Launched in November 2008, Groupon features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in Boston. Groupon’s collective buying power and massive subscriber list provides deep discounts for consumers and thousands of new customers for local businesses.

Examples of Groupon’s popularity can be seen in their recent Oak Room and Redbones deals, the latter which sold 7,458 Groupons.

For additional information about Groupon Boston please contact Tom O’Keefe at 617-947-8071, via email at tom [at] BostonTweet [dot] com or via the BostonTweet Groupon contact form.

Two years ago Tom O’Keefe decided Twitter wasn’t for him and in his own words he “didn’t get it.” One year later, with the economy crashing, he came up with a concept that he believed could work. Now, 7,473 tweets and 11, 736 followers later that concept,BostonTweet, has become a juggernaut for all things fun in Boston.

Tom O Keefe of BostonTweet tells us how he has created an interactive community forum and the city of Boston is quickly jumping on board via viral marketing and notably using Twitter. He tell us about the popularity of this new type of tweeting, and how other communities can get on board with this great concept.

To hear the broadcast visit Community Tweeting

About Sayabit

Sayabit, pronounced “SAY A BIT”, is a links based file storage service from Sayagle which not only shortens and redirects long URLs but also gives you the ability to upload images, documents & files for sharing via short personalized URLs.

• Upload & store your images, documents, PDFs, excel files & powerpoint presentations
• Transfer large files seamlessly via email, Twitter & instant messenger
• Password protect your important documents & images
• Shorten and redirect long URLs
• Know when and where your files are being viewed
• Personalized URLs to easily share all your files at once
• Access the historical performance of your links & files
• Monitor Twitter conversations about your links & files
• Unlimited memory capacity to store as much as you want

Sayabit is powered by Sayagle and headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Sayagle is the first location-based social networking marketplace that allows users to collaborate, connect and communicate with friends and merchants, anytime, anywhere.

“Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service.”

“Internet users age 18-44 report rapid uptake of Twitter over the last nine months, whereas internet users ages 45 and older report slower adoption rates. For example, 37% of internet users age 18-24 use Twitter or another service, up from 19% in December 2008.

The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. The median age for MySpace is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008, and the median age for LinkedIn is now 39, down from 40. Facebook, however, is graying a bit: the median age for this social network site is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008.”

Can we do it? Make #BostonIsBetter a No. 1 trending topic & tell the world why #BostonIsBetter than other US cities.

To my huge surprise it worked! Bostonians are raving about their city, NY is getting upset at us and #BostonIsBetter has become the 5th most popular topic on Twitter in just 6 hours! It cracked the top 10 in under 2 hours.

Ahhh, the power of Twitter.

Sam’s choice was Under Pressure by Queen and Bowie. Being a massive U2 fan in Boston, where U2 fans are plentiful, I thought I would easily secure the votes needed to defeat the unstoppable Sam Yoon. However, once again Sam Yoon won handily with a 2:1 victory over BostonTweet. Even with the loss, my time on WFNX was an absolute blast! After a few minutes of butterflies I was at ease behind the microphone and quickly became addicted to being on the radio.

A very special thanks for the invitation to @SandboxCharlie, @SandboxFletcher and Special Ed (sorry Ed I couldn’t remember your Twitter ID).

After more than a year of development Sayagle is almost here. Sayagle is the first location based social networking marketplace that connects consumers with friends and merchants in real time. By integrating the web with mobile communications, social mapping, instant messaging and enterprise level security Sayagle has created one of the safest and most effective collaboration and networking platforms known.

SayagleIM enables friends, classmates and colleagues to communicate across all mediums & networking platforms for unrestricted messaging. With drag and drop file transfers classmates & colleagues can collaborate on files no matter the size or number of recipients. Have an event to promote? Create and distribute the logistics via SayagleIM for broadcast to your connections. Think of SayagleIM as command central that controls all of your communication across the major Internet platforms – while also notifying you of events hosted by friends and discounts from your favorite merchants.

When online SayagleWeb combines your real world with the virtual one by being the first platform to effectively create a symbiotic relationship between merchant and customers. This symbiotic relationship enables customers to request bulk discounts from merchants by forming influential buying groups centered around a specific product or service. For merchants, Sayagle’s advanced coomunication tools give you a direct form of communication with users to broadcast last minute specials & bulk discounts to customers.

