Mobile Social Networking site and Thief Notification Service, Foursquare, has cut a small (dollar-wise) but big (brand recognition-wise) deal with a Rye, New York manufacturer of carbonated soda.

I've been using Foursquare for about two months and  I am so very proud to be the mayor of my own company. How badly would it suck if I wasn't?

Why do I use Foursquare?  Well it's my job. I'm supposed to be an early adopter. So, now we have a bunch of internet consultants, agency people and marketing types, 300,000 of them evidently, all following each other around.  Like all new things on the web which will someday be huge, it is still a mystery to me as to whether this will take off (which means that it, no doubt, will). 

I can see the benefits of knowing who is where and who is around you and when.  But, I have to admit that, however respected an industry denizen he might be, I do not need to have my iPhone tell me where Cory Trefilletti is every moment of the day.  All I know is that Cory gets to work earlier than I do (or at least he remembers to check in earlier) although I will say is not making it to the gym any more than I do.  Come on Cory, you can do better than that.

The other problem, coming soon to a hysterical Nancy Grace show near you, is that Foursquare seems like an invitation to tabloid hell. When Cory checks in at the gym, were I an axe murderer or second story man, that would be my cue to head over to his house (I know where that is because he checks in there) and treat myself to a nice evening of axe murdering or cleaning out his stereo equipment. Not that I personally have the time or inclination but, I'm just saying.

Anyway, Like Twitter, Like Facebook, Like everything else, this will take off if and when everybody buys in — I'm just not completely sure they will. Unlike Facebook which invites TMI that won't affect your health and home, Foursquare provides TMI which could be physically dangerous in the wrong hands.

It's so easy to love good companies, especially when they're applauded for their innovation and skill at solving all of the problems you didn't even know you had.

But as any political figure knows, for every lover there's a hater. Even Apple and Google, two companies with millions of screaming fans, have gotten some serious anger directed their way. Here's a sampling, as a reminder that you can't please all of the people, all of the time — or even ever.

– 10 Things We Hate About Apple – via PCWorld, circa 2007

– I Hate Apple website: http://www.ihateapple.com. Lame, though.

– 20 things Apple Haters already hate about the Apple Tablet. Oh, and there's more.

– Engadget, catering to the Apple-haters, has even created a custom version of their site where you can "read all the hot news happening in the tech world without the upsetting presence of Apple-related stories."

– Another rant, this one about the iPod touch.

– You know what I hate? Misuse of great domains. http://www.ihategoogle.org/

– 25 Things I Hate About Google (SearchEngineWatch) Again, outdated. Somebody please chime in this year!

– A good compilation of Google hatred.

To end on a positive note, let's remind ourselves that there are still plenty of lov-ahs out there: http://www.idrankthekoolaid.com/. Now that is a good use of a domain name.

Kraft Food has launched a "social media" campaign in the UK to promote their coffee brand, Mellow Bird's. It is part of a larger repositioning of the brand to reach a younger audience, according to Brand Republic.

Sounds like a good idea, right? But don't start patting Kraft on the back just yet, says John Bell in Social Media Today. The campaign is mediocre at best, in both strategy and execution. They want to "target students and give the campaign an anti-corporate feeling" — which he notes is a terrible language to use in a PR announcement — and the game itself on Facebook (where they only had 146 fans) is seeing how many times the user can hit the space bar within 10 seconds. And we wonder why kids brains are turning to mush.

Conclusion? It's nice that large consumer brands are seeing the value of social media and dedicating  budgets towards it, but c'mon Kraft. Don't do things half-assed. A good social media campaign is not cheap. It needs to be thought out correctly, by the right people, and executed correctly, by the right people, or it's going to blow up and turn off CMOs forever. "Well, Bob, that didn't work, now did it. Back to search!"

Says Bell: "Social media
is not a channel. It is a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. It is
time for even 'first-timers' to adopt a true social media strategy."

Superbowl Ad Roll-up!

The Snickers ad was a clear winner this year, because who doesn't want to see Betty White taken down into a mud puddle? The moment was almost as good as when Bob Barker gets sucker-punched by Adam Sandler, "The price is wrong, bitch!"

But with the exception of Denny's screaming chickens, Doritos and Budweiser took ALL of the remaining spots in the Nielsen IAG Top 10 Best-Liked 2010 Super Bowl Ads chart. Same thing for the most-recalled ads, with Go Daddy's terrible-as-always spot grabbing the No. 9 position.

The sad part is, with the exception of Snickers, not a single one of these commercials had any spark of creative excellence. The comments on the Ad Age article back this up:

So, best commercial? AUDI's Green Police, by far. Creative, snappy, effective. I('d) buy it.