Here are two great examples of how social can enhance the (typically dull) vending machine experience;

Coke installed oversize vending machines – called the Friendship Machine – with a two-for-one offer button so high up on the machine it required people to work together – giving a friend a helping hand, or rather leg-up to reach it, and get two Cokes to share. Coke sales from the machines were 1075% higher than regular vending machines.

More innovative from a technical point of view is the BevMax 4.45 from  BOS Ice Tea: The South African brand  has rolled out a Twitter activated vending-machine.  To get a free sample, people have to send and share a tweet (@bos BOSTWEET4T) and the machine delivers a free sample (thanks to James Briscoe of Unique Digital for the heads up).

As we reported last year Pepsi has been pioneering the social vending machine last year with a prototype that allowed you to gift a Pepsi from a vending machine (via a SMS coupon sent directly from the machine to a friend, and that could be redeemed in the vending machines).

With the rise of Web 3.0 – the web of things – we think the next frontier in social will be POS and smart connected devices.

App developer specialising in social media and entertainment, Milyoni has just released a new infographic summarising the results of a live concert event on Facebook featuring GRAMMY-nominated Christian singer Jeremy Camp.

The May 9 concert brought in over 10,000 viewers from 47 countries worldwide, and between them they shared 2,700 comments during the live show and liking what they were seeing (proof of demand for adding a social layer to online events). Jeremy Camp’s Facebook page saw 25,000 more likes/fans after the concert, a 28% growth.  Along with the concert, fans could support Camp’s nonprofit Speaking Louder Ministries through a $5 pledge for individuals or $20 for youth groups and receive a 60-day, all-access pass to content from Camp, accessed through the Facebook app.

We’re bullish about the (premium) social + streaming combo because they fit like hand in glove.  Both are live media, and streaming gives people something to talk about and share, whilst social gives streaming a viral edge.  Social channels also make for cost-effective distribution platforms for reaching ‘high involvement’ niche markets.  Expect to see more of this.

Facebook has an early lead on premium (PPV) streaming in social over Google’s YouTube – which should be all over this but isn’t.  But until Facebook video is as intuitive and user-friendly as YouTube, the platform is exposed.  Sure Facebook should be putting its smartest people on mobile.  But with Apple TV round the corner and online video rentals booming – we’d be putting smartest teams on video too.

Have you done any “cash mobbing” lately? It sounds criminal, but it’s precisely the opposite.

A cash mob is an event where people support a local retailer by gathering en masse to purchase the store’s products.

—cash mob n.

—cash mobber n.

—cash mobbing pp.

Spotted in the Boston Globe and Pheonix Business Journal this month (and earlier in the Wall Street Journal) by the ever wondrous Word Spy, cash mobs allow customers to act collectively en masse to help out their favorite local businesses with one-day boosts in revenue to help keep them afloat in this slow economy.

It’s a lovely social idea; the polar opposite of the the popular Chinese social commerce “Tuangou” trend where customers flash mob a retailer and demand a big discount in return for a bulk purchase.

The concept and term, coined by Oracle engineer Chris Smith from NY, was born out of a realisation that happy customers do not need Groupon-style discounts to support good, solid, local businesses.  Create happy customers, they will be willing to help you out in times of need. Using social media to vote on which local businesses to support and get the word out, Chris has organised cash mobs for a wine store, beer store, a restaurant, a bookstore and a coffee shop.

As you might expect, Amex – the poster child pioneer of social commerce – has jumped on the cash mobbing trend with ”Small Business Saturday” cash mobs in which cardholders are given a $25 credit if they use the card at small retailers on a specific Saturday. Kudos Amex.

We think “cash mobbing” is a great acid test for brands and retailers.  Would your brand users and customers love and value you enough to support you with a cash mob?

And is “cash mobbing” a fleeting fad, or is it a people-powered move to humanise – and socialise – commerce?  And if so – is there a business opportunity here – to emulate and build on Amex’s initiative.

Retail for good. Now there’s a powerful proposition.