Set to launch in September 2009, Sayagle Mobile integrates SuperDeals with the communication features of SayagleIM and the mapping of Sayagle Web. On Sayagle Mobile SuperDeals are published to you based on both your home address and your current physical location. Sayagle Mobile is also highly focused on security! With the Sayagle SOS button users can instantly notify emergency contacts of their exact whereabouts in times of distress – giving everyone peace of mind.

Sayagle is the brainchild of Ken Huang who built Sayagle on robust clusters of state-of-art server infrastructure with high availability and implemented with the latest stable enterprise level virtualization technologies and SAN storage. Ken leads a team of experienced professionals who individually have at least 13 years of IT infrastructure experience, 10 years of R&D experience and 8 years of business experience.

For media inquiries please contact me, Tom O’Keefe, at 617-947-8071. Sayagle is currently self-funded but we are seeking additional financing. If interested please also contact Tom.

Sayagle Inc., a location-based services provider, launched in private alpha last month, has future plans to reward frequent users with virtual ‘pets,’ endowed with artificial intelligence designed to fetch and filter desired goods and services. 

The application will let users get together based on location and common interest, to form ad-hoc buying groups that can use the leverage in their numbers to negotiate special offers on goods and services — everything from lunch to concert tickets and big-screen TV’s, said company founder Ken Huang.

“Sayagle is a real-time communication platform,” Huang said. “It actually brings the consumers and merchants — the two sectors — together.”

Huang, who is also a co-founder at the web-based annotation service WebNotes Inc. admits it will be difficult to draw users away from established location-based networks like Google Inc.’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Latitude and Boston-based uLocate Communications Inc.’s Where application. He hopes to do so with a built-in instant-message application that integrates with AOL, Google and MSN chat networks, and allows users to quickly post photos and screenshots for friends.Sayagle bridges the real world with the virtual one unlike any application previously known.  By integrating the web with mobile communications, social mapping, instant messaging and enterprise level security Sayagle has created the safest location based social network ever known.

Over the weekend @BostonTweet and @SJCallan launched a new section on BostonTweet that enables any Bostonian with a Twitter account to index traffic, MBTA updates, news, music and other updates to BostonTweet.com.

By including @BostonTweet and and any of the below hashtags in a new tweet, Bostonians with Twitter accounts can instantly update the below pages on BostonTweet.

• #Traffic – post up to the second traffic updates on the Boston roads and highways
• #MBTA – real time updates about delays and breakdowns on the T and commuter rails
• #News – reports on local news as it’s happening – anything you feel is newsworthy
• #Food – food reviews, specials and any post that talks about food & restaurants
• #Drink – drink specials and any tweet that deals with going out for drinks in Boston
• #Music – gigs scheduled at the bars, clubs and music venues in greater Boston
• #Sports – any tweet talking about social sports or the Pats, Red Sox, Bruins, etc.
• #Sale – tweets about retail sales in Boston
• #Tweetup – a listing of Tweetups scheduled throughout the Boston metro

And don’t forget to follow some local tweet aggregators in your city if you want to find deals at restaurants, happy hours at bars, free concerts, cheap haircuts or just new, inexpensive places to shop.

Search for people by your city name and look for users posting deals in your area, such as @BostonTweet and @NewYorkology, to find gems like this: “@Bostontweet: Free burritos today at the Natick @Boloco from 11am-8pm.”

Thank you Improper Bostonian (@TheImproper) and thank you Kimba (@KimbaKimba) for the photo.

In response I commented that I took the evening off and went to JP Licks with a friend but due to my “suspension” I was forced to contact that friend via the ancient form of communication known as the telephone. This was yet another revelation on how reliant I’ve become on Twitter as a mode of communication – a form of communication that takes precedence over email, text messaging and the telephone. So with that the below headline is hilarious but sadly true.

SHOCKING: Boston man’s Twitter account suspended, uses TELEPHONE to ask friend out for ice cream

When Boloco wanted to set up focus groups, market research that would have cost thousands of dollars, the company turned to Twitter. Pepper contacted Tom O’Keefe, an online business developer (and avowed fan of Boloco competitor Anna’s Taqueria) whose Twitter stream, @BostonTweet, has more than 6,000 followers. “Within one hour we had 50 people,’’ Pepper said. “It not only saved us all kinds of money, but it turned out to be an amazing group.’’

