SpinCycle

I just wanted to post a quick and much deserved congratulations to our friends at CrowdZone for reaching the number one spot in iTunes for free sports apps!  The team at CrowdZone has done an amazing job this year – from the official launch in March to reaching this milestone. We are looking foward to what they will bring us this fall!

Reporter Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera at the SF Gate recently wrote a great article about a survey from The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University. 

The survey polled 895 technology leaders about the evolution and social impact of online technologies.  Not surprisingly, usage habits of Gen Y and Millennials were center focus.  Some say Millennials will pull back a bit but ultimately benefit from information sharing after learning from the mistakes Gen Y’ers are making now. 

“Generation Y is heading for a social networking hangover. Big-time,” said a respondent who preferred to remain anonymous. “The level of personal information sharing – forever stuck in the Web and beyond their control – will haunt many of them as they enter adulthood, like virtual tattoos that cannot be removed.”

What do you think??

Check out what Anthony Bruno at Billboard Magazine has to say about Gravitas client Thwapr….

Brooklyn punk/hip hop outfit the Lordz have become the first band to utilize a relatively new video sharing technology called Thwapr. With it, the band can post videos to their website which fans can then send to their friends mobile phone. The “Share to Phone” feature works much like a Facebook “like” button. Fans simply click on the share icon, enter their friends’ phone numbers, and Thwapr sends the video to the various phones.

Thwapr hosts the videos and formats it to best suit each phone, such as for things like screen size and resolution. In most cases, users will stream the video from the Thwapr site, but users can download files as well if streaming is not supported.

Mobile video update from the Pit Blogger

Thwapr provides similar services for the Vans Warped Tour and the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. During each event, attendees can request to have highlight videos sent to their phone by sending the request to the Thwapr shortcode. And the company hopes to see more uses of the technology by providing it to mobile app developers interested in adding it to their products going forward.

The idea behind it all is to circumvent some of the problems in transmitting video content between phones, particularly when using the MMS multimedia messaging format. While MMS is a standard format for multimedia messaging, the way content sent through it is not always rendered the same way due to device incompatibility and the way different operators transmit video. For instance the video may not take up the full screen of the device, and in some cases the length of video may be limited to as low as 30 seconds.

Where has basic business etiquette gone?

This is a question I find myself asking more often these days.  Frequently I am stunned by the lack of basic politeness and recognition of how to interact with employees, business partners, etc.  Perhaps the absence of even the most basic courtesies is a product of being trapped in a fast-paced, email-driven work environment where the standard these days is “do more with less.”

While we are all busy and carrying a huge load, what makes any business relationship evolve from ho-hum to really valued and extraordinary can be the smallest gesture – a compliment, a thank you note, etc.  As business people, we do not get these nearly enough and it makes such a huge difference when these things are different.  A small bit of recognition can motivate people to move mountains for you.

Here is a great little resource for how to write a great business Thank You note. http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Business-Thank-You-Note

A few words of wisdom from our friends at Inflexion Advisors….

I received an email on Monday from a respected colleague who asked -

“I’ve followed you on Twitter for some time now and always find your live conference coverage to be extremely helpful. How exactly do you go about live tweeting? Is there a protocol? Do other conference attendees find it annoying? Give me a few tips and tricks when you have a second.”

Although I am by no means the master in this area and there is no formal protocol, here are some common sense ideas to get you clicking away in no time.

Pre-Event Planning

There are a few basic things you must do before you walk into the room and pick up your badge:

• Get A Press Pass: More PR and media relations staff are treating bloggers and tweeters as “new media press” so try and secure a free pass. If your intention is to cover the event for your online audience be sure to emphasize your reach, influence and network effect.
• Verify WiFi/Cell Coverage: Ask whether the venue has either free wifi or strong cell reception. WiFi is typically very expensive for conference organizers and good cell coverage is often more challenging than you’d think.
• Confirm The Hashtag: As opposed to creating your own, ask the conference organizers if there is an official hashtag for the event. If they don’t understand the words coming out of your mouth and think a “hashtag” is some sort of drug label, feel free to get creative.
• Configure Your Applications: Whether you intend to use your laptop or smart phone, but sure to preprogram your tools (such as TweetDeck or Twitterrific) with the appropriate hashtag so that you’re not fumbling when the lights go down.
• Bring Your Charger(s): I know, I know, this one is painful and it’s happened to me more than once. Do not forget your charger(s)!!

“Live At The …”

The keynote is about to begin and it’s time to get to work. What’s the best way to cover the event?

• Be A Wallflower: Like it or not, most traditional conference attendees will think you’re being extremely rude by clicking away during the presentation. Shy away from the front tables and instead choose a spot toward the back of the room. You’re more likely to find power plugs and won’t disturb those around you.
• Set The Stage: Just like CNN, your followers may tune in to your Twitter stream at various points throughout the day. Level set with a tweet or two every few hours that describes the event’s purpose, location and name.
• Use Attribution: If someone says something interesting, either use “- per [name]“, actual quotation marks and/or a reference to their firm. If you don’t explicitly state the source, your followers will be confused and may take the statement out of context.
• Follow Others: Check the hashtag with some level of frequency to determine if anyone else in the room is covering the event as well. This is a good way to connect in real life and potentially divide and conquer across simultaneous tracks.
• Perpetuate The Conversation: Although this can be difficult, watch for those statements that triggered interest among your followers. To the extent possible, reply to their comments, retweets and thoughts during breaks or the sessions themselves.

Post-Event Wrap Up

The curtain drops and another event is in the can. Now it’s time to head home and make sense of it all. What’s next?

