Archive for the ‘Pitches’ Category

Posted on July 13, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Would you check-in to win free Gas? Whrrl partners with Murphy USA for social loyalty program

As many question the value of using location-based services a lot users are still asking the question, what am I getting out of it for checking in? A few years ago using your favorite geo app was just a cool tech/geek thing to do but now it’s all about value. Fast forward to 2010 and the tech blogging space is dominated by post about Foursquare vs Gowalla and very few mentions of the other 20+ location-based apps that are working on partnerships to add value to their users.

Photo via Clickz.

Enter Whrrl, is a Seattle based app founded by Pelago. Last week Whrrl launched Society Rewards, a social loyalty program designed to close the gap between a brand’s online social media presence and real-world physical presence. Whrrl also launched a partnership with Murphy USA for a chance to win free gas by just checking in. From the press release:

… Whrrl has teamed with Murphy USA to reward the customers who love
them. When customers check in with Whrrl at one of Murphy USA’s 1,100 locations nationwide,
they will be accepted into the “Murphy USA Society” and earn a chance to immediately win free
gas.

Now with a chance to win free gas is it enough to make geo fanboys and others to check-in? In terms of value for check-ins what type of location-based promotion or partnership would you like to be rewarded with?

Disclosure: I have no affiliation with Pelago/Whrrl outside of the fact that I’ve met with the owners/team at various tech events and have visited their Seattle based office once

Posted on April 23, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

iPad app review: App Notifications goes 2.0 & why it's my most used & favorite iPhone/iPad app

I get the feeling that if you ask many iPhone or iPad users what is there favorite app you’ll hear a range of apps being games or books or entertainment apps. For me it’s simple app called App Notifications (@appnotification on Twitter). So what does App Notifications do? Well, it does a lot but to keep it simple, it pushes custom content to my iPhone and now my iPad in real-time as it’s created/published. The content can range from RSS feeds, email, Twitter searches and more. I first started using App Notifications a few months ago on my iPhone and fell in love with it as it keeps me updated when tech news and other information have been published and in today’s time sensitive world having news pushed to you vs you have to go out and find it can save you some time. Also making you look smart at the same time by being current on what’s happening on the blogosphere. But remember you have to set up filters, add your feeds and that App Notifications just delivers the content to your device.

App Notifications is not free and does have subscription model for alerts but depending on your industry it’s worth it as you can also use it as a twitter keyword monitoring app. Hey, good service cost.

Recently App Notifications released App Notifications 2.0 for the iPad and iPhone and it work/looks great.

Here’s the pitch from http://www.appnotifications.com

What is the purpose of your application?
Push is an iPhone App that acts as a client for the Apple Push Notification Service. We support push from RSS feeds, Google Voice, Facebook, Twitter, Email, 3rd party with a standard API. We even include a REST API. We also support multiple devices syncing if you own more than one iPhone/iPod Touch device.

We also have a full featured website available at 4push.com (use a desktop browser) where you can read your notifications, change your settings and more.

App Notifications is an iPhone app that acts as a client for the Apple Push Notification Service.
Use our ready-made Twitter, GMail, Google Voice, and RSS notification services to instantly receive new tweets, search results, emails, RSS feeds, or create your own custom notifications with our simple REST API.

If your looking for similar apps, you may want to try Notifo made by NC friend/developer @Jazzychad. Both are great apps either way.

*Disclaimer this is not a sponsored post and they did not ask me to blog about their apps.

What is your favorite iPhone and/or iPad app?

– Post From My iPad

Location:Chapel Hill Rd,Durham,United States

Posted on December 22, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Pitch: Simler.com opens new social community focused on similar interests

The Pitch
Simler.com, a new online community built to connect people with common interests, announces the public beta launch of its service (http://simler.com). Unlike other social networks, which essentially see viewers connecting with the same people from site to site, regardless of their personal connections, Simler is focused on finding similar people through similar interests. Upon signing up, a new user “tags himself/herself” with relevant attributes that describe him/her, and Simler uses these “tags” in order to connect people with similar interests.

