, I want to hear the stories of other people, I want to understand other ones decisions in life (maybe that’s why I like to read autobiographies?), let’s say that I am a normal young guy who is filling his backpack with life experiences and information. One of the things I start liking during my education the last years ( I studied Sportsmarketing, Communication Design and now BDM) is the communication of companies. That’s very wide I know, but I like the creative and funny commercials, the ideas of companies to communicate to customers, how they try to build a business network, how these companies try to manage this relations, the struggle of companies how to use social and other new media (sometimes very successful and sometimes too stupid), and so on, and so on. Thinking of all those things which I like about the communication in businesses, I make the conclusion that communication is the only tool that can distinguish your business of other businesses. There is no business without any competitors. Every product of service is offered more than ones. Think about everything you paid money for the last year, with all those purchases were decisions involved. Which brand, which product, are you going to buy it online or offline etc. Untill the time that the nano technology will gives us the opportunity to develop a new kind of products, communication will be ‘the’ tool.

This asks for a lot of creativity and that’s why I really like this next example of a jewellery store in Den Bosch. As a jewellery store in Den Bosch, you are not the only one. So you start thinking about something that will increase your name popularity. Jeweller Verdonk created a run on their Facebook page and on their shopping window. As many jewellery stores, Verdonk has nice watches, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. But on some of them was no price tag attached. One day a watch appeared in the shopping window accompanied by a little note: ‘for an apple and an egg’. Funny joke or a nice way to give your sales some attention, were the most reactions. Until, somebody really entered the store with just an apple and an egg. It turned out to be a promotional stunt! That guy bought a very nice watch for literally an apple and an egg. The same day, Jeweller Verdonk communicated their first prize winner through Facebook. Everybody started checking their website and facebook for the next clue. People started to talk about it on the streets and passing the shopping window more and more for clues. The next watch, with the next note: “For one Dutch guilder”. Within a very short period of time the second prize winner was a fact, some one still had an old Dutch guilder and got a brand new watch for that.

This example shows the creativity of a local business. There are probably ten Jewellery stores in downtown Den Bosch. Verdonk used creativity and new media to introduce itself in the business. Creative, funny and effective. They didn’t spent millions on a campaign, that’s not realistic for a local business. The distinguished themselves of the competitors by a funny, creative and modern way of communication. And that’s what I like. That’s why I keep filling my backpack with this study. Cheers to Jewels, Apples and Eggs.

See you next time,

thijs