A tasty use for Twitter

200 million people are on Twitter, but it's hardly a mass medium. It's a great way to send messages to your friends a few followers, very few marketers, however, have figured out how to use it to sell products to the general public.

Unless your hungry for Tacos in Texas.

In a creative combination of two relatively new technologies, Stripes Convenience Stores is reposting tweets onto digital billboards around lunch and dinner time, letting people share their love of tacos to a wider audience than just their followers.

While the design of the board isn't very good and the Tweets aren't incredibly creative, it's a nice way to bring the immediacy of social media to outdoor and have real people endorse the product at the most appropriate time.

Earth shattering? No. Smart? Definitely.

A brief history of the future of books

If I could see into the future (which clearly I can't because I would have invested in Apple and Tesla instead of Motorola and GM), it would seem to me the publishing industry is going to look a little different in a few years than it does today.

While some are swimming against the tide of digitalization of the written word, as is witnessed by the Portland area bookstore that will trade you real books for your Kindle and prides itself on low cost titles, it won't be long until the bulk of our reading material is distributed digitally.

How do I know this? Because it has happened before.

Just look at the music industry. It wasn't long ago that vinyl ruled the day. From the start of recorded music until the late '60s the only option was stax of wax. Then cassette tapes started showing up making it easier for people to take their music with them. This accelerated with the advent of compact discs, and when Napster and iTunes showed up, it was all over but the shouting. Almost.

You see there's a booming niche business out there in old school music technology. Some people still so value the vinyl experience that they're willing to pay significantly more than ever for turntables, records and other paraphernalia.

So what does this mean for books, magazines and newspapers?

Because the production and distribution systems for e-readers are so much more efficient than traditional printing, most people will shift from paper to pixels assuming those efficiencies significantly lower the price. But those who crave the experience of ink on paper will pay more and businesses that cater to those bibliophiles will create ever more interesting and special environments and products.

So Borders attempt to reinvent itself as a mass market bookseller will ultimately fail. If Barnes & Noble survives it will look much different than it does today. And the independent bookstores, rather than joining the race to the bottom, will find new life by catering to a small, passionate cadre of customers who are willing to pay a little more for their increasingly rare beloved tomes.

Saving Groupon

It didn't take long for the parodies to begin. And as usual Conan is brilliant. (Sorry for the pre-roll ads, but aparently Team Coco has to eat).

How does Groupon recover from this mess?

First, pull all the ads.

Second, don't explain. Apologize.

Third, take the $10 million or so you spent on production and media and commit it to doing good works. Not a big grand gesture like a multi-million dollar donation to each of the causes you insulted, but a community-based, grass-roots effort that will rebuild your trust with the people who matter most, your customers.

Every Friday, would be "Groupon Gives" day, and feature a local non-profit in every area that Groupon does business. People can donate to the non-profit and Groupon matches the donation. Also create a mechanism for people to connect and volunteer with the non-profits if they so choose.

Groupon tried and failed to tell people how committed they are to serving the greater good. They need to do something that demonstrates it.