How to use social data to create real-world experiences

Social media is no longer stuck behind a screen or in your phone. Today, marketers and makers are finding ways to meld the digital and physical worlds to give consumers more seamless brand experiences throughout their day.

In our recent Social Media Week Chicago presentation we introduced the tools teams can use to create an experience that successfully integrates digital (social media) and physical (lights, sensors, and more) to create novel, real-world experiences worth sharing on behalf of brands. For an example, we shared our Make Friends, Not Ads sign that lights up when people Tweet using the hashtag #friends and #ads.

View the presentation.

If you want to try and make a sign (or other device) of your own, the following is a list of materials we used to create our “Make Friends, Not Ads” sign.

Arduino Uno – $24.95

Adafruit

Ardunio Uno Ethernet Shield – $45.00

Adafruit

Isolated Relay Circuit (x2) – $9.15

Inventables

Double-Strand Power Wire – $0.60/ft

Adafruit

High Brightness Green Electroluminescent (EL) Wire– $12.00

Adafruit

12V EL Wire Inverter – $4.95

Adafruit