Venmo: The New Way to Pay

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

We all have them – that one friend with “no cash” who skips out on the bar tab. It’s not just once in awhile, but every weekend. You’ve tried pointing them in the direction of the ATM or asking them to grab the next round, but they just don’t seem to get it. I have a new strategy for you – instantly charge your friend via your mobile phone.

Let me introduce you to Venmo, a mobile application designed to allow users to request and accept payments via mobile phones. Users link bank accounts, debit cards, and credit cards to Venmo accounts. Unlike e-commerce giant, PayPal, Venmo is completely free. Yes, you read that correctly – no fees, hidden charges, etc. Better yet, Venmo operates as a social community where users add friends to view their payment activities via feeds. This takes “FaceBook creeping” to a whole new level. How much, where, and when we spend money is still very much a private matter in our society. Venmo releases that information to everyone. Sounds crazy, right? Not really. C’mon, talking about the way our friends spend money (in small or large amounts) is one of our greatest pastimes.

Here’s where the drama begins. When you add a friend on Venmo, you can choose whether or not to “trust” each other. If you decide to “trust” your friend, he or she can charge you instantly as opposed to sending a request for payment. For the 99.9% of you with the penny-pinching friend (quite different from the bar tab skipper), choose your “trusted” friends wisely. Imagine you are at a bar with a friend for happy hour. You have no cash and the credit card minimum is $10. You ask your friend to cover you for the $1 beer and your friend immediately agrees. You thank your friend and think it’s all in the past, but not to the penny pincher! Recently, a friend of mine ranted on and on because her “trusted” friend on Venmo charged her $1.00 for a Bud Light draft at happy hour. She was pick-pocketed without her handbag ever zipping open. Best of luck to her if that friend turns into a “frenemy.” She just might be charged for every sandwich they ever shared as a revenge payment.

How can we describe Venmo? “It’s like your phone and your wallet had a beautiful baby.” Those of you with stingy friends may consider this the ugliest baby you have ever seen. Those of you with friends who never pay you back may consider Venmo a godsend. All can agree however, Venmo differentiates itself by providing unique and simplistic methods for transferring cash. Let’s face it – we want mobile applications that do most of the work for us. That’s exactly why I pay my friends via Venmo. When my roommate is at Trader Joe’s, I’ll send him a quick text with a few requested items. He sends me the total I owe and I “Venmo him” the cash. Pre-Venmo, I would never ask my roommate to pick up any groceries. That would involve the burdensome trip to the now aging ATM. Does that make me lazy? Probably. But hey, Venmo saves me trips to the grocery store after work every once in awhile. You may be wondering, is my roommate a “trusted” friend of mine? Absolutely not! We have all seen what texting under the influence can do. How about “Venmoing” under the influence?

When Venmo is used appropriately and responsibly, it truly becomes a dynamic and safe community for payment making. Clearly, consumers are enjoying the social aspects of transferring money to and from friends, family members, coworkers, and the like. Last month, Venmo users transferred over $500,000. Venmo’s growing popularity can be attributed to the complete ease at which payments are conducted. With each transaction, Venmo is influencing consumers to combine their wallets and mobile devices – to make that beautiful baby. No longer are the days when you are forced to split the dinner check 8 ways, search for an ATM, or attempt to split a cab ride with 2 $20 bills. Instead, we shoot a payment via Venmo right alongside our tweets, wall posts, and emails.

IPv6: Not Just Another Acronym

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Congratulations! We survived the last day of the world! Boy, that sure was a close one. The weight has definitely been lifted off our shoulders here at FaceTime Strategy. For the world of IPv4 however, the end is quite near. With the end of IPv4 comes the birth of IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6). The media buzz surrounding IPv6 is quite apparent with the upcoming June 8^th World IPv6 Day hosted by The Internet Society (ISOC). But how many of us actually know what ISOC is talking about? Here’s what you need to know.

IP is short for ‘Internet protocol,’ which came to life in the 1970s and serves as the Internet’s primary network protocol. Basically, it’s a uniform set of rules designed to standardize information embedded in the data and information we send across the Internet. This information can be the Facebook photos we share, e-cards we send, and songs we download from iTunes. Every Internet-connected device in the world has a unique IP address, so it can be located across various networks. The IP address is a combination of 4 numbers separated by periods, each of which range from 0-255.

