Gowalla Trips: San Antonio Culture Crawl

I’m fairly new to the geo-tagging service provided by the folks over at Gowalla, but one of my favorite features thus far is “Trips.” Once exclusive to a select few, now every Gowalla member can create a trip (list of “spots” where a person must check-in in order to complete). When people check-in, they can leave comments, tips, pictures, etc., which makes these visits a little more exciting and engaging. There are several public trips available for historic spots, pubs, bars, and other venues. I decided to create one for cultural exploration here in San Antonio. The name of the trip is San Antonio Culture Crawl, and includes places such as the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Witte Museum, Artpace, and others. If you find yourself in the area and are a Gowalla member, please feel free to check out the trip and tell me what you think. Please leave any comments below in this post or on Gowalla when you check in.

Video: Is Social Media a Fad?

One Page Chart To Guide Your Social Media Efforts

Here’s a quick chart to help you decide which social media might be most useful to you. Social media is a tool. And with all tools there needs to be a strategy behind its use.

Twitter No-No's: Top Ten Things NOT To Do On Twitter

#10. Beg For Followers

Begging for followers is one of the easiest ways to turn people off. Twitter is a community, be part of it. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.

#9. Randomly Jump In Conversations

If you’re going to hop in a conversation, please make sure that what you’re saying is relevant

#8. Follow Everyone

Twitter can be exciting when you first get introduced to it, but don’t go following everybody. It makes it look like you are just searching for others to follow you.

#7. Tweet Everything

We don’t need to know every move you make.

#6. Forget About Direct Messages

When a conversation only involves two people, why make the entire dialogue public? Sometimes it’s better to send a direct message.

#5. Auto-Tweet

Many social media outlets allow you to auto-tweet everything you do. Between Facebook, Wordpress, Myspace (Does anybody still use Myspace?), Tumblr, Picasa, Flickr, etc., your Twitter profile will quickly approach SPAM status.

#4. Initiate SPAM

Simply not cool

#3. Forward SPAM

Apple does not need your help testing a product that’s already been out a year. They have a huge research department that conducts market research BEFORE a product launches. Stop telling me about how you got a “FREE iPad!!!!” Real copywriters rarely use that many exclamation points when writing copy.

#2. Choose A Weak Password

Makes #4 and #3 easier for those who don’t practice social media etiquette.

#1. Be Fake

Just like in real life, it’s just weird, and people will figure you out.