Discussion in Simler is used to meet and converse with other users. Users can meet other people that share similar tags, for example, soccer players can find other soccer players on a local and network-wide basis. Users can also find those that have the most in common with them by comparing multiple tags they may share in common. The service focuses on meeting like-minded people while making it amazingly simple to talk to them about the things they have in common.

With an eye for design and an emphasis on usability, Simler strives to make interest-based networking a simple endeavor. Finding other users is quick and painless, and then participating in topic related discussions is just as easy.

“Simler is based on the notion our deepest relationships are built on common ground. Sure, it’s fun to talk to your friends. But it’s even more fun to talk about the things that you like,” said Simler’s founder, Ryan Goodwin. “We believe social media should be smarter, allowing you to not only decide who you would like to hear from, but also what you’d like to hear from them.”

Following a short beat period, the most popular tags on Simler include:

. Video Games (http://simler.com/video-games/
. Books to Read (http://simler.com/books-to-read/)
. Felicia Day (http://simler.com/felicia-day/)
. Design (http://simler.com/design/)
. Dexter (http://simler.com/dexter/)

To get started on Simler, head to http://simler.com and add a few tags about your interests. Soon enough, you will be swinging from the trees with similar people who like the same things you do.

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My first impressions:
Another startup with a monkey logo: See -> http://socialwayne.com/2009/10/11/startups-and-monkey-logos/ . Seriously though, I like the concept of Simler that it connects people by interests therefore making it easier for  link minded users to have converations.

Will I use it?
Maybe, it does have that “another twitter” appeal to it but it I do see the value of Simler too.

What features do I like?

• The navigation
• The sort by tags
• The comments by tags
• The tag stats

What features or information would I like to see:
I have not used Simler enough to answer this question.

What does Simler remind me of?

• Pounce
• Yahoo meme

If you would like for me to review your product or site please email: pitches at socialwayne dot com .
Disclaimer: I have no investment or relationship with the creators of this site.

Have you used Simler before? If so what are your thoughts about the product?

Posted on November 19, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Protect your brand with Claim.io – New site, improved service & Twitter contest.

The Pitch*:
Claim.io (formerly ClaimMyName) now injects your brand into 300 of the most popular social media and social networking sites, creating an account on each site, securing your name and/or vanity URL, and embedding your messaging, logo and links into each account.

Why Claim Your Name?
Brand Protection – Claiming your name and other high value keywords on the most popular social networks prevents your brand from being hijacked and helps ensure that you own and control your presence online. Don’t wait until someone else claims your name and its too late.

Brand Exposure - Claim.io goes beyond protecting your brand. We establish a rich presence on each social network that includes your brand’s messaging, logo and a link back to your primary website. You fill out one form and we take care of the rest.

Search Engine Visibility - Increasing the number of inbound links (other sites that point to your website) is one of the most effective ways to increase your visibility on major search engines. When you claim you name across 300 social networks, each account that we create for you becomes a site that points back to your website.

Today Claim.io is celebrating their product upgrades with a Twitter contest by giving away a Brand Essential Package worth $998. To enter just follow @claimio on Twitter and then tweet: “I want to win a free www.Claim.io account! http://claim.io/welcome/contest” You have until 11:59 p.m. (EST) tonight (11/19/09) to enter. For full details see: http://claim.io/welcome/contest and good luck.

*Disclaimer:
I have no investment in Dandyid or Claim.io but I’m an affiliate of Claim.io and their services work.

Posted on October 8, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Twitoaster launches API and WordPress plugin to bring twitter conversations & analytics to your site.

The Pitch
Twitoaster ( http://twitoaster.com ) – the service threading conversations on Twitter, favorite of New York Times writer David Pogue – is launching its open API on Thursday, October the 8th.

This API will open all Twitoaster’s data and services (conversations threading and archiving, statistics, search…) to third party applications.

