Hey look, I see one.... and another... and hey, is that another one?!

Mobile barcodes - they're popping up everywhere. And if you don't know what to look for, you just might miss them or brush them off as some sort of funny little logo or aesthetic addition without meaning. If that's you... you're wrong.

Also called a QR code or a matrix code, these nifty little images were originally designed to track vehicle parts in shipping, production, etc. The current and projected future use of these has a much larger scope and quite a different audience. What will you need to get in the know and take advantage of this technology? Just a compatible mobile phone.

The idea is that someone can take a picture of these codes with their mobile phone from any number of sources - magazine ad, billboard, buses, business cards - and the camera phone's browser is sent to the correct URL. The codes are easy to create on any number of websites now available and can point to virtually any URL you'd like. (I'll spare you a list of sites that provide this service as a quick Google search will get you there, but I will share this slick little FireFox plugin.)

Don't worry, though - you're not stuck with just black and white pixelated images. As the technology continues to grow I'm sure we'll see many more advancements - even today we can find color differences and very basic images in some codes already being published. My vision is that eventually we'll be able to embed key points within a standard image.
Perhaps a company logo will be used instead of a b&w image - any picture of that logo could then launch the user's browser to the corporate website or custom landing page. Maybe a recruiter (you knew I'd go there, right?) will have an image of an engineer or business professional on a poster or job fair display or magazine ad and a quick snapshot will quickly takes the savvy job seeker to the mobile application site.

This got me to wondering about just how popular these mobile barcodes might be amongst my Twitter friends and thought I'd do a quick Twitter contest. I sent the following tweet yesterday:

What I got back was surprising... 23 responses in almost as many minutes. Roughly 50% of those responses were correct (shout out to the young lady whose response was, "Hey RecruiterGuy it's the phone picture taking upc thingy!") While this response wasn't the winner it was the funniest. Congratulations go out to Shika who sent in the first correct answer with a blindingly fast response time. Since she's local to Dallas perhaps a tweet-up will be in order to present her with her prize.
Buckle up, Social Networks - the fun is just beginning!

While I stumble on these bar codes from time to time I'd like to see and hear from anyone that has seen or used them. Feel free to send me an image of one you've spotted or just a message and let me know. In the meantime, enjoy the below Pet Shop Boys video.... hope you've a camera phone handy.

also posted here...