Facebook Finds Ways Shift Social Networking Offline
August 5, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
By Nick Clayton
Facebook is moving from a purely online existence into the real world. It is experimenting with technology that allows its members to carry out a variety of social networking tasks without the need for a computer or smartphone. Instead they use RFID chips embedded in wristbands or badges.
The system was first tried last summer at Coca-Cola Village, an Israeli amusement park. More recently, visitors to the Dutch Autorei exhibition could “Like” their favorite Renault cars by swiping their badge on special pillars.
This summer the technology has been extended into the hospitality industry. Amsterdam manufacturing company Dorst Lesser has constructed a network at the Ushuaïa Beach Hotel in Ibiza, Spain. This is a new, trendy resort property aimed at well-heeled clubbers. Rooms in the summer season cost upwards of around €500 a night. It is also used almost daily as a paying concert venue attracting audiences of several thousand poolside.
Guests and concert-goers are given a slim wristband which they can synchronize to their Facebook profile. Swiping these across pillars located throughout the hotel allows them to check-in to Facebook Places, take pictures for upload or post a status update.
Other Facebook users can see the content when it is posted on an Ushuaïa guest’s wall. Their friends can then connect to the hotel’s wall and its website.
In the first seven days of operation the hotel says it doubled its Facebook Fans conversion rate from 1,000 to 2,000 a week. Guests took around 1,200 pictures.
Niels Verhoeven, creative director of Dorst Lesser said that every picture posted on Facebook is shared with an average of 100 friends. “That is a lot of media value for the company,” he said.
The advantage for guests, he said, is that they do not have to bring laptops or risk high roaming charges on their smartphones. “The wrist bands are also waterproof so you can go swimming with them on,” he said.
It was Facebook that contacted his company, he said, after it saw the work done for Renault. “They are good at supporting companies that are doing something innovative.” Facebook in turn said it was “constantly developing our services to find synergies between the virtual and real worlds.”
Mr. Verhoeven said the Ushuaïa project and the idea of connecting to Facebook without a computer or phone had attracted interest from hotels and other businesses worldwide. “We’re now particularly looking to grow in India where a lot of Facebook users are.”
