facebook

So, there’s this great new social networking tool I stumbled upon recently called “Facebook”. If you haven’t already checked it out, you should definitely give it a try – it’s pretty cool. In addition to having your very own profile with all your friends on it like you can on MySpace, they also let you create business pages to promote your products and services, which I took the groundbreaking liberty of doing today.

Ok ok, so EQO’s been a little bit slow with promoting ourselves on Facebook's Glo-So-Net thing (...global social network/ing – I coined it right here and now), but that’s just because we wanted to put together an awesome Fa-Bus-Pa (Facebook Business Page???), filled with all things EQO Mobile VoIP Free Mobile IM & Free Texting Related.

Well actually, what would make it even more awesome (though there’s some debate this may simply not be possible), would be for you to go and visit EQO’s Facebook Page, and not just become a fan (we know you waaaaaaant to), but also become a contributor. We’re always looking for product feedback, new feature ideas / suggestions, or anything else you think anyone would find interesting.

Check it out today! Don’t be one of the last people on Facebook...to join EQO’s Page.

I am pleased to announce that EQO has recently released its first Facebook application. It probably isn’t what you would expect, but it’s a fun application that will likely appeal to those who like Pokes.

Our app is called Vibrator and it lets you send your friends Vibes. Vibes are like vibrating pokes with fun messages and animations. Vibes can be sent between Facebook users, but EQO users have the option of receiving Vibes on their mobile phone. For example, if I sent you a vibe your phone would vibrate and you would see that “Chris sent you an I told you so Vibe!” We have lots of fun Vibe types, but you need to earn some of them by sending enough Vibes.

Please give it a try and let us know what you think! We are interested in your feedback and would love to know how you think Vibrator could be better and what vibes you might be interested in sending to your friends. And never fear, we have some other Facebook features in mind that are more communicative in nature.  Also, props to Handi Mobility for developing Vibrator with us.  They do great work and I highly recommend them.

Please try Vibrator and, while you are it, you might as well join the EQO Facebook group!

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

It's that time again! Second only to Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa and Chinese New Year's momentous annual events, 2008’s Mobile World Congress (formerly GSMA, now MWC) officially began in Barcelona today.

For those of you who don’t know, this event combines the world’s largest congress for the mobile industry with a leading-edge exhibition that showcases the very latest developments in mobile from around the world (I know, I couldn’t be more excited too!!!).

The Mobile World Congress, which runs from February 11-14, 2008, is the premier event for the global mobile industry, which is why of course that EQO is in attendance again this year! If you happen to stop by the show this year, make sure you come look for our local hero, Bill Tam (of current esteemed EQO CEO fame). He’ll be doing the rounds at the show and would love to talk to you about all the cool and exciting new things that are happening at EQO right now -- like our brand-spanking new awesomely-cool first Facebook application: EQO Vibrator (the name says it all...REALLY).

We also officially announced the GLOBAL expansion of our award-winning Mobile VoIP service at the show today. What does that mean for you, the EQO blog reader? Well, if you don’t already have EQO now couldn't be a better time to get it – no matter where in the world you are. If you already have EQO, make sure to tell all your friends who couldn’t access our voice service (and cheaps texts, and free IMs) in the past that they can now get up and running.

Also, just a reminder to you all that Valentine’s Day is this Thursday – if you’ve forgotten to get your sweetie something like I tend to do every year – be sure to check out MWC if you’re in the area. If you’ve ever been to a huge tradeshow like this, you already know there’s is tons of free swag to be had that would serve as great last minute gift ideas... nothing says loving like corporate branded promotional items.

Lastly, in case attending MWC doesn’t float your boat – and if you live in and around the Vancouver area, today is also the last day to attend the Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships in Whistler, BC, featuring men and women competing in Downhill and Super Combined events on the new Wild Card/Jimmy's/Lower Franz's course – which I highly doubt will be anywhere near as exciting as what’s happening at MWC.

