It’s all fun, good news, and games until you read the fine print and FAQs.
The #squarespace story. Super-simple website creation and hosting company SquareSpace is the latest company to throw out a twitter gimmick. For each of the thirty days running between June 8th and July 7th, SquareSpace has committed to give out 1 new iPhone 3G S. All that must be done to win is to write a twitter update containing the hashtag #squarespace. Sounds cool and simple right? It is. But then we read the official rules and detials.
5. Winning prize will include a $199 gift certificate to the Apple store, which may be used toward the purchase of an 8GB iPhone, or toward any other official Apple products or services. This is currently the price listed by Apple of the most expensive new iPhone, and we were advised by Apple that this is the best way to conduct the giveaway.
6. Should the daily winner choose to purchase an iPhone with their gift certificate, he/she will be responsible for establishing and paying for their own cellular/data network plan through AT&T (or whichever provider supports the iPhone in your country).
So, you don’t really win an iPhone. You win a gift card that you can use to buy an iPhone, and once you get the phone it is up to you to pay for the rip-off AT&T data plan. Now I can totally understand the SquareSpace methodology. It is much easier for the consumer to buy their own iPhone and deal with signing up with AT&T, than for SquareSpace to have to go to all of the trouble. Why not just tell it like it is then…Why not just bill it all as a $200-a-day-gift-card-give-a-way? Marketing and appeal I suppose… Is this just really clever marketing (along with the current buzz about the newest iPhone), or is it a carefully crafted marketing scheme based on deception?
FaceBook Vanity. FaceBook turned the rumor ripples into viral waves earlier this week when they announce that vanity URLs (e.g. facebook.com/yourfavoriteusernametousewhenyousignuponwebsites) will in fact become a reality at 12:01am on June 13th. Many web-o-sapiens have publicly staked their claims by declaring their insatiable desire for a specific username. However, the FaceBook vanity URL landrush may not be as big of a deal as many think it to be. Check this out from the FaceBook Vanity URL FAQs.
Here we see two main things. First, it seems that only Facebook pages are eligible. Pages presumably do not include personal profiles. Second, the page must have existed before May 31 – and have over 1,000 fans before May 31. No real issues here unless a notable brand joins FaceBook and manages to amass over 1,000 fans – then they are at risk of having their “brand” or buzzword claimed by someone else who does meet the quota. Inquiries have been submitted to Facebook looking for a bit of clarification on the issue, espicially because some well known brands with less than 1,000 fans are at risk of having their identity snatched. If nothing changes and no replies are received – best of luck to you and your brand at securing your wanted vanity URL identity.
UPDATE: Small brands are able to protect their brand during the FaceBook Vanity URL release – see the full post at Mashable.
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