And why is IPv6 important? Essentially, the remaining number of IP addresses is dwindling. Hence, we must move from IPv4 to IPv6, which will create more numbers to assign to our computers, SmartPhones, and so on. IPv6 will undoubtedly create innumerable spillovers of innovation. With IPv4, information can only be sent to a single IP address. IPv6 opens the door for sending information to various IP addresses at one time. Furthermore, as our mobile phones become ‘more computer and less phone,’ IP addresses are necessary for continuing our web usage on our millions of iPhones, BlackBerrys, and Droids. And don’t forget about Internet-connected printers, iPod Touches, scanners, and tablets. These devices must have an address assigned to it to connect to the Internet.

Clearly, our everyday tools we utilize to ease our lives are quickly enabling web capabilities. IPv6 will affect governments, business, and organizations by providing them with the ability to mobilize web capabilities. Perhaps most importantly, IPv6 provides increased security protection for the information traveling through networks. Next month, ISOC’s World IPv6 Day will hold a 24-hour test-run for IPv6 whose participants include AOL, Google, Facebook, and Yahoo!. These major global figures will work together to promote cooperation towards a common goal of enabling successful migration from IPv4 to IPv6. So while our world may not be coming to an end any time soon, the world of Internet protocol will soon find itself orbiting through new galaxies of Internet networks.

Twitterology: The Deal with OBL

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

Note: This week’s premature Twitterology post is bought to you by the recent onslaught of mind-boggling Twitter news.

This Week on Twitterology:

Read it and weep, @Lord Voldemort. The news of Osama bin Laden’s death led to the highest sustained rates of Tweets in the history of the social networking site. The Twitter-produced chart above shows a slow increase right around the time Keith Urbahn, Donald Rumsfeld’s Chief of Staff (not the singer) sent the following momentous tweet:

About 15 minutes later, all the nice folks at home watching the latest news about Will and Kate’s wedding cake were interrupted with a message that President Obama would soon deliver a mysterious announcement and it “had something to do with Osama bin Laden”.

As you can imagine,  tweeting began to skyrocket shortly after, as news pundits played a rather charming game of “Let’s Kill Time Until Obama Makes His Surprise Address by Inventing New Ways of Telling People that Obama is Making a Surprise Address.” Case in point:
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New Column Alert: Twitterology

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

If all the social networking sites were one big family, Twitter used to be the socially awkward Midwestern cousin you tried to sit as far away from as possible during Thanksgiving dinner.  You know, the one who’s capable of such conversational prowess as “Wow, I had no idea they had so many palm trees in Miami! I am so excited to be here!”, or “I had waffles for breakfast this morning and it was awesome!”.

This same cousin, after her second glass of wine, would terrify anyone within earshot with stories about getting her kidney stones removed, or about how she swears her neighbor is Sadaam Hussein in disguise, regardless of whether other people say he’s dead or not, or worse, what she saw on Lifetime that day.

That’s great, Twitter, uh-huh. Thanks for that.

It’s been five years since Jack Dorsey created the never-ending small talk that was Twitter, and it’s clear that it’s evolved into a truly global thought feed of people, places, and ideas.

It’s fueled an entire country’s revolution and mobilized its youth. It’s been the platform of choice for politicians to announce running for office. It’s been the launch of many a career-not to mention the demise of more than a handful.

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Top 10 Baby Boomer Myths

Monday, February 7th, 2011

Everybody knows baby boomers are wealthy and retiring early, right? Wrong, according to a new study from the AARP, whose Mark Kitchens visits TODAY to shatter those and other boomer myths.  Top 10 Baby Boomer Myths

Integrating Marketing Communications

Monday, November 1st, 2010

In the land of agency buzz words, ‘Integrated Marketing’ is king – but how many companies understand what it’s supposed to mean? In much the same way that many business executives consider the company logo to be the company brand, there is a great deal of confusion on the subject of how to actually “integrate” the marketing. To integrate marketing communications means designing a messaging campaign to be effective in multiple mediums and ideally promote each in a synergistic way so as to surround a consumer or prospect with your campaign when and where they are of a mind to engage with you.

An article in a magazine references your viral video that links the consumer to a microsite for additional information and a coupon that they redeem in-store where they see a mobile promotion linking them to your social network site and info on new products to try and perhaps an invitation to a local event, sponsored by your products.  

Integrating marketing communications can be difficult to do – it involves managing a number of different media channels, schedules, formats and platforms – but done right, the effect is a dramatic ‘omni-presence’ for your brand and message that can cut through the clutter of daily noise and feel like a personal, relevant experience for those minds, hearts and wallets you want to reach.