On Monday night I hit up the local Facebook Developer Garage to demo an as yet unreleased EQO Facebook project called Vibrator. It was good times and really cool to hear the guys behind such widely installed apps as Hockey Pool and Are You Normal? share their knowledge. I definitely took something away from them towards making our app better. I also realized that I have an injured Sidney Crosby on my Hockey Pool roster...

My favorite app presented was Eat-a-Rama, a Yelp-style Google Maps mashup for restaurant ratings. It shows you restaurants within the map you've chosen and also shows ratings and reviews for each restaurant. The killer feature here is the ability to see what restaurants your friends have rated, adding an element of trust. I added the app as soon as I got home. The interface of the app is very slick and user intuitive, which was nice when it came to adding my favorite restaurants to their listings. My three favorite restaurants near my house weren't listed yet, weird. Don't worry folks, I've added the only three good restaurants in Cloverdale. The good news is you now know where to eat if you are ever in the hood. The bad news is that you would be in Cloverdale.

Another interesting presentation was that by Garth Shoemaker. His app, I'm Reading, was pretty sweet. I wasn't really into it because I get enough recommendations from people I talk to in real life that my "to read" pile is substantially large. I also don't need to show everyone how smart I am through books I've read, which is only moderately smart seeing as I count Harry Potter amongst my favorites. What really got me interested in this guy was his "protect the internet" rant urging us to be good netizens. He likened apps like Vampires and Zombies to the scourge of the internet. He urged us to be conscientious when releasing Facebook applications that might annoy him and other self righteous computing science graduate students. I imagine he wasn't a fan of Vibrator either. Personally I get a kick out of simple apps that are really just a bit of fun. Sending a SuperPoke! or biting a chump is a social interaction I liken to a physical nod, smile, or shove. These acts means something and if people want to do digitally do such things to eachother, who is this guy to say they shouldn't?

When it came time to present Vibrator I was rather more nervous than usually I would be in such situations. I generally consider developers to be amongst the smartest people in the world and I find presenting our app to them a bit intimidating. My nerves weren't aided by the error Facebook tossed me the first time I tried to do anything. I'm convinced it was Facebook's fault and not ours... The next action I took was error free, no harm no foul. Vibrator was received with the usual laughs and skepticism, but the proof will be in how many people end up using it. I hope lots.

All in all it was a good night. I learned much from the other presenters and from presenting myself. It was great to see the Handi guys, who helped build Vibrator, and ex EQOer Ash of PeerGlobe out there. Miss604 has a great run down of the whole night on her blog; I also was quite hungry. Looking forward to the next one...

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Saw this on TechCrunch this morning, a funny video about Facebook on Wallstrip with Lindsay Campbell: http://www.wallstrip.com/2007/12/17/12-17-07-facebook/

SuperPoke!

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Earlier this month Colin Quon (EQO Founder and CTO) and I went down to the valley for the CommunityNext Platform Conference. It was my first time in the valley, or TechMecca as they should call it, and a great time all around. CommunityNext was really interesting, featuring a keynote by Mitch Kapor on Platforms and presentations by almost every developer of a top20 Facebook application. Seriously, all of them.  It was really cool to hear the stories behind Vampires, (fluff)Friends, Where I've been, and so on. I met some great people and learned a few things, the most noteworthy of which are:

• Pick your platform wisely (they make the rules) and honor your choice (don't complain about the API because it's not productive, you chose them and they can do whatever they want) - Mitch Kapor
• Facebook is great because it lets you fail quickly and move on (never thought of it that way) - Keith Schacht, Grow-a-Gift
• The best Facebook apps are simple, social, universal, viral, and gather user data - Naval Ravikant, VentureHacks.com
• Accepting VC money is like hiring a boss, don't do it unless you have to - Naval Ravikant, VentureHacks.com (I liked him)
• Dressing down for a Silicon Valley VC is a button down shirt, jeans, and shoes that combined still cost more than my car

Other highlights of the trip for me included:

