Min Cheong
The internet and its content have both been continually evolving to reflect and embody the societal desire to connect and communicate. Giving rise to Web 2.0, a term characterising interaction of a more participatory nature with and within the World Wide Web, this transformation has moulded the platform upon which multifarious social media applications were created and are now thriving.
At the recently held Techventure 2011, a conference aimed at bringing innovators and financiers together to encourage entrepreneurial partnerships, New Asia Republic had the opportunity to examine and review a host of start-up and established ventures alike. In the social media category, three homegrown products/services stood out – Chope, Pigeonhole Live and Brandtology.
Chope
Capitalising on the cosmopolitan Singaporean’s inclination towards culinary consumerism and appreciation of convenience, Chope, an online restaurant reservation portal, is already set for success having incorporated both into its service.
A catchy moniker steeped in the flavour of local culture, Chope is not a name anyone is likely to forget; effectively making brand recall a piece of cake and incoming visitor traffic to the website all the more likely.
Additionally, Chope has cleverly integrated other features into its sleek and elegantly-designed interface. Without much hassle, users will be able to glean useful information about the myriad of eateries partnered with Chope by entering the website’s guide section (searches can be refined via the categories “Cuisine”, “Location”, “Good For, “Serves” and “Days Open”) or diving straight into individual restaurants’ virtual brochures by clicking on the appropriate links on Chope’s homepage.
For those wondering how Chope is able to respond to restaurant reservations in real-time, it’s because collaborating restaurants use a product unique to Chope to help them manage their bookings – this seating inventory, ChopeBook, can be accessed by Chope so that users will be able to get a first-hand glimpse of table availability from the comfort of wherever they are.
Moreover, user data is stored within the system to aid restaurant staff in customising service to suit the preferences of repeat patrons, such as allowing the latter to reserve their favourite tables, further enhancing the dining experience.
Chope is all about ensuring hungry crowds get to more food with less fuss and will likely improve business-customer relationships by bringing the two closer through the element of sharing that is central to the service.
With more partnerships lined up and plans to develop a mobile application, Chope is showing that it won’t be just a flash in the pan. On that, we have no reservations in agreeing.
For a taste of what Chope is serving up, drop by http://www.chope.com.sg.
Pigeonhole Live
Given that the fear of public speaking is so heightened that it tops the list of phobias, it’s not surprising that at events such as conferences and seminars, only a few daring individuals reach for the microphone to pose questions or make statements.
As a result, many a good discussion does not take place because audience participation is lacking.
This is the common quandary within which the straightforward but brilliant conception, Pigeonhole Live, has carved its niche.
Pigeonhole Live is touted as the World’s Simplest Real-Time Conference Q&A Tool. It enables audience members to post and promote (through voting, where the more popular queries will be bumped up for higher visibility on the thread) questions for speakers to address.
All anyone needs to be a part of the virtual discourse is a mobile device; arguably much easier for many to obtain than the guts to stand up and speak in front of an intimidating crowd.
When attending seminars at participating events, just go to http://live.pigeonhole.sg, key in the passcode (which will be determined and disseminated by the organisers) and get involved in the dialogue.
Users will have the option to remain anonymous or share their personal information by logging in with their Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn accounts; an ingenious way to facilitate networking on the sidelines.
Other features of Pigeonhole Live include snap polling (speakers can obtain immediate feedback from the audience on a range of issues) as well as post-conference data exporting (all questions are recorded and can be retrieved in PDF form for auditing).
For resolving a problem so prevalent in such an inventive manner and integrating value-added components into the service to boot, Pigeonhole Live most certainly has enough wind under its wings to take flight.
Brandtology
The sentiment-based forces that surround organisations and can make or break their reputational foundations are now all the more compelling due to societal conversations fuelled by the use of social media apparatus.
Many individuals and companies do not yet realise that as far as public perception of any entity is concerned, the most crucial exchange is not one which exists between the brand and consumer. Rather, it is the numerous off-the-record colloquies among the members of the latter which matter.
This is still somewhat unconventional wisdom that the folks at Brandtology (http://www.brandtology.com) not only understand but have already established their enterprise upon.
In the name of brand bulwarking, Brandtology executives trawl the web frequently to uncover what target consumers and the public at large are saying about any given organisation before analysing the information for the purpose of strategy-formulation.
Notably, unlike other similar services, to ensure the utmost accuracy in the deconstruction of the material canvassed, Brandtology relies substantially on the skills of its highly-trained social media analysts to decipher semantic and linguistic nuances across a diverse set of languages as opposed to depending primarily on the comparatively rigid abilities of computer programmes.
Futhermore, in a bid to directly empower clients with the relevant information required for the development of branding and communications tactics, Brandtology provides them access to its Digital Conversation Management System, a novel platform which combines the content-farming competencies of technology and the analytical dexterity of Brandtology executives to deliver precise intelligence to end-users.
With the common consensus that knowledge is power, it’s not a leap of logic to suggest that Brandtology wields influence which cannot be dismissed.
In any case, we won’t have to tell them that – they’ll find out on their own.
No need for pigeonhole for some people. I just go the mike and speak my heart out. But, one must be aware of audience fatique. For the first 10 words you must go the point and let the audience know what you are talking about. Always remember that the people on the panel, who will respond to your questions are smart, tricky and evasive people, especially in the Singapore context. Then you must be hard hitting and answer back and all the time you are on the mike. I experienced this during ST engineering sharehoders meeting. I asked about this company making cluster bombs, a hideous weapon and there are still millions of such unexploded bombs in Indochina, killing and maiming people after the end of conflict in 1975. I shouted,”Did you or didn’t your company make such bombs. Answer me Yes or No. Then that company honcho said they sold them to other countries in the past. I replied that that’s it and you did it. That’s all. Imagine the charged tension in the audience. You just have to be determined and forceful. You have to be prepared for evasiveness. It takes a lot of trial and errors. But, then you get better as you post-mortem your errors. Try it and keep on trying and it becomes a skill and art.