This could be a great news for many Twitter app developers, as they’ll find here a very easy way to integrate conversations and statistics in their applications.

Companies looking to manage efficiently their Twitter(s) account(s) could also be interested. For example, it will be quite simple to include their Twitter conversations in their CRM.

For bloggers, a WordPress plugin using the Twitoaster API has also been released ( http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twitoaster/ ). The plugin automatically retrieves Twitter replies to Blog’s posts. These “Twitter comments” are displayed like comments, on the posts pages they are related to.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitoaster
Site: http://twitoaster.com

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Being that Twitoaster WordPress plugin was just launched today and I just installed it here on SocialWayne.com, I wil follow-up with a review in a few weeks but if you ReTweet this post, then you should see how Twitoaster works.

Disclaimer:
I have no investment or relationship with the creators of this site.

Posted on October 6, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

How to pick a twitter hashtag winner with Lucky Twit: Video screencast

When it comes to Twitter you can almost use the line, “there’s an app for that” with new mobile, desktop and web based apps launching everyday. Some apps are for analytics, some are for sharing links and some are for picking contest winners using a hashtag. If you’re looking to do the later, then Kosmix’s new web based Twitter is the tool for you. It’s called Lucky Twit

The Pitch:
It’s real simple. Go to http://www.kosmix.com/labs/luckytwit/. Enter your hashtag in the top right and hit the big red button. Want to force people to use a keyword and a hashtag to win? Put both! Then see the tweets flow in.

When you are ready to pick a winner, hit spin and you are good to go. No downloads, and yes, it works with any browser.

Lucky Twit is the first product to be released from Kosmix Labs, and you can find it now at http://www.kosmix.com/labs/luckytwit/.

To see how Lucky Twit works, take a look at my video screencast

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My thoughts:
Lucky Twit is simple, fast and all it needs is a “cha-ching” sound to give it a little more flavor, then I’ll call it fun. . I can see value in using Lucky Twit for Twitter hashtag give-a-ways and I think I’m going to give it a real-time spin at our upcoming Triangle Social Media Club meeting to give-a-away a ticket to an upcoming social media conference.

Disclaimer:

I have no investment or relationship with the creators of this site.

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Posted on October 3, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

IZEAFest announcement: Sponzai launches as sponsored post platform for bloggers and brands

Whether you agree with it or not, sponsored blog post or tweets which some call sponsored conversations are here and more are on the way. Today at IZEAFest conference organizer Ted Murphy who’s behind sponsored tweets announced Sponzia which works to match bloggers with sponsored content.

The Sponzai pitch
Sponsors write their own guest post including multimedia and links. Sponsors then select the blogs on which they want to distribute their pre-written post. Bloggers earn cash for posting the content.

Monetize Your Blog
Sponzai.com is an online marketplace that allows you to connect directly with sponsors to find sponsored guest posts for you blog. Sponsors compensate you with cash in exchange for you publishing a post they have written. You simply copy and paste a guest post to your blog and submit the URL back to us. Think of it like eBay for sponsored guest posts.

Web: http://Sponzai.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sponzai

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As Sponzia launches and sponsors content continues to evolve, we’ll see more platforms like Sponzai launch. I personally believe in 100% disclosure which something that Sponzia says it will only support. It will be interesting to see which bloggers and sponsors start to use Sponzia.

This is not a sponsored post, I’m attending IZEAFest as a moderator of a panel but I do wish Ted and IZEA much success with Sponzai. Also congrats to IZEA to continue to push the envelope to create products to help the blogging community and companies to monetize their products and services. Only time will tell how sponsored conversations will evolve and how it will shape the blogosphere as readers trust will be tested with blog authors.

What are your thoughts on sponsored blog post / conversations?

Opt-in: Sidebar: The best thing about blogs, they just keep going

Posted on September 30, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

TweetHook: Real Time Twitter Search results Delivered to you (PR) by @jazzychad

TweetHook launches, provides Twitter Search push service

TweetHook.com, a new service from JazzyChad Network, eliminates the need to poll Twitter for data by pushing results to them automatically.