• Measure Your Success: Use sites such as What the Hashtag?! to find some amazing statistics on the event, including the number of tweets, contributors, tweets per day, retweets and the like. This helps to justify your impact the next time you ask for a free conference pass.
• Blog Content: For the past three events I covered, nearly every cogent thought and worthwhile nugget was tweeted. Upon my return I used tools like Twitter search to revisit the hashtag driven-content as source material for my blog posts.
• Thank Your Hosts: If you want to be invited back, but sure to tip your hat to the hosting organization. This is another no-brainer that I have seen my new media colleagues neglect time and time again.
• Thank Your Followers: Also thank those who participated in the conversation and helped get the message out. Remember that without them you wouldn’t be there at all.

If you follow these simple rules I’m confident that conference organizers, your fellow attendees and online followers will be pleased with the results. What did I forget? I’m certain there are other wonderful ideas so please share your conference tweeting tips and tricks and let’s keep the conversation going.

Posted at AppleTell

Everyone who’s ever bought an Apple product (or any piece of technology for that matter) knows they can be quite expensive. Losing something with such a large monetary or personal investment behind it would certainly ruin your day regardless of what may have happened beforehand. That’s why it’s important to take the extra step to put yourself in the best position if something like this were to happen (maybe the developer who left the iPhone at a bar should read this). While the only thing that can be done to prevent yourself from losing a device is simply being careful, there may be one thing you can do to help yourself out if you ever do accidentally lose on of these devices. What is it? Put your trust in the good samaritans left in the world.

TigerTag does just that. Here’s how it works. First, you set up an account using your email address of Facebook. Then, you begin registering your devices with their website in order to keep track of them. This is done by simply entering in a few details about them in your account. However, the awesome part is how TigerTag plans to help find these devices are they to be lost. Using simple stickers about a centimeter long and a third of a centimeter or so tall, you can log ID numbers of your devices. The stickers, which can be ordered in sets of ten from their site for solely the cost of shipping, read “Return for reward. TigerTag.com.” and then a serial number unique to that sticker. Put this sticker somewhere on your device, log the number, and you’re done. Better yet, if you don’t want stickers you can even simply etch or create your own way of putting the notification and ID on the device.

Now, how does this help you if you are to lose the device? Well, assuming the person who finds it intends on returning it, hopefully they will find this sticker and go to TigerTag’s site. When they do so, they’ll have the option to enter the ID number into their database where the finder will then have access to the email address of the person who lost the device. The intent is that this will lead to some sort of resolution among the finder and the loser for returning the item.

Even though relying on the good intentions of others may be iffy, this is definitely a simple way to at least assure a tad bit more piece of mind when you lose your gadgets. Although I am extremely careful with where I put mine, I’ve already placed their stickers on my iPhone, Nikon D90, wallet, MacBook Pro, and iPad. Who knows, maybe one day it will come in handy. If not, well at least I tried. Go ahead, check the site and idea out, it’s definitely a neat idea that takes advantage of how tech centric our lives have become

Gravitas client Thwapr gets noticed by Mashable for their deal with NHL team Phoenix Coyotes.  Mobile Video Becomes a New Marketing Tool for NHL Team (mashable.com)

 

 Fans can text message “coyotes” to 757575 or sign up online to get video links via text message that will be viewable on more than 250 mobile phones. They can also share video with other mobile users or post links to their Twitter() or Facebook() pages. The Coyotes are also cross-promoting the Thwapr mobile updates at home games via the in-stadium Jumbotron.

For sports fans, the ability to get mobile video updates from their favorite teams is pretty cool. What we continue to like about Thwapr is how well the service works on a variety of platforms.

 What do you think about how sports teams are using mobile video to reach fans? Let us know!

Here at Gravitas we were thrilled to work with CrowdZone, an exciting new mobile application that is a must-have for sports fans. Below is an article that appeared on TechCrunch following the launch of CrowdZone’s iPhone application.

TC50 Demopit Winner CrowdZone Launches Mobile Social Network For Sports Fans

At last fall’s TechCrunch50 event, Chyngle was voted by the crowd as best demopit startup for its branded mobile marketing apps for sports stadiums. Now Chyngle has partnered with mobiTeris to rebrand and reinvent its application as CrowdZone, a free iPhone app that acts as a mobile social network for crowds at sporting events.

CrowdZone’s app allows users to “join” a crown or start a crowd around a sports event. While the app is location-based, you can also participate from your coach and can use the app’s functionality even if you aren’t at a particular event. Within a crowd in the app, you can check-in to a game, similar to a check-in on popular mobile social network Foursquare. Once you’ve checked in, you can see other people who are using the app and where they are located in the crowd.

You can share comments and pictures with your crowds and participate in “fan activities,” such as cheers or the wave. And as you participate in the application, you earn activity points and badges, with the aim of achieving the “Crowd MVP” status at an event.

Although partnerships with sports teams and stadiums aren’t necessary for the app’s functionality, CrowdZone already has one professional sports team that is on board with its offering. The NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes will be promoting CrowdZone’s app to their fans through television and radio ads as well as on their Web site, Facebook and Twitter fan channels.

Chyngle and CrowdZone’s co-founder Todd Sullivan says that revenue hasn’t been turned on yet, but the startup is looking to monetize the app in a variety of ways. Sullivan says that teams could possibly leverage a CrowdZone network to identify and message influential fans. Sullivan adds that CrowdZone also provides a channel for teams to engage in commerce with their fans around virtual and real-world goods. CrowdZone’s real-time analytics, generated from crowd behavioral and location data could provide teams with valuable insight.

One of the biggest challenges CrowdZone will face is actually getting users to download and use the app. But if the startup continues to get endorsements and publicity from professional sports teams, the app could gain popularity as a niche mobile social network for die hard sports fans.