Sat Feb 11 2012
by Bob Gaetjens, The Gateway News editor
"I have discovered today that I am a Neanderthal ... " said Jeff Pritchard after the Streetsboro Area Chamber of Commerce's Aug. 11 meeting.
Pritchard, the city's planning and economic development director, was referring to his familiarity with the latest in social networking, and I felt the same way that day.
Despite maintaining a Facebook page and Twitter account for The Gateway News, I realize now my use of social networking, cell phones and the Internet is far from sophisticated.
About two dozen Chamber members heard Bruce Felber of Felber and Felber Marketing and Sandy Yokum, principal with KS Yokum Enterprises, describe cutting edge marketing through social networking during the luncheon.
Yokum said marketing with Twitter and Facebook should aim to capture the masses of people texting.
"I know you've seen everyone walking through your event with the cell phone texting," she told attendees. "You might want to get piece of that."
Well, I'm not one of the ones walking along texting. I can't bring myself to pay the increase text messaging and surfing the web would mean for my cell phone bill.
So far, I've taken on a siege mentality with respect to text messages, too. I might receive and send out two a week, because my contract does allow minimal texting during the course of a month.
It doesn't help that the buttons on my phone were sized for 2-year-olds.
Thus far, I use Facebook and Twitter much more for work than I do in my private life. With three small children running around at home, quiet time is at a premium, to say the least. And, if I really want to tell someone something, I'm still more likely to call and talk to them than post something on their Facebook wall or text them.
Given my own scant use of the cell phone and social networking sites, I was amazed to hear one of Felber's claims: That in less than a year from now we may all be walking around with keys and cell phones, but no wallets or purses.
I'd be surprised if a majority of shoppers are going and buying things with some application on a cell phone in lieu of a debit or credit card within a year, but I guess the point is they could be.
Cell phones in conjunction with the Internet also are changing shopping. Companies can now place small square "2-D bar codes" on their products or advertisements, said Yokum. These look more geometric and less stripy than the traditional bar codes on our bread and pop cans at the grocery store.
Shoppers can photograph the bar codes with their cell phones and be automatically linked to more specific information about a product, coupons or other online items, she said.
Did I mention cell phones are doing all this?
Pretty amazing stuff for a guy who still peruses the Sunday ads for coupons and deals. That now sounds like a quaint way to shop.
I may not have completely embraced the cell phone as a method of non-verbal communication and a portal for information, but I could imagine myself making use of these new technologies someday, particularly if the alternative is to be left behind.
If Yokum's message to marketers is any indication, these technologies are only going to become more prevalent.
"If you don't understand how to use social networking, you might want to learn," she advised the Chamber crowd.
Maybe, it's time to rethink that cell phone contract.
E-mail: bgaetjens@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3941
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