Studio Musings

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Early Adopters - QR codes and About.me

Bored now - unless it's dinnertime

Wow, three blog posts in one week!  That has to be a record for me - especially considering my struggle to manage even three per month lately.  Is it empty house syndrome?  With Joe away, I'm by myself all day getting work done, and by myself when I come home.  Blogging is definitely better than turning into that little old lady who talks to herself (I already talk to my cat). 

Perhaps it's delayed reaction from our wonderful vacation.  I like that idea!  Bet you didn't know the rejuvenating effects of a vacation can be delayed up to a month after your return?  Or maybe its simply that the dust is finally settling from a busy spring season of finding new tenants for our apartments and getting them happily settled into their new homes.  Whatever it is, my current post is in response to a newsletter email I received from Moo.  Normally I just glance at them, but this time it caught my attention.

QR codes at the Queen Anne Farmer's Market!
So, QR codes - they're those odd little squares that are showing up everywhere.  Every time we visit El Diablo, our favorite coffee shop, my dear husband 'checks us in' to Facebook using their QR code.  Even came across one at the local Farmers' Market!

Now Moo is recommending that QR codes be used to help with individual branding - helping direct people to your website or blog.  And touting their partnership with a new website/service called About.me.

My site on About.me
About.me wants to help me collate all of my online profiles - Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, etc. into a personal landing page that I can customize.  So I asked myself, do I need another page?  Hmmm.....

Sample cards from About.me

It seems low maintenance - more of a business card than a blog.  And hey,  when I checked it out, I could actually get my name Karen Williams as my URL.   That alone sold me!  Yeah for early adoption - those of you with common last names will know and share my pain.

So now I am the proud? owner of yet another web page.  The background image is stock, but I liked it for now.

And back to that QR code thingamagiggy - About.me has an offer for a set of free Moo business cards (I pay shipping), with my About.me webpage and my own QR code directing people to my new landing page.  And  QRStuff will make a QR code for you based upon your input.

So - out of curiosity - how many of you
a) have your own QR codes already (and if you do - how are you using it) and
b) would actually use your smart phone to check out where the QR code led if you were handed a business card that featured one?
c) As a bonus question - how many of you actually tweet or follow people on Twitter?

1 comment:

  1. Ok, as a barely literate blogger, I can tell you I've never heard of QR codes. My hubs has a smart phone, but mine is a smart wannabe. So, I don't twitter either. Guess I'm just the wrong person to ask. :( But I'm glad I get to learn all this new stuff anyway!

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