O’Keefe says he started BostonTweet as a way to create awareness for local restaurants and bars in the down economy. BostonTweet hosts frequent tweetups, events where those using Twitter, a.k.a. tweeps, meet in real life.

“It’s great for business,’’ he said. “It gets people in and they spend money, but it’s also a very vocal group. People talk about the event leading up to it and while they’re there,’’ posting to Twitter via cellphone.

It’s also fun. “I meet so many great people,’’ he said. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.’’

Article Source: The Boston Globe and GlobeDevraFirst

Not only does the widget pull information from @BostonTweet but it also allows anyone to post Boston news to the app by creating a new tweet with @BostonTweet in it. 

Get the code to spread the Boston Twitter community.

@BostonTweet & @Sayagle are giving away 2 dozen Sweet Cupcakes (2 $36 gift cards)! RT to enter – drawing on 6/4 http://bit.ly/ibCHl

The power of Twitter continues to amaze me – especially when you have a niche and you target local.  Sweet Cupcakes is a Boston based bakery that sells cupcakes and BostonTweet talks about everything Boston – very straightforward. Well apparently Boston likes cupcakes and Twitter works, because after one tweet there have already been 80 retweets and 609 visitors to SweetCupcakes.com! Not bad for one tweet with at least three or four tweets to go!

Some additional features of interest to me are playback conversations, drag and drop file sharing (instantly to all connections) and the Embed Wave – the ability to embed a Wave into your website which then acts as an integrated chat room.

There are thousands of articles about Google Wave but I’ve found the Mashable article to be one of the best.

• Analytics
• Scheduled tweets like Tweetlater current offers
• Demographics on my followers
• Multiple users/username and multiple mobile phone synching
• Additional exposure (especially via location) for my accounts on the Twitter network

What is Boston Doing Right Now?

To read the entire interview please visit: Spotlight On…

@eknopf2 & @BostonTweet looking like dorks with their iPhones

Best Ice Cream

http://VernacularLit.com

Follow Sayagle on Twitter @Sayagle

Our Twitter apps come with default settings and optional add-ons.  For the breakdown please see below or contact me at 617-947-8071 or email for additional information and pricing.

Default Setup

1. Grouping Tweets into Conversations
2. Indexing Tweets for Faster Retrieval
3. Permalinking Conversations
4. Admin Panel

Optional Add-ons

1. Search Engine for Indexed Tweets
2. Posting a New Tweet from the App
3. Replying to a Tweet from the App

As I previously wrote in Corporate Messaging & Customer Feedback Applications these applications are available for customization for corporations, restaurants, websites, radio stations and any business who wants instant feedback on their product and services.

BostonTweet has been active for just over a month now with close to 2,000 followers and many great conversations.  To follow BostonTweet visit Twitter, to view some of our  previous conversations visit the links below.

• SoWa
• Mexican Food in Boston
• Burritos in Boston
• Late Night Eats in Boston

@HelloVino and @BostonTweet are giving away a pair of tickets to the Boston Wine Expo. These “Grand Tasting” tickets for Sunday, January 25, 2008 will grant admission into the expo at the Seaport World Trade Center in downtown Boston, MA. Over 450 wineries from around the globe pour over 1,800 wines for you to sample!

Contest Rules:

• One winner will be selected at random. Must be 21+ and show ID at expo entrance.
• Entrants must be following both @BostonTweet and @HelloVino on Twitter.
• Entrants must post a tweet to @BostonTweet and @HelloVino with your favorite food & wine pairing, and include the #expotix hash tag. 

For example:
@BostonTweet @HelloVino I am a huge fan of New England clam chowdah paired with Chardonnay. #expotix

We will announce the winner on Monday, January 19th at 4pm EST.

Powered by Twitter

Integrated with Twitter these applications enable users to instantly communicate with their followers, customers and clients.  Followers can be informed via the web and cell phone – both of which you can post from. From your cell phone you can broadcast a question to your followers from wherever you are and on whatever captures your attention at that exact moment. Your post is instantly posted to the application which then creates a unique URL for that post and the responses to it.

Feedback is essential for business – integrated with Twitter these applications bring customer feedback instantly to you, all of which is organized and searchable on your website.  Via our user friendly admin panel, posts & replies can be categorized, organized and/or deleted based on a case by case basis.  Asking your customers to speak their voice creates valuable customer feedback – essential for efficiency, product improvement and public relations.

