Technology Meeting Wrap-Up: June 15, 2011

Every month the geeks of Demi & Cooper Advertising and DC Interactive Group convene for a Technology Meeting. During this meeting team members will share ideas, newsworthy updates, and helpful new technology with the rest of the company. Below are just some a few of the things that came up in the most recent meeting.

Twitter Photo Service

Current tweeters using yfrog and TwitPic can now use the default, Twitter.com to share pictures. Twitter has been rolling out the service slowly, to select groups of users. The service is run by Photobucket, although a Photobucket account is not needed in order to share pics via Twitter.

The interesting take on this particular photo service (compared to the 3rd party applications) is that the photo will show up with the tweet in a user’s stream/timeline. You will no longer need to click on a link to see the picture that was shared. The upload function will be placed directly to the left of the current “Add a Location” function when composing a tweet.

PDF Online

One of our artists was getting a little frustrated with file formats that wouldn’t convert from a PC to her Mac. So she found a nifty little online converter that is free of charge. PDFOnline.com allows you to convert multiple file formats into PDFs and vice-versa. It’s quick, easy, and you don’t need to sign up for an account. You just need to supply an email address where the converted file gets sent.

Facebook Page Tagging

If you’re sick of tagging your friends in pictures, you’ll be happy to know that you can tag Facebook Pages now! So go right ahead and tag Pepsi, Starbucks, and all of your favorite brands.

From a marketing standpoint, this is actually a beneficial feature. Starbucks has been at this for a while. If you head to their Facebook page you’ll notice that a plethora of their pictures are tagged from Fans. This feature allows for a lot of user-generated content and provides your page with more activity. There could be some pitfalls as you may not want certain pictures tagged with your page but as long as you consistently monitor your page you can avoid this.

ShopKick

Last but not least, we have ShopKick. This iPhone/Android app recognizes when you are watching commercials (currently only available on the CW) and instantly gives you special offers  or more information for that product. The app also recognizes when you walk into a ShopKick sponsored store and may offer you points redeemable for iTunes, gift cards, Facebook credits, or a variety of other things.

There are also special challenges that you can perform with the app such as scanning groceries in a participating store or trying on an outfit. Doing these challenges awards you with additional points.