JG: James Gagliardi

Birdcam

This past summer I received a Wingscapes Birdcam, a motion sensored camera that takes pictures of birds in my backyard. Using Eye-Fi, a Wi-Fi enabled SD card, when the camera takes still photos of the birds, I am alerted via text message that they've been uploaded to my Picasa account. I can also automatically post my favorites to my blog, update my status on Facebook and tweet about it. A fascinating combination of technology and social media.

Shortly after setting up my new birdcam, I began to notice other birds and animals showing up in my photos. Which lead me to head to my local bird store for advice of either attracting or detracting said animals. While I'm there, I see the bird store is on Facebook. As part of their Facebook status updates they share the migratory patterns of birds on my area and suggest food to attract those birds and animals to our feeders, which in turn, sends me back to the bird store for a variety of bird supplies, bafflers, and food.

So not only am I a fan of the bird store, I am also the mayor of the bird store on Foursquare. I have become a loyalist to the bird store, know the manager by name, and more importantly to them I have spent $100s likely $1000s with them because of my social media interactions with them.