Press Release
The new service delivers fresh Twitter Search results to
customers using web callback URLs, also known as a “ping” service. The
site went live today after several months of testing and development.
Users can sign up for a free 30 day trial on the site. TweetHook is
the second major Twitter service from JazzyChad Network. The first is
TweetGrid.com, a popular online real-time Twitter Search dashboard.

“Many people have asked if Twitter has a way to send data to a
callback URL. Currently they do not, and after gaining experience
writing TweetGrid, this was something I thought I could provide as a
service using Twitter’s API,” said Chad Etzel, creator of TweetGrid
and now TweetHook. “There seems to be a demand for this type of
delivery mechanism. I have designed TweetHook to be as robust and
scalable as possible. There are plans that are affordable for
consumers, researchers, startups, and enterprise level customers.”

When a user creates an account, they can register different queries
using the advanced Twitter Search syntax and assign them to separate
callback URLs. When new results are available for the user’s queries,
TweetHook’s servers will automatically push the data to the specified
URLs and the user can write a script to further process the data. The
key here is that the user does not need to contantly poll Twitter for
new search results. Instead, TweetHook delivers it to them as the new
results are available. The user does not need to worry about the
Twitter Search API rate-limit as this is handled by TweetHook itself.
TweetHook can save customers time, money, and resources by eliminating
the need to create their own Twitter Search polling infrastructure
which can become a complicated task. As Twitter is still growing in
popularity, there is real value in being able to continuously search
for tweets with keywords, phrases, or hashtags. TweetHook makes this
process simple and automatic.

About JazzyChad Network:
Currently, Chad Etzel is the sole founder and employee of JazzyChad
Network. Chad is addicted to programming and can’t kick the habit. He
has been developing with the Twitter API for over 2 years, especially
in the search space. Previous to starting his own company in mid 2009,
Chad worked in the computer networking industry building the next
generation of internet routers. Chad graduated in 2006 with a B.S. in
Computer Science from Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The official website
for JazzyChad Network can be found at http://jazzychad.net.

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Disclaimer:

I have no investment with the creators of this site. @JazzyChad is fellow NC resident and friend. I wish him much success on his new product.

Posted on August 18, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

You want the Blogosphere in your pocket? There's an app for that too. It's called Regator

Available in the app store today is Regator’s new iPhone app  [iTunes link] with the goal to put the “blogosphere” in your pocket. “Regator is a website that gathers the world’s best blog posts and organizes them in a way that makes it easy to find the things you need—and fun to discover the things you never knew you wanted. It’s here to help you find, discuss, share, rate, and organize information on the topics you care about.”

With so much news being posted online in today’s fast past world, Regator’s iPhone is a great way to find and share information online with your iPhone. You can share articles from the app directly to Twitter, Facebook or via email and the app matches the existing branding of Regator.com, green, clean and with a gator. Something to make the bloggers happy,  Regator for iPhone provides a simple text version of blog post to read and provides other related post that you may be interested in.

Regator for iPhone features in more detail:

• Browse posts from over 500 topics as diverse as beekeeping, geology, indie music, pop culture, job hunting, or basketball.
• Search Regator’s extensive archive, returning results that users have described as being consistently more relevant and higher quality than those returned by Google Blog Search.
• View the most popular blog posts across the blogosphere or in your favorite topic.
• See trends to get an up-to-the-minute, spam-free look at exactly what bloggers in any niche are writing about right now.
• Keep up with the newest blog posts, updated every few seconds.
• Read the full text of posts on the original source blog.
• Share posts via email, Facebook, or Twitter.
• Find more information on a story with Regator’s related posts feature.

More fore information check out  http://regator.com/iphone and watch the promo video below.

Screenshots

Also Read: The Blogosphere in Your Pocket: Regator Comes to the iPhone

What app do you use to read blogs on your iPhone?