The web application uses Google Maps to estimate the visitors closest airport, the flight time from departure and destination, and the drive time to Park City. The results page displays a Google map showing the travel path.

Thank you to the Richter7 team who concepted and developed this tool: Frank Imler, interactive art director; Gary Sume, writer; Dave Newbold, executive creative director; Brett Winklesky, technologist, Teri Gibson, account supervisor and Evin Catlett, social media director.

“Checking-in” using platforms like Foursquare, Gowalla, Whrrl, Facebook Places, among others, is popular for many reasons, including showcasing to your social graph the cool places you are frequenting. Now, imagine checking in somewhere unheard-of. This is exactly what one astronaut has done. On Friday he unlocked the “NASA Explorer” badge and checked into the National Space Station. Where will someone check-in to next?  http://bit.ly/9Wx91U

Privacy on Facebook, or Not?

We all have our privacy settings set to our liking on Facebook; or so we thought. This week millions of Facebook users found that their personal information was being leaked to advertisers through apps on the social networking site. Facebook is taking immediate action but it’s yet another instance of privacy breaches on this wildly popular platform.  http://bit.ly/buDn6d

Apple Apps Becoming More Available?

Apple announced this week, that in 90-days they will be allowing users to purchase apps on their desktop or laptop computers through an online store with their i-tunes account. Previously the services were only offered to i-devices. Do you think this availability increase has then potential to hurt other software providers. http://bit.ly/cKgsde

A recent survey by Alterian shows some interesting numbers about how companies are engaging in this new paradigm shift in digital marketing.  Here are some key findings and excerpts from that survey.

1. How many different providers of marketing services do you leverage for digital marketing, database marketing, data hygiene, brand strategy, web analytics, email marketing and statistical analysis?

It is very revealing that almost 70% of respondents work with 3 or more suppliers, and almost a quarter (23%) work with a staggering 7 or more suppliers. Ensuring the consistency of messaging and brand across so many suppliers can be a challenge, made all the more difficult by marketing teams working in silos with disparate applications and information.

Suppliers will have to change how they operate if they want to provide clients with strategies for customer engagement across multiple channels.

2. How difficult is it to coordinate resources across your digital and direct marketing agencies?

Almost 40% of respondents reported that they found this ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ difficult. Marketers do not need just a direct marketing agency that claims to be digital experts, or a digital agency turning to print. What is needed is a truly integrated agency that solves the problems marketers are having with coordinating multiple resources.

3. In the next 12 months how much of your marketing budget will be shifting from traditional direct marketing (direct mail/telemarketing) to digital/interactive/social channels?

Marketing budgets are shifting away from traditional direct marketing towards digital, interactive and social channels. 40% of respondents anticipate a shift of over a fifth of their budget towards digital channels, with 21% predicting more than a third of their budget shifting.

4. Which of the new marketing techniques are you currently investing in or planning to invest in?

The most popular new marketing technique was Social Media Marketing.  Two-thirds of respondents (66%) were planning to engage in marketing through social media channels.

36% of respondents reported their intention to invest in Social Media Monitoring tools. This is a very high percentage, particularly considering the relative immaturity of the channel.

Coming this Friday I will post “Part 2 – Digital Marketing: Are You Ready.” I will explore additional research results for integrated multi-channel engagement and staff readiness.

Source:  Alterian (LSE: ALN).

Then we’ll take it to the next level where we like you and you like us. That’s when we’ll pop the question:

How active are you in social media?

And you’ll give some great answer (we hope) and then within days, I’ll friend you and we’ll become OFFs (Official Facebook Friends) and we’ll follow your Tweets and blog, and maybe Link-it-in for an added treat. And it’s not like we’re doing this because we have loads of time to spare, but we need to know who you really are. Or to know you better (realistically that could take YEARS, true?).

So all those pictures and all those comments and all those words you used in various situations to various friends will all be there. (And that was okay for then, but now you’re looking for a job and I’m looking for someone to hire.) And we’ll see them and, fact is, we really don’t want to see them, but we have to know who we’re considering to add to our team.

And we WANT you to be great and to be solid and to show good judgment, but sometimes, in all those wild activities, weird things happen and get posted and tagged (so revealing), and what was private with friends then is public now. But our team has to view that to assess candidates before we shell out dollars.