All of the information that you and your followers post is indexed on your website for users to read, reply to and search for both via the website and on Google. Our custom corporate messaging application is beneficial for any business that wants to communicate with their customers – so basically that includes any business who wants to make money.   

To learn more please contact Tom O’Keefe at tom[at]tokibiz[dot]net or 617-947-8071.

For those interested in adding updates about Boston restaurants, bars & events to their website you can get the widget above (image) by adding the code below:

<object classid=”clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000″ codebase=”http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,124,0″ width=”290″ height=”350″ id=”TwitterWidget” align=”middle”> <param name=”allowScriptAccess” value=”sameDomain” /> <param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”false” /> <param name=”movie” value=”http://static.twitter.com/flash/widgets/profile/TwitterWidget.swf” /> <param name=”quality” value=”high” /> <param name=”bgcolor” value=”#000000″ /> <param name=”FlashVars” value=”userID=17531205&styleURL=http://static.twitter.com/flash/widgets/profile/smooth.xml”> <embed src=”http://static.twitter.com/flash/widgets/profile/TwitterWidget.swf” quality=”high” bgcolor=”#000000″ width=”290″ height=”350″ name=”TwitterWidget” align=”middle” allowScriptAccess=”sameDomain” allowFullScreen=”false” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” pluginspage=”http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer” FlashVars=”userID=17531205&styleURL=http://static.twitter.com/flash/widgets/profile/smooth.xml”/> </object>

Follow BostonTweet at http://Twitter.com/BostonTweet

As I eventually learned a blog is an essential business tool and one that generates all my business, well that was until Twitter. Twitter is a social messaging/notification service that allows you to text updates on what you’re doing right now. You know that one little status section of Facebook that asks you what you’re doing right now? That’s Twitter and it’s phenomenal. Twitter only allows you to send 140 characters at a time but it’s amazing how much information you can learn from brevity. 

In my opinion Twitter has become the best tool for networking with people, connecting with information, marketing and most importantly getting people to talk about whatever topic you’re talking about. These days I have two Twitter accounts. My business is @TOKiBiz and the one I’m most amazed by is @BostonTweet.

@BostonTweet, in conjunction with BostonTweet.com, broadcasts real time Twitter updates about what’s happening right now at Boston restaurants, bars and music venues. @BostonTweet is very focused on local Boston business, which  makes people passionate about voicing their Boston restaurant recommendations. What Twitter does, that blogs and Facebook don’t do (or at least as well), is to get people to think about topics and contribute to the discussion in real time. What amazes me about BostonTweet is people are very passionate about their favorite local people, places and things – I know I am! So when you pose a question about what’s your favorite Thai Food restaurant we all immediately chime in with our vote. This puts the restaurant fresh on our mind and for me makes me want to visit that establishment ASAP. I know I’ve already visited a few new spots based on these recommendations and I’m sure (out of 550 followers) I’m not the only one  - businesses need to get in on the Tweet! I’m definitely going to J. Pace & Son in the North End very soon!!

In my opinion Twitter has become more valuable for business than blogs and Facebook. Blogs are terrific for when you want to be verbose on a topic that you’re passionate about but blogs can no longer beat the immediate influence that Twitter has. Maybe it’s that we can no longer process anything more than 140 characters or 30 seconds of video but those are the influencers and if business wants to survive then they need to embrace that. My buddy at EaT in Portland, Oregon just yesterday asked me if he should spend money on having a website for his new restaurant. I said no way! Create a blog, register with Twitter, and then send updates from your cell phone (while at the restaurant) about what’s happening RIGHT NOW at EaT. With a simple line of code you can notify your followers and update your blog & website with fresh content that will immediately be indexed on the search engines. Your typical portfolio, online brochure website is no longer effective in generating business for offline companies. Sure it’s nice to have an online menu but in most cases it’s not going to generate new business and it’s definitely not going to get people talking. Twitter can!

If you’re an offline business (restaurant, bar, cafe, shop) then you know that word of mouth is your most valuable form of marketing – recommendations from loyal customers. This is what Twitter does for your business and you need to get on board to get people talking and thinking about your business. Blogs and websites are you talking to your customers, which is of course important, but Twitter gets your customers talking. 

