Sep 01, 2011Based on the success of a radio frequency identification system tested at Turkish open-air music festival Rock'n Coke to link attendees with their Facebook pages, the two companies that developed the solution are now making it commercially available for other venues as well. The system, known as Share@Site, employs RFID technology to enable each festivalgoer to "Like" attractions at the event on his or her Facebook page. The system was provided by festival promoter Promart Promotion for the event's organizer, Pozitif, in cooperation with RFID company BilPark. BilPark's hardware infrastructure and software, collectively known as SNoRFID (Social Networking over RFID), is being provided under the Share@Site product name.
The Rock'n Coke festival, sponsored by Coca-Cola Turkey, was held at Istanbul's Hezarfen Airfield in July 2011, and included music, sports, crafts and social programs for teenagers. The event attempts to cater to youths, and features not only social activities, but also access to social networking. As such, the SNoRFID system was developed to allow festivalgoers to connect with Facebook, and to further promote the event among visitors' Facebook friends.
BilPark provided 38 of its RT44 M readers, specially designed for the Share@Site system. The devices operate at 13.56 MHz, and comply with the ISO 14443 standard. Ten of the interrogators were deployed within registration kiosks at the festival's entrance, while the other 28 were installed at activity, food and live-music areas. In most cases, one reader was attached to each sponsored stand or location. "But for larger areas, we used two or three," says Onder Sonugur, a BilPark managing partner. Those larger sites included the main stage, as well as the site's camping and restaurant areas.
Approximately 40,000 visitors were provided with silicone wristbands, designed for the event by Promart Promotion, made with RFID chips from NXP Semiconductors. The tag in each wristband stored a unique ID number. As visitors underwent the registration process, each was assigned a wristband. According to Burak Arcan, Promart's managing partner, the wristband's tag ID number was linked to that user's Facebook user ID (an e-mail address) and password, thereby allowing data to be transmitted to that individual's Facebook page.
Each visitor simply entered his or her Facebook user ID and password at the registration kiosk, and then touched the RFID reader with his or her wristband. That individual was then asked to agree to the "terms and conditions" described on the kiosk's display terminal, and to press "Finished." The data entered was forwarded directly to Facebook's secure login page, rather than to the festival's registration software. The software stored only a "special token"—a unique identifier generated by Facebook, used associating the visitor to that individual's Facebook site.
After associating his or her wristband and Facebook account, an attendee could then begin visiting the 28 RFID reader points at the festival. These points were located at various interest areas, including concert stages, food areas, the social-media lounge, the sports center and so forth.
Each time that a visitor approached an attraction, he or she was given the option of using the reader to connect with Facebook. A sign attached to the interrogator indicated "Like Me," and the attendee could simply place his or her wristband within a few centimeters of the device. That person's wristband ID would then be read and sent to the software, which would forward its "special token" link to Facebook.
"We introduced the RFID wristbands in an attempt to increase interactivity in our festival," says a Coca-Cola Turkey spokesperson who has asked to remain unnamed. "Entertainment and fulfilling our visitors' connectivity needs was our primary goal. The system received incredibly positive reactions. A big portion of the chatter on our festival was about the 'Like Me' activation."
Now, BilPark has developed several other software options that will be offered along with Share@Site's infrastructure, SNoRFID. One is Register@Site, a system for managing information from the registration and wristband-association processes. Another is Photo@Site—software enabling users to take photographs and "tag" themselves, by uploading their pictures to Facebook, where their friends can then view them, via SNoRFID. Photo@Site has two working modes: Greenbox and Regular. In Greenbox mode, a specially designed photo booth is used to take pictures with a specific background, whereas a Regular mode system would have no special background.
Since the system was established at a temporary location, Arcan says, it needed to be designed to work on an unreliable network infrastructure and Internet connection, with several backup options available. "Our local support team is very experienced in infrastructural designs and issues," he notes, "so at Rock'n Coke, that wasn't hard to overcome also, thanks to the quick responses by the [Pozitif] IT team."
"Rock'n Coke 2011 became a trending topic in Twitter, and this year's festival was our most online-talked-about event ever," the Coca-Cola Turkey spokesperson reported.
"We have plans to adapt the system to other outdoor activities, after new adaptations and alterations to suit current trends," Arcan says. Several potential customers are already working with BilPark and Promart Promotion to adopt the Share@Site system, he adds.
During the summer of 2010, Israel's Coca-Cola Village employed a similar RFID system to link teenage visitors to their Facebook pages, giving them a way to automatically share their experiences with friends and family members (see RFID Helps Make Friends for Israeli Teens and Coca-Cola Event Exploits RFID on Facebook). E-dologic developed and installed the system for Coca-Cola Israel, managing the entire event through what became the most popular Facebook page in that country, with 80,000 users and 652,700 daily post views.
