Agency THEY helps you avoid the crowd, a true merry Christmas.

Yeah, best wishes… but what about acts? How can you really turn Christmas into a merry one? Most people wish they hadn’t postponed their Christmas shopping till the last Saturday afternoon. Most people wish they had a radar to avoid the huge shopping crowds. And now there’s a (web)app for that.

Amsterdam advertising agency THEY turned to some technology to ease the pain. Enter the Avoid the Shopping Crowds (mobile) site, which detects crowds based on geo-tweets and Foursquare check-ins… and helps you to avoid them. A true merry Christmas.

I really like the concept. And there are rumors THEY will launch several other apps next year based on the same idea (get social media geo info to help people dodge crowds). Question remains to what extent the social media data is a valid way to detect crowds. Especially with a low volume of tweets/check-ins, it’s hard to tell whether a location is busy. Furthermore, check-in/tweet behavior is biased (sharing bias) and tends to favor more techy people.

So, please be cautious before depending too much on the app…

Written in 2011, left as it was.

Original: Agency THEY helps you avoid the crowd, a true merry Christmas, 13 December 2011. Historical links may no longer work.