O’Reilly is publishing a book on Building the Realtime User Experience that looks good and I’m looking forward to reading it when it’s published soon or in advance (reviewer copy).

“…The Web is increasingly happening in realtime. With websites such as Facebook and Twitter leading the way, users are coming to expect that all sites should serve content as it occurs—on smartphones as well as computers. Building the Realtime User Experience (O’Reilly Media, $34.99 USD) shows you how to build realtime user experiences by adding chat, streaming content, and including more features on your site one piece at a time, without making big changes to the existing infrastructure. You’ll also learn how to serve realtime content beyond the browser”.

Real Time data collection and action is where I’m focusing a lot of my attention lately and this reminds me of a post I read yesterday about what FourSquare is doing with custom hardware devices for recording venue check-ins.   I have often envisioned the need of QR Codes on mobile phones with QR Readers and built in online coupons as ways to harness real time data, store it in a easy to read format and act on it.

In Foursquare Extending The Physical Reach Of Offers And Hints At Hardware Integration I got a glimpse of what FourSquare and Facebook have been doing in this area.

“…Foursquare hints that in the future, the service will try to tie-in Foursquare with pieces of hardware to make it more seamless to use. For example, they mention barcode scanners as one possibility. A barcode scanner with Foursquare capabilities could be useful for both users and partners, as it would definitely reduce the friction for using the service, as Foursquare puts it.

This type of system would be a bit like the Facebook Presence system that Facebook has been toying with for a while (notably with their keg). This system requires people to carry around a card with an RFID chip (such as on an employee badge) that a scanner can then read and automatically check a person in someplace.

While some will be offended at Facebook’s Presence System’s RFID tracking I think this tracking makes sense and devices are being evolved to make real time data tracking and actions easier to compile and act on.

Meanwhile, FourSquare also updated their Loyalty Programs and published a post on the company blog titled – The loyalty program system within foursquare continues to evolve…” along with some analytics and hard numbers detailing how effective the loyalty programs have been so far.  Here’s some examples:

“…AJ Bombers, a local burger spot in Milwaukee has seen a 30% increase in menu item purchases from running both a Special (free cookie if you add a tip!) and mayor offer (free burger!)

Joe, the owner, has leveraged foursquare in other innovative ways to drive foot traffic – he was the first to hold “Swarm Badge” and “I’m on a boat” parties for customers!

We LOVE stories like these. We’re deeply motivated to build the best tools to help our merchants use foursquare to get their customers excited about frequenting their venues, while offering sweet deals for our users.

+ Starbucks: Starbucks offered $1 off any size  Frappuccino® for its mayors. Since running their  Mayor Special on foursquare, Starbucks (already the most checked in retailer on the platform prior to running the Special) has seen a 50% increase in Check-Ins at its locations. Also, not only are our users excited about the competition the mayor deal createsbut they’re also welcoming the opportunity to try new products!

It seems like “redemption systems” is where FourSquare will focus on onging.

As technology advances and Point of Sale systems get smarter, this responsibility can move from humans to barcode scans, loyalty card integrations and other means, thus reducing the potential friction.

I think by next year we’ll be seeing more businesses saying they don’t have the means to figure this all out and will want a simple solution that includes social media they can use with much less effort.

While thinking about Real Time Data – the type that Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare generate it’s harder for me to seporate Web Analytics data and uniformly say – no, this is not real time data, and often such data can be acted on fairly quickly (as long as you understand the data your collecting).  Phil Kemelor has a great post on what you can collect and how to collect it (if your a governmental agency) in a post titled “What the New OMB Guidance on Web Measurement Means for Federal Agencies?“.

I was reading an article in the New York Times on The American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation while noting just how bad things have become in terms of looking for most kinds of work.  For sure, there are many factors at work to keep the economy depressed but the hardest for many to stomach is the United States is no longer the dominant global force it used to be even a few years ago.  And  Boing Boing echoed the New York Times in  post a few days ago while others are citing that deflation is setting in.

Well, that’s about it for this post – a nice long day and it’s time to end it with some sleep.