So please be careful. Be careful now for that time then. Yeah, it’s social media, and yeah, you’re social and it is your media, too, but those things that could scare potential employers may be a deal killer, and nobody wants that, right?

But I also do not believe this is new territory for anyone. Reviewing AdAge’s recent “80 Years of Ideas,” it’s amazing how far we have come during this past century. Perhaps change is happening at a faster pace than it used to, but nonetheless, we should all be used to things constantly changing.

But there is still resistance. Perhaps part of the reason for this is because we are unsure how to keep up. How do we (all of us in this industry) embrace the constant change?

In the grand scheme of things, I am a newbie. I have been doing advertising a mere 10 years. But already, I can look back at the beginning of my career and am shocked about how different my role and the work I contribute to is today. If that much has changed in 10 years, what will happen in 20?

So, I’d like to share my opinions on how to keep up. These are merely a few ideas that I “try” to practice to be sure I am on the cutting-edge and not falling behind.

• You are never too old to learn new things (whatever your age). Do not sit back and hope something will fade away. You do not want to be one of those people who have lost sight of what is going on.
• If you hear of something new – investigate and dive in with both feet. If people are using a new social media website, don’t just peruse it. Sign up and use it. Having a Facebook or Twitter account, but not actively using it does not count. You cannot sell it or market on it, if you do not understand its idiosyncrasies.
• Set aside at least 30 minutes a day to read up on what is going on. Use Twitter, RSS Feeds, Mashable, Blogs or whatever you would like. Just keep up on the latest news and trends. This can be an enjoyable break from your regular responsibilities.
• Don’t forget to watch TV, listen to the radio and read magazines/newspapers. You need to see what’s popular and what other advertisers are doing.
• Take time to listen to the younger associate’s (or young people in general) at your company. They are likely into current trends and can contribute great ideas.
• Listen to your consumers. Don’t settle for the tactics you have always used to reach them. Speak their language and find where they are.
• If a project comes along that involves something new, volunteer to work on it. Take every advantage to work on projects that involve a new media, technology or process that you do not yet understand.
• Become a futurist. Think big and develop ideas someone hasn’t thought of yet. It’s the fun part of our job.
• Constantly look for ways to make things better. Look to make changes in the way you work. This will help you embrace other types of change that will inevitable come your way.
• Finally, don’t get frustrated. It’s hard to keep up. But keep at it and don’t lose traction.

To illustrate how big online fraud is getting, a recent FBI report cited that internet fraud doubled in 2009 to about $560 million. Individual complaints of Internet scams grew more than 20 percent last year, according to the report.

As an example of this, we’ve all seen the stories that show how Facebook friends have been easily tricked into sending money in response to believable pleas for help, or about Facebook apps that have tricked people into handing over their personal data or password

As Richter7 builds social media strategies for our clients, we have also had to stay current with the latest scams. Below are just a few examples of some of the pitfalls we have seen associated with being a Facebook user.

Facebook Impersonation.

A criminal who hacks into a Facebook account can learn a staggering amount of information. Worse yet, he or she can gain trusted access to friends and family.

This is why we tell our clients to treat their Facebook password like an online banking site, because it’s not a stretch to say that a criminal who hacks a Facebook account is only one small step away from stealing other information (“Hello, First National Bank, I’ve lost my password. But my high school mascot is the Owl and my mother’s maiden name is Smith. Can you reset my password now?”)

There is a recent example of one such impersonation scam. If you get an e-mail that appears to be from Facebook saying the company reset your password and urges you to open an attachment, it is a scam. Repeat, it is a scam. The attachment contains a password stealer that targets Windows computers and which can potentially access any username and password combination used on the computer, not just the login credentials for Facebook.

“This threat is potentially very dangerous considering that there are over 350 million Facebook users who could fall for this scam,” McAfee says. “This is also the sixth most prevalent piece of malware targeting consumers in the last week, as tracked by McAfee Labs.”

There are obvious clues that this type of thing is a phishing scam. For one, Facebook doesn’t send e-mails like this. It may send an e-mail with a link where the user can reset the password, but not an e-mail with an attachment. Secondly, the e-mail has poor grammar and awkward phrases.

