Plumber? Telegram? Flowers?  No, it’s the Social Media Roundup.

…or a dolphin.

 

New TXT From GreatWhite32 – OMNOMNOMNOM
Lifeguards along Australia’s Perth coastline will soon be receiving notifications from 74 different great white sharks by text message.  The GPS-tagged fish will each send out a text message when they are within range of public beaches.  An interesting initiative, but I can’t help wondering if Twitter might not have been a better tool for greater public awareness.

I Just Became The Mayor of Random Truckstop (Middle of Nowhere)!
Frequent flyers and local watering hole regulars rejoice!  Social game upstart Foursquare this week opened up its list of check-in locations to anywhere and everywhere you might want to visit.  While I can’t wait to become mayor of my local Tim Horton’s, I’m awaiting the inevitable check-in from atop Everest to claim mayorship of the world.

Nobody Has a Million Twitter Followers
Anil Dash has written a great post on what his addition to Twitter’s “Suggested users list” has meant in terms of actual response and interaction with his followers.  SPOILER ALERT: not a damn thing.  Anil says that his response rate has seen no real change after a more than 15-fold increase in followers, and cites examples from other big names in the same boat, including the Today Show and Starbucks.

What Have YOUR Fans Done For You Lately?
Well, if you happen to be Nine Inch Nails, they’ve produced a free, professional-grade concert video.  NIN offered up their raw footage to their fanbase, and after 12 months, they’ve got a slick production available for download in pretty much any format you could hope for (sorry, laserdisc fans).  Or, if you’re C-Mon & Kypski, they’re helping to create your latest video, one frame at a time.  If you’re Pearl Jam, they’re tweeting like mad for a free single.  If you’re none of these bands, sorry about your luck.

You Will Never Find a More Wretched Hive of Phones and Gadgetry
The 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was in full swing this week, and Gizmodo’s got a day-by-day play-by-play of the whole shebang.  I guess that whole “banned for life” thing was just a phase.  Among the highlights from Giz and elsewhere: Skype is coming to your television.  So are widgets.  and Ford lets you tweet and drive [client].