As for Facebook I use to think that it was good for marketing but I no longer believe that to be true. Facebook is phenomenal for connecting with former classmates and I owe Mark Zuckerberg a lot of thanks for connecting me with my former St. Martin de Porres (Poughkeepsie, NY) classmates – I don’t know how Classmates.com is still in business. However, as a marketing & networking tool Facebook isn’t as effective as Twitter. In my opinion Facebook’s revenues (or lack of) prove that. Of course Twitter is also trying to figure out their revenue model, maybe someday it will be a necessary utility like the telephone, but in the simplest terms Twitter is an advertising model in itself. Not in the form of banners but in the form of valuable information that’s not clogged with a bunch of spam and excessive text. If you don’t like what someone’s dishing then you just un-follow that person – problem solved. Wouldn’t it be nice if email was like this?

Auction URL:  http://marketplace.sitepoint.com/auctions/53150

•  Annotate the Web- “With Webnotes you can highlight text and stick notes to web pages”
• Organize Notes – “All highlights and notes are stored in folders with your Webnotes account”
• Share Comments – “Pages you annotate can be shared through email or online links”

On their first day Webnotes was featured on a number of blogs including, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, and VentureBeat.

To register for their beta please visit www.WebNotes.net. I also have a handful of invitations available to my readers so if you’re interested just comment (with your email) to this post.

BostonTweet is categorized according to local cities (Boston, Brighton, Brookline, Cambridge & Somerville), hoods (Allston, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Brookline Village, Central Square, Cleveland Circle, Coolidge Corner, Davis Square, Downtown Boston, Faneuil Hall, Fenway, Harvard Square, Inman Square, Jamaica Plain, Kenmore, North End, Porter Square, South End, Southie, Union Square & Washington Square) & @Replies.

Updates are broadcast to Twitter followers, Twitter search, Google, mobile phones, syndication feeds, blogs, and of course BostonTweet.com. For local Boston businesses they can use BostonTweet to affordable and instantly connect with current and future customers.

On Thursday, January 22, 2009, Xconomy will be hosting their annual Battle of the Tech Bands to be held at the Middle East Restaurant in Cambridge. 

The night will showcase musicians (and bands) who are also members of  Boston’s tech industry. The eligibility requirements are:

At least one member of your band must work for a New England-area technology or life sciences company or a venture-capital or private-equity firm that invests in technology. All levels of bands are welcome—from club veterans to garage hackers. All musical styles are welcome. Bands that entered Xconomy’s first Battle of the Bands in January 2008 are eligible for Battle of the Bands 2.

The deadline to register your band is Friday, December 12, 2008 and you can learn more at: http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2008/11/05/battle-of-the-tech-bands-2/

Do you think you are depressed? Only a doctor can diagnosis this for sure and sometimes, they even disagree. This private INFOMED will ask you a series of questions to see if you may depressed. It will also ask you questions to determine whether your depression has a medical or situational basis – or both.

The Depression Screening infoMed (and all infoMeds) can be embedded onto your website with the following code.

<object width=’425′ height=’344′><embed src=’https://www.infomedmd.com/flash/infomed_app_425_344.swf?infoMedId=97&ac=FF3T9UPE6BVDZQZ’ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ width=’425′ height=’344′></embed></object>

Click

Over the weekend Paul Yeaton of Fortunate13 and I were busy developing BostonTweet. The technology has been finalized, but we’re still working on the design. We hope to have the app launched within a few days.  

For now follow BostonTweet on Twitter!

BostonTweet: real time Twitter updates about entertainment, promotions, crowds, events, menus & discounts at local Boston restaurants, bars stores & venues.

Tweet the Scoop: Have the scope on a local Boston hotspot? Email, text (617-947-8071) or @Reply us happenings in Boston.

Boston Business: Connect with your customers and promote your business. Email, text or call 617-947-8071.

BostonTweet will cover Boston Events in Boston, Cambridge & Brookline. Each region will be categorized according to the following neighborhoods:

Boston: South End, North End, Back Bay, Kenmore, Downtown Boston, Beacon Hill, Allston, Brighton, Jamaica Plain, 

Cambridge: Harvard Square, Porter Square, Davis Square, Central Square

Brookline: Washington Square, Coolidge Corner, Brookline Village

Stay current on all the latest postings on BostonTweet by adding the follow code to your website. 

<div id=”twitter_div”> <h2 class=”sidebar-title”>BostonTweet</h2> <ul id=”twitter_update_list”></ul> </div> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js”></script> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/BostonTweet.json?callback=twitterCallback2&amp;count=5″></script>