Love and Friendship Based Scams.

Anyone out there ever done anything dumb for love? If you are raising your hand, then congratulations, you are not alone. Love and friendship based cons are some of the easiest to perpetrate. Why? Because, by nature, it involves trusting someone or something. For example, some cons spend months grooming their marks before asking for $500 to be wired to the overseas passport office to help clear up a paperwork mess so they can come for a visit.

Previously the dominion of online dating sites, this type of crime has made its way into social media. There are countless victims who have never joined a dating service but were still conned into fake love or friendship from perfectly innocent-looking Facebook groups or chat rooms devoted to hobbies like sewing or horseback riding. It all starts with a simple e-mail, perhaps enhanced by a little Facebook research (“Hey, you love the Utah Jazz and the country music too!”)

Facebook Apps

Facebook apps come in hundreds of varieties. There are quizzes, games, tools and other apps that let users rank everything from favorite music to the most disliked celebrities. Each of these apps requires the user to install a few lines of code to the Facebook profile.

But not all apps are innocent. For example, everyone should pay attention to what kind of information the app says it must be able to access to work properly. When filling out a Facebook profile, users can include information ranging from date of birth to an address. No one wants an app that shares any of that personal information with others.

In Facebooks privacy policy it states that users can choose which information remains private. But it also points out that no system safeguards are perfect. It’s possible for developers to find ways around safeguards and access personal information. It’s a good idea to do a little research about an app before choosing to add it to a profile.

Then there the apps that are outright scams. Take, for instance, the sad tale of those who fell prey to scammers after taking a simple IQ quiz. To receive the results, users were required to submit their cell phone number and wait for a text. When users opened their next cell phone bill, they discovered charges from the app.

Some apps even go so far as to impersonate standard Facebook features, like “Friend’s Gifts” and “Your Photos.” These scams then send convincing notifications like “someone has commented on your photo,” or “has posted on your wall.” These notifications lead to a fake login page asking for permission to access your Facebook account. These scams can be tough to spot because they mimic real Facebook notifications. Users need to learn to look for tiny inconsistencies in apps (misspellings, clunky wording or poor English usage). Who would have ever guessed that our 6th grade teacher was right when they said “learning grammar is important.”

Google has launched Buzz, a service wrapped into Gmail which allows for quick sharing of pictures, videos, status messages, etc. with your Google Friends. You can also autopost to Twitter, Picasa, Flickr and more. It includes privacy settings so you can share with the world or just your friends.

Flash your optics upon the official video:

Noticeably absent is the ability to share with Facebook. Hmmm.

I like how they’re taking a step toward consolidating your social activities into one place (Gmail) as opposed to launching a standalone service which quickly becomes yet one more place to login and check. Now if they’d just roll Reader and Wave functionality into Gmail, well that’d be the bee’s knees. Do it Google. Blow my mind.

In addition, there’s a pretty killer mobile version. It’s seems like a cross between Foursquare, Twitter, Yelp and Google Maps. Looks like it could be pretty impressive, actually. Check the video below:

To get Buzzed (ha!) just keep hitting refresh in Gmail for the next few days – it’ll be gradually rolled out to users throughout the week.

Every day brings a new opportunity for a big brand to develop a new Facebook application to promote or reinforce its brand. Some of them are disappointing, however, occasionally you come across an application that is original and entertaining.

One such app is the Whopper Sacrifice. Burger King offered customers a free Whopper for every 10 friends deleted on Facebook. Bad idea? Apparently it was not a big deal for users, as more than 230,000 friends were sacrificed.

It is no surprise that Coke Zero has now launched a new Facebook app that allows users to find their “digital double.” When downloading this application, a facial profiler will access your Facebook account and search through your photos, scanning them with facial recognition software.

(Personally, I find this a little creepy, but moving on…)

As soon as the application has scanned enough users, you will be added to the database and Coke Zero will provide you with your double. According to Coke, users will be able to have fun with the information, but the company is staying hush about the details.

Personally, I am not quite sure why I would want to know who my digital double is or what I would do with the information, however, I am intrigued. Will you find yourself downloading this application? If so, we would love to see your digital double.