Summary: QR codes are a shorthand way to represent information, commonly used to store special website addresses. Mobile internet users use their smart phones to capture the code, and special software interprets the web address. There are many business uses for this flexible mobile marketing tool.
Before You Start: You are curious about the mobile aspect of social media. You may have seen a QR code on a business door.
Learning Level: 1 | Getting Started
Article Last Updated: Monday, 2 August 2010
QR Code Basics
An example QR code that contains the web address of the Social Media DIY Workshop.
Have you noticed these weird spotty square images showing up on business doors? They are called QR codes (for Quick Response) and you are going to start seeing a lot more of them.
These codes, also known as two dimensional (2D) bar codes, came from Japan where they have been used to quickly scan parts in automobile factories. They are called 2D because they can be scanned either side to side or top to bottom. Normal bar codes can only be scanned side to side.
They quickly became popular when people realized they could be used to create a hardlink, a link from the physical word to the internet. They spread to Europe and are just now starting to appear in the United States.
How QR Codes Work
Smart phones can read these bar codes with specialized software (apps) installed on the phone. You take a picture of the code with your cell phone camera, and the QR code software interprets the website and uses the phone’s network to take you to the internet address hidden in the code. This process is also known as mobile tagging.
How a cell phone processes a QR code.
Business Use of QR Codes
QR codes can be used to hold other types of information, such as your contact information, but the most popular use today is a hardlink to a special website page. For example, you could put a QR code at your business front door, on your business card, in a print ad,a mailer, or on even on a billboard that takes people to a special coupon or promotion page on your website.
You can create your own QR codes from several websites, and you can download the QR reader software for your smart phone from your phone’s software application store.
With the number of mobile internet users on the rise, you can use QR codes to tap into the mobile advertising market. It’s really easy once you understand these few basic concepts.
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Your turn: Have you started seeing QR codes on businesses in your town? Can you think of ways that you could incorporate QR codes into your advertising for the mobile internet market?
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We’ve had these in Australia for a while now. I’ve seen them in newspaper ads for particular promotions for telephone companies, and they’ve been the ‘barcode’ on Qantas boarding passes for a while now. I knew they were a type of barcode, but not all the other ways they could be used — so thanks for sharing that information.
Rhonda´s last blog ..More on writing…
Thanks for sharing, Rhonda. Australia is ahead of the US in using QR codes. Good to know!
I recently wrote a comprehensive technical post about QR Codes – If interested you can find it at: http://marksprague.wordpress.com/understanding-qr-codes/