Stickybits Review – CONNECT THE REAL WORLD WITH YOUR MOBILE
Guest Post By Josh Nekrep
Stickybits is a mobile-app-meets-web service that allows you to scan a bar code – just about ANY bar code – with an iPhone or Android device, and “tag” it with rich media content such as photos, video, audio, or text. Should anyone else scan this same bar-code using the app, they will be able to see your tag and even add a tag of their own. In this way, small ad hoc “communities” can form around any product with a UPC.
So what, right? That’s what I thought at first too. It didn’t take long however before I discovered a way to implement this into my Real Estate business and I haven’t looked back. What really got me excited was the discovery that you can generate your own Stickybits bar-codes directly from their site. These .PNG files can be printed and included on just about anything. Now we’re talking!
Where have I found Stickybits barcodes to be useful? I’ve been attaching a new Stickybits barcode to each listing, placing it on the feature sheets and even on my Yard Signs. Then I tag the barcode with photos, video and, of course, my contact information. In the same way you might use a brochure box to provide information to those driving or walking by, the casual home shopper is able to get as much information as I care to provide directly on their smart phone.
The app is free (my favorite kind!), and currently available for iPhone and Android. You can go ahead and scan the barcode in this post. It will show you a listing I had a couple months ago. I’m not using it anymore, so feel free to tag a comment if you like and I’ll leave it up! You do have full control over any barcodes you create on the site, so you needn’t worry about someone “vandalizing” your barcode. It hasn’t happened to me yet and if it does you can edit the comments.
Perhaps the only drawback is the fact that it’s limited to iPhone and Android (81% of the smart phone market). This is why I’ve started experimenting with QR Codes and Microsoft Snap-it Tags. Between the three, you can hit all the major smart phones. Perhaps my next listing will include all three!
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Thanks for the info! Can’t wait til I can get it for the Blackberry!
Thanks for the informative post Josh. Love the play at home as you read option. Congrats on the custom URL it was much deserved. I really appreciate the how and why.
this is another great way to be able to promote everything we do to the mobile devices. I am using the QR codes but will certainly give this one a try as well.
Jean Richer
Ottawa, ON
Very cool. Can’t believe how easy it was to scan your barcode right off of the monitor!
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I can see how the barcodes may seem more familiar to consumers than the QR codes at the moment.
This is really cool! I like the potential.
Not sure if it’s my phone, but I scanned it and it is taking forEVER to download. Is that to be expected?
on a side note, love the video. can you share what software you used and the details of how you attached the barcode to the video?
This is mad cool. A great app for my droid. Thanks!
This can save so much time and effort with printing info sheets. Great ink today at agent reboot houston. Thanks for informing tme on some more of the tech side of real estate!
Chris, Thanks for staying on top of the cool tools. The video using Stickybits was good. Thanks.
Adam Remer
Huntsville, AL
My EVO accepted the app but won’t scan the bar code. Can you help?
Are you able to track hits for the barcode? Curious what kind of traffic and/or contributions you have seen.
What a great tool & tip.. Thank you for sharing…
My mind is racing now trying to think of all the things I can do with this.
This is great. I love the idea of putting a barcode(loaded with information) on property fliers! It would be even better though with some type of information capture feature, similar to the 800 call capture phone numbers.
@DONA: The vid was shot with a simple Cannon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph… basic consumer camera.
I then used iMovie on my Mac to do some *very* basic edits and add background music, and then fired the vid back to to my iPhone.
Then, after scanning my barcode I selected “Add bit” and chose “Video”, then opted to “Choose a video” from my Library.
Truthfully, I wasn’t satisfied with the video myself. Too shaky. Seemed like the Blaire Witch Virtual Tour to me.
But I’ve only recently started doing video walkthroughs. I’m working on something cool right now that I might fire at Chris when I’ve got it worked out. Stay tuned to TSA! 
@COLIN: Sure can, right down to the (approximate) address. It relies on locations services. I can tell you how many people scanned it and where they were when they scanned it. This helped me track (roughly) how often the scans were from my Feature Sheets later, and how many were off my yard sign.
I’ve yet to see any contributions. Those who scan just collect the information. No one has actually tagged one of my codes themselves, though they could. But in this context, it’s more of an information delivery mechanism. On that barcode I posted, I got 17 scans (before the TSA post) in the 8 days the house was on the market before selling (my market rocks right now
).
As an added value, I get questions and positive feedback from people during and open house when they see that code on the front page of the Feature Sheet. That’s worth something too.
@CHERI The folks at Stickybits claim they’ve got a Blackberry version of the app in development.
Thanks for the great feedback guys.
Cheers!
Josh
One final note: I guess I should have mentioned… this barcode was scanned 40 times since yesterday morning when this TSA post went live. Below is a screenshot of the location distribution of those who scanned as a result of TSA
http://screencast.com/t/MzYwOGM4Mz
Cheers!
What a great idea! I may not look tech savvy, but you will make me stand out in the crowd! thanks for sharing!
Kim
Thanks so much for your sharing and insight. It was so easy it was scarry!
lol.
Thanks again!
Not sure why I would need to mess with QR codes when there’s StickyBits. Oh right, it’s limited to just a few phones (for now). Very cool! Creepy vid as all get-out but very cool app. Thanks for sharing!