One startup that’s caught my attention is the freshly released social start up, WhereBerry. The brainchild of Nick Baum and Bill Ferrell, former Google techies, seems like it could have a fighting chance.

Most social networks capitalize on what we’ve done in the past or what we’re doing now. The logical next step is for people to share what they want to do in the future. WhereBerry, which opened to the public last week, allows people to post activities they want to do… someday – from restaurants they want to eat at, to movies they want to see, to places they want to visit – people can organize and store their desires in one convenient place, turning the familiar “bucket list” virtual, and most importantly, social.

As a society of “dreamers” it is in our nature to make plans and set goals. As a rising society of “sharers” it is in our nature to broadcast these plans to friends. WhereBerry seems to have what it takes to capitalize on these popular behaviors. But it is at a fragile and vulnerable state in its growth, where important decisions can either make or break its success. I believe that if they can successfully accomplish the following, they could in fact be the next big thing:

1. Community & Groups: With the rising popularity of social networks, we not only want to share, we want to be part of a community or group. What users of WhereBerry are going to want next is the ability to join together with others around entertaining, thrilling, educational and delicious activities. Providing users the ability to share plans with smaller, private groups will not only be a feature users are interested in using, but will allow the application to spread virally as friends plan together.
2. Sharing on Steroids: The sharing is currently very straightforward: add to your list, post to your wall, see your friends’ to-dos in your feed, etc. WhereBerry should evolve the “share factor” by using a more complex formula – connecting people who have similar interests, presenting users with to-dos that seem to match with their trends (and location), suggesting plans their friends have, and more. The key is, users want the service to do the work for them and provide them with value they wouldn’t have on their own.
3. Competition and Achievements: Based on your bucket list and the items you accomplish, users should be able to achieve recognition or status for their completed tasks (e.g. Advanced Foodie, Dare Devil, Movie Buff, etc.). This brings a level of competition to the utility and drives participation, stretching users to try more and more – and therefore use the social network more.
4. Businesses & Brands: Selling this idea to brands by presenting the benefits to their business and getting them involved will provide substance to network by providing users with recommendations, deals and rewards, and will be the push to eventually turning this start-up into a money maker.
5. Continuous Evolution: WhereBerry needs to pay close attention to analytics, use, feedback, and the industry as a whole to learn what users want. They need to quickly evolve, adapt, grow, simplify, and integrate in order to meet users’ rising expectations.

The tech world today is a rough one to survive in, and the get-rich-quick theory very rarely applies. In 3-5 years we may see WhereBerry checking “10 Million Users” off their bucket list. Or we may be asking, “What’s WhereBerry? A new BlackBerry device?”

Every generation is put into a stereotype, some they are happy to be a part of… and some they work their life to distance themselves from. I could go into talking about each of the generational stereotypes… but let’s be honest, I’m a Millennial, and to fit that selfish stereotype, I’d like to keep the focus of this post on, well, my own generation.

Despite the ominous title, it turns out Cleveland’s post was about sticking up for his Millennial associates, and bashing all the popular, negative stereotypes… But I am going to have to disagree with his debunk of some major Millennial myths… as I see them as truths.

1. Millennials don’t like the word “no” – We don’t! (But really, who does…) And I think this is a good thing; it comes as a part of a belief that anything is possible. Look at the library of apps we have access to on our smart phones. We can speak French without ever taking a class. We can find our way in a city we’ve never been to without asking for directions. If someone tells us “no”, we take that as a challenge, not a defeat.
2. We have no respect for authority – Ok, now I won’t say we don’t have respect for authority. We do. But as a generation that has had the world at our fingertips – access to every piece of information and knowledge we could ever want with just a click of a button – we don’t rely on authority as much as our previous generations did. We ask fewer questions, we rely on their knowledge less, and we feel that anything they know that we don’t, we can figure out on our own. I blame this on Google. They feed us the false promise they can provide us with all of the knowledge we could ever need and answers to any question we can come up with.
3. We expect a lot without doing a lot – Also known as the… Get-Rich-Quick Syndrome. There is a lot of pressure on us to have THE next million dollar idea. We’ve seen that it’s possible. If you drop out of college, and spend half as much time as you do in a cubicle on thinking up crazy ideas, you could be the next big thing, and happily retired at the ripe age of 28.

As Millennials, we are blessed to grow up in a world that has ultimately forced us into a corner of seemingly negative stereotypes. Like all generations, we are doomed to face them, and like all generations we will likely be criticizing the ones following us as well (I’m eager to know for what…). Stereotypes aside, the point of Cleveland’s post is that “hardworking young people are an asset to your agency”.  And that is the biggest truth in all of this. Our unique generation brings something different to the table that I am proud to be a part of.

The results? Well, beyond the large amount of publicity they gained through word of mouth buzz and coverage of their social stunt, “The brand increased its presence on the social site from around 600,000 fans, pre-Twitter-experiment, to 3.5 million by 2009′s end.”

Many corporations are calculated risk averters. Standards, rules, and processes are put in place to avoid any chance of threat, error, or failure – something that is most often associated with the “unknown”.  Social media – although having been around for a few years now – has a mountain of unknowns due to the transparency that takes place between consumers and brands.  I mean, what’s riskier than putting your trust in the hands of strangers – allowing them to push out messages you have no say over?

Apprehensive to abandon their control, many brands manipulate the medium to protect themselves from potentially harmful consumer messages. As a vehicle fully driven by consumer conversation and content, this ultimately stifles the potential of social media. Ironic how the piece of social that businesses are most scared of… is the secret ingredient that makes it so powerful.

It’s brands like Skittles who have fully embraced social media for what it is that are getting the most out of what it is powered to do. I commend brands like Skittles for their bravery. They put a trust in their consumers that few other brands have the strength to do.

Online video contests are increasing in popularity. This year alone, major category leaders, such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, P&G, Sony, and Chipotle ran contests asking users to submit online content. Now, Terlato Wines International has been added to the ranks. Users love time in the spotlight and the ability to speak their mind! And the brands? Well they get a little something in return as well…

• Brands get the inside scoop straight from the consumer – Why do they love their product(s)? How do they use them?
• User-generated content encourages a viral reaction as a result of consumer interaction. Naturally, consumers want to show off their video, promote themselves, and get votes. This ultimately advertises the contest, promotes the brand, and increases traffic to the site.
• Brands can employ these user-generated videos as a brand-advocating vehicle.  After all, what is better than unpaid – and unsolicited – endorsement?

Want your chance in the spotlight? Visit www.SantaMargherita.us/Contest to enter the contest. Unfortunately, LC employees and close family members cannot enter, but you can still get in on the action by watching, voting, and commenting on the contestants’ videos!