News report from SouthBySouthWest (#SXSW) going on now in Austin TX.

The conference is a must for those at the forefront of social media technology. It’s the show where Twitter really took off.  Follow the action by searching on SXSW.

But be careful, there are some crazy people out there.

Have you seen people obsessed with texting and tweeting where they shouldn’t?

Share your story in the comments below.

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We’ know that Twitter added location geo tagging to the Twitter API a few months back and has been turning on map buttons for some web based viewers.

With all the tweets coming from Gowalla, Foursquare, Yelp and more, there is a lot of data available. This is one report of what we expect to see a lot more of this year:

The New York Times Reports  Foursquare Introduces New Tools for Businesses

Tristan Walker, director of business development at Foursquare, said that the latest features were intended to help local merchants run their stores by giving them more information about their customers.

“We’re trying to give businesses more retention with current customers and the ability to add new customers with specials,” said Mr. Walker.

Foursquare is a service that allows users to share their location with a group of friends from “checking in” to a restaurant, business or other venue when they arrive. The company encourages the businesses to recognize Foursquare users in some fashion, such as a bar awarding free drinks to their most frequent customers.

With the new tool, businesses will be able to see a range of real-time data about Foursquare usage, including who has “checked in” to the place via Foursquare, when they arrived, the male-to-female customer ratio and which times of day are more active for certain customers. Business owners will also be able to offer instant promotions to try to engage new customers and keep current ones.

“If a restaurant can see one of its loyal customers has dropped off the map and is no longer checking in, the owner could offer them incentives to come back,” said Mr. Walker.

There will also be a Staff page available to each business that will allow employees to interact directly with customers using social networks.

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Jeremy Toeman of LIVEdigitally asked “Will Normal Folks Ever Use Twitter?”

His assumption that a rise unused Twitter accounts were people who had abandoned Twitter, not spam or data errors led him to the conclusion that Twitter should take his advice and add some feature to make status updates a game.

Might be something to that.. but the whole post seemed to old school to me.

The assumption appeared to be that Twitter users are just media consumers and some experts have to tailor the experience and tweet the show.

That’s how the corporations who run old media think.

Twitter is the greatest listening tool ever invented.. but it would be foolish to assume that we are getting a mass market here.

And that’s the point… Twitter users (not those looking at it or signing up for an empty account) are past the buzz of “why would I want to know what someone had for breakfast?” and now having real conversations with real people.

Regardless of what else Twitter or others do.. we’re not going to stop talking to our new friends.

Do we really need a point system or badges when we are having a conversation?

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Tweeps are tweeting up a storm wishing each other a Happy New Year or Happy 2010.

Here’s a better idea. Help us make 2010 The Year of Giving.

Read more on my book marketing blog here

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Thursday January 7th I’ll be in Dallas for a Tweetup with @Barefoot_Exec and many local Dallas friends.

The even will be held at the Sheraton near DFW Aiport. To RSVP click here

As you can see from the photo here, we always have a good time when we get together to teach people about Twitter and Social Media. Sometimes, there are donuts!

In my usual Twitter and make it up as we go along style. We are not announcing any gifts for attendees, how many drinks we are buying (OK.. at least one) and what else will happen.

If you are in Dallas, make plans to get out to the Sheraton that evening and tweet up. You do not have to be part of the big event at the hotel. (but you can tweet me if you want to know about More Heart Than Talent). We’ll be helping people who are just getting started in Social Media, and networking with our Twitter friends.

Open to all.. Good time Guaranteed

Let me know you are coming so we can get enough goodies

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The twoddler application is basically a Fisher Price Activity Center enhanced with pictures of family members and friends, and an Arduino board inside. All activities are captured by sensors connected to the Arduino board and are processed in two different ways: 

• activities are translated into Twitter messages and posted on the toddler’s personal Twitter account
• activities are send to another Activity Center and will generate effects (e.g. colored lights that blink) on your friends activity center.

Not ready for Christmas though.. read about the research here

Twoddler: Twittering Toddlers from Bart Swennen on Vimeo.

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You can’t hide when your friends have this app:

I’m looking for apps that will locate tweeps without the iPhone. Post a comment if you have a link.

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@JesseStay has a great way of explaining the NO RULES philosophy:

I get so bugged when I see so many people trying to tell me how to write my Twitter stream. Some say I have to have multiple accounts to organize the data. Others say I can’t run ads and my content can’t be promotional in any way. Funny thing is most of those people are promoting something of their own, whether they admit it or not. Personally that doesn’t matter to me.

What matters to me is that I can use Twitter the way I want to. I can write everything in one stream if I want to

Catch the rest of his post here

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