• Visiting Palo Alto, I've never felt so poor
• Visiting Mountain View, I've never felt so good looking
• Arguing with Colin for 15 minutes over the closest Apple store not realizing that our hotel was one block down the road from Apple HQ in Cupertino, then showing up just as they closed for the weekend.
• Visiting 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California
• Observing that valley developers really do drink giant quantities of RedBull and Rockstar
• Being right beside San Jose and not finding the Sharks vs my beloved Canucks on TV, more of a lowlight

I hope EQO sends me to the next one, good times.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Following on the results of the Facebook ad-targeting "factfinding mission" that Chris @ EQO kicked off yesterday, I present a bit more data. Since reading Chris' analysis on the topic I have a heightened awareness to what get served up to me on the 'book. I'm proud to say that Facebook still considers me part of the MTV generation even if Chris doesn't.

Today's serving:

The text is a bit small in the resized ad, but it says "16 Lesbians, 16 Dudes - A Shot at Love".

Targeted ads on Facebook? Seems so.

I was talking to Jeff Laporte (EQO co-founder and chief architect) and Sanjeev Agrawal (EQO VP of Product Marketing) last week about Facebook. We got onto the topic of ads and as they were looking at my profile page they saw that my ads differed greatly from theirs. I was being served an adult oriented dating type ad that day and I think they were getting a bit jealous. Sanjeev asked why he was getting ads about hair loss while I'm being shown pictures of hot girls. I responded with "they expect me to be having sex and you guys to be losing your hair". Ever since, I've been noting what ads I've been getting, while also checking out the ads of others. Peter, who is engaged (sorry ladies), is getting wedding related ads.

Now today TechCrunch reports that Facebook is experimenting with targeting ads via their new fliers. I'm thinking they've been targeting ads based on user profile information for a while now. How else would you explain the wedding ads for Peter Chandler? Sadly, I can't find any variation today, everything is coming up University of Phoenix. I figured they might change the ads on a per group basis too, but even I Dont care How Comfortable Crocs Are, You Look Like A Dumbass is asking me to get another degree. I'm not trying to offend Crocs owners so please don't be offended, just buy new shoes.

Anybody out there getting any interesting ads? I found that after I made my profile more professional (who let the old people onto Facebook?) I started getting different ads, Monster.com and other professional development type sites for example. Let me know if you see anything interesting ad-wise; I'm curious to see if Facebook is starting to deliver on the great social networking promise of ultra targeted advertising.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Today I was checking out the EQO Facebook group and I noticed something interesting. I had previously blogged about the EQO Facebook group, which resulted in membership exploding from 10 to over 140 in mere weeks (amazing I know), but our membership has expanded to a demographic I did not foresee. Models. We have been infiltrated by models, UK models to be exact. The proof is in the Related Groups section, where you can clearly see that our related groups include "London Model Recruitment", "Good Looking People Only!!!", and "A British Group for Models and Girls Who Want Paid P/T Work in London". Scanning through our predominantly legitimate membership the infestation becomes clear as the models stand out like sore thumbs with their shiny hair, glorious skin, and chiseled features.

I know what you are all thinking, where did the hotness come from? Rest assured we did not pay any models to join our group, nor did we even invite any. I'm wondering the same thing you are, so I asked the models via a wall post if they are really EQO users and if not, then what is their interest in EQO? Right now I'm assuming they just want to be friends with me... Whether that's true or not (probably is though), I can think of worse infestations to have.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Like everyone and their dog these days (including my dog), EQO Mobile is on Facebook.  Seriously, my sister made my dog a profile page, Wilson Richardson, check it out.  My sister is a contemporary arts student, enough said.  Anyway, yes, there is a group for EQO Mobile users on Facebook.  We do not have a Facebook application out there yet, but I imagine we'll make one eventually.  When we do release a Facebook application I guarantee it will be super awesome and useful, unlike most of the other applications out there.  The EQO Mobile Facebook group is a great way to link up with other EQO Mobile users, keep tabs on our support videos, and stay tuned to our latest brilliant blog posts.  More importantly you'll learn how to sign up with promo code = chris to get double the free minutes.

Join our group!

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist