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We’re always movin’ and a shakin’ here at Whrrl – proud to be constantly pushing out new updates and features that our users have been requesting.
All iPhone users should have a Whrrl update in the app store available for download now. This update includes two significant features that we’ve been working hard to include:
- Push notifications
- Merchant offers (deals available near or at the place you check in at. To read more about our merchant offer program, go here: http://faq.whrrl.com/merchants)
We’ve also fixed a few known bugs in this version too. To get the latest app, got to http://whrrl.com/getiphone.
As usual, we love to hear feedback from our users. Shake your iPhone to send in feedback, or email any thoughts, bugs, ideas, etc that you might have to feedback@whrrl.com.
Whrrl is very excited to support this week’s Blissdom Conference, put on by the lovely duo of Allison Worthington and Barbara Jones, held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.
In case you’re not familiar, Blissdom is a conference for women who “find and express their bliss by publishing online.” While the Whrrl crew can’t specifically make it out to Nashville this year, we still wanted to plan some fun things for the attendees. That’s right; we have a bag of tricks gifts up our sleeves. Literally.
We’re purchased a ton of items that we think you’d love – and laugh – about owning, and we’re going to give them away during the conference at random. Simply check in everywhere you go during Blissdom for a chance to win. Be sure to add #Blissdom tag and tweet your update. We’ll choose winners from Twitter at random and send a DM to the winner, so don’t forget to follow us on Twitter too! We’ll be announcing what you won in the form of a riddle, and you won’t know what it is until you’ve picked up your prize from Whrrl Ambassador Jyl Johnson Pattee.
What are the prizes, you ask? Well, 25 lucky ladies will win items that can or might do the following: Spice up your marriage, make your Snuggie seem SO last year, launch the biggest idea since Google, make the man in your life’s HD TV look like chump change, shed hours off of time spent cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year, make Snookie jealous, and more…
To make your Whrrl experience at the conference even more special, there’s a custom Blissdom Society we created for the 2010 attendees. Just check into two of the following places, and you’re in!
- Blissdom Opening Night Party at Opryland
- Fuse
- Jack Daniels Saloon
- Volare
- Soles4Souls Dropoff (one special prize for the check ins here!)
Three lucky Blissdom Society ladies will be the winner of one of the seriously coolest tech gadgets – the Powermat (a wireless charging station & battery cover valued at approximately $150), which was listed as one of the five best products at CES this year! So what are you waiting for? Check in for a chance to win! We’ll notify who the winners are on Friday evening via Whrrl, and once again, you can pick up your prize from Jyl.
We can’t wait to “virtually” share in the fun with you this year!
Blissfully Yours,
The Whrrl Team
As many of you know, we recently introduced Societies in Whrrl with version 2.3, which launched in December. Societies connect you with like-minded people that check in to similar places. They’re a great way to meet new people, share recommendations and learn about new places to go. For example, I love wine. Being a part of the Seattle Wine Bar Society means that I can learn from other oenophiles about great pairings, varietals to try, etc. I can even find out other hot new wine bars to hit up in my city. How cool is that? After your first check in on Whrrl v2.3, you should have been accepted into the Founders Society and read a note from our CEO and Co-Founder, Jeff Holden.
I’m excited to announce today that we launched 17 more cities participating in Whrrl Societies! That means we have 28 cities total. Is your city on the list?
In each of these cities, you’ll find the following Societies: Foodies, Brewpubs, Indie Music, Sports Bars and Wine Bars. A few cities have additional Societies including Fashionistas, Independent Bookstores, Punk Rock, and Rock n’ Roll. We even launched Societies for Whrrl influencers @katjapresnal – The Skimbaco Lifestyle Society – and @scrappinmichele – The Washington D.C. Scrappin’ Society.
Most importantly, Whrrl Societies are all about YOU. We’re adding new cities and Societies every day. Is your city listed? Is your favorite place in an existing Society? Is there a new Society we should create? Did we miss something? Let us know! Send your suggestions to: Societies@whrrl.com and if you haven’t already, download Whrrl today and start checking in to become a member of the Societies that most represent you. After all – You Are Where You Go!
Yes, you heard it correct. I just went to International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) for the very first time this year. For a gal that’s been in the technology space since Web 1.0, that’s quite a shocker.
What made me want to attend CES anyway? From a business standpoint, we didn’t have a presence with Whrrl at the show, as we’re a location-based application for mobile phones – specifically the iPhone – and as you know, Apple is noticeably absent from the show every year. I worried about whether or not there would be value in me attending?
The answer: A resounding YES.
From the moment I stepped off the plane and arrive at the Las Vegas Hilton Convention Center, I was greeted by many familiar faces: Jim Alden, Keira Dazi, Calvin Lee, Rynda Laurel and Ricardo Bueno. It was safe to say the LA crew was “in da house!” Each explained to me what was located in the North, South and Central halls, what I should not miss (the LG super thin TV, 3-D TV) and to wear some comfy shoes- which I was clearly NOT doing. Hmm. Wardrobe change!
Because I arrived so late on day one of the show, I decided to skip the floor and head out to Aquaknox for the Lenovo event, which included Jeff Pulver from the 140 Characters conference. Safe to say the “who’s who” of technology were in attendance, as I hobnobbed with folks including journalist Cathy Brooks, Shiny Heart co-founder Frank Gruber, Social Media Club founder Chris Heuer, PR rockstar Brian Solis and the Mashable crew- Ben Parr, Barb Dybwad, Adam Ostrow and Adam Hirsch. In fact, it was my first time meeting the “Adams” in person to which I was thrilled after emailing them back and forth for years! I tried to capture the night on Whrrl but it was a total fail due to lack of lighting (note to self: bring the Fastmac with flash next time). Thank goodness photographer extraordinaire Ken Yeung was on hand to snap fantastic pics and capture the event!
Day two of the show turned out to be a day of meetings and not a lot of time spent walking around the show- when would I do that? It was great to catch up with Momfluential Media founder Ciaran Blumenfeld and finally meet Liz Philips from HP. But I know what you are all really thinking- “where’s the party?”
Oh yes, there was a party! The Parnassus Group hosted an event at the Atomic Testing Museum (I know what you’re thinking- huh?) to which I was actually able to capture here. Again, the “who’s who” of tech showed up, including Robert Scoble who was shooting video of a flying saucer (don’t ask), and Sarah Austin who was enamored with Star Trek The Next Generation stars Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton. Again, I was thrilled to finally meet people in person, and Sarah was no exception. I wandered around the museum learning about the history of nuclear bombs while enjoying a cold adult beverage and meeting more people, and seeing lovely familiar faces like my good friend Marsha Collier, an eBay author and customer service expert. So glad that Brian M Westbrook caught us in a “totally unplanned” and “not staged” shot. :)
right image/brianwestbrook.com
Finally on day three of the show I walked the floor! G4TV’s Dave Mathews showed me around the entire convention, pointing out various gadgets that he thought were noteworthy. We checked out the much hyped 3-D TV which ended up making me dizzy. I learned all about Powermats and scored a Speck iPhone cover (won best of show). I even walked by the ultra-douchey Ed Hardy booth, complete with a scantily-clad model showing off her iPhone bling. Check out more of my experience here.
So, what was the return on investment of attending CES, you ask? Well for starters, just about everyone in technology and social media attends this conference. If you’re looking to build new relationships, meet with clients and connect with colleagues, this is the place. By far, the value I received from networking and in-person communication was priceless. And meeting people in person is always a huge advantage.
image/Ken Yeung, thelettertwo.com
In addition, it certainly doesn’t hurt to be up on the newest technologies and gadgets. Working for a company that develops apps for phones, it’s nice to hear what’s new with different mobile providers and be able to hold a (somewhat) intelligent conversation about the latest and greatest.
Most of all, any conference is what you make of it. Whether I was a booth babe back in the day at Internet World, prepping speakers for Ad:Tech, or wandering around CES, you have to have a clear goal and purpose in mind. For conferences where you don’t have a presence or tie-in (like CES was for me), it’s crucial you plan ahead. Think about technologies you want to see, people you want to meet, events you want to attend and meetings you want to have. There’s nothing worse than getting off the plane and wandering around aimlessly. Be prepared and I promise going to large conferences like CES will be worth it!
Last week, we announced Whrrl v2.3 for the iPhone launched in the Apple App Store. We’re very excited about this latest upgrade because it includes several new features that we think you’ll really enjoy. This release is also a major step towards fulfilling our product vision. If you missed Jeff Holden‘s blog post about our vision, you can read it here. (You can also read what TechCrunch wrote about the new Whrrl here).
Today, Whrrl v2.3 launches in its entirety, including the introduction of Whrrl Societies and Fun Facts. Now with Whrrl, you’ll be able to:
- Check in to the places you go and put yourself on the grid. At happy hour? At brunch? At the mall? Check in anywhere.
- Discover Fun Facts about your social relationships with the places you go. Think about the places you regularly visit. How often have you been there relative to your friends? Where do people go next?
- Unlock memberships into Societies with people that have real-world patterns like yours. Have you ever wondered who else goes to the same places you do? How often? When? Find out who else is a member of your societies and share with people who have the same interests.
- Share and Like Individual Slides. You can now share out individual notes and photos. Your friends can also “like” your individual check-ins, photos and notes in real time while you’re out and about. Ask your friends what bag to buy, what to eat for lunch. Put anything up towards a vote.
But that’s not all. We’ve also taken the red ribbon off Whrrl.com. Now you’ll be able to view and sort your check- ins by people, places and neighborhoods. See what societies you and your friends are in. View a live feed of your friend’s activity. Whrrl makes it possible to search within your life!
What do you think of Whrrl v2.3 and Whrrl.com? We’d love to hear! Email us: feedback@whrrl.com.
Happy Whrrling!
John Kim
John Kim is Vice President of Product Management & Marketing at Pelago, makers of Whrrl. You can read more about John here or friend him on Whrrl here.
With the latest Whrrl release for the iPhone (v2.3) that launched today, we’ve introduced a term that I’ve talked about since 2006: ”footstream.” It’s a term we coined to describe something a tad geeky, but which we believe will have profound positive consequences on the way people live their lives.
A footstream is simply a digital record of the places a person goes in the real world. To be clear, “place” is different from “location,” by which people usually mean a point on the planet specified by latitude and longitude. “Place,” as we’re using the term, means a named entity, one that generally has an address in the real world, like the Starbucks at the corner of Spring and Third in Seattle. We like latitudes and longitudes, but we’re fanatical about place, because it is so much more semantically rich than location.
My footstream, then, contains the specific restaurants, parks, bars, movie theaters, hotels, ferry terminals, grocery stores, clothing stores, cleaners, coffee shops, auto repair shops, amusement parks, museums, golf courses, gyms, book stores, campus buildings, department stores, and so on that I have visited. In other words, it’s a collection of the places I care enough about to physically go there. There is a lot of information in my footstream; in fact, it’s a powerful expression of my identity.
I gave a talk at the Where 2.0 conference earlier this year in which I attempted to explain why footstreams are so important. I drew an analogy to clickstreams on the Web, sharing several examples of how massive value has been created leveraging clickstreams, from Google’s relevancy ranking algorithms and cost-per-click advertising to Amazon.com’s and StumbleUpon’s personalization technologies.
Similarly, we believe we can unleash vast new value propositions built upon footstreams. Our promise to you: with footstreams, we can unlock discovery and social opportunities in the physical world of a kind never seen before. Our mission with Whrrl is to increase the possibility of adventure and human connection in our real-world lives, and to us this means helping people to break out of their standard social patterns, e.g. going to the same five or six restaurants, and introducing them to remarkably relevant places to go and experiences to have that they otherwise would not have discovered. Imagine having visibility into others’ footstreams — others who you care about, e.g. your friends or people who share some passion with you. What places would pop up on your radar screen that you would never have thought to look for? What kinds of new experiences within places would you discover?
What makes this difficult is that while clickstreams are intrinsic to the Web — by nature of the fact that the Web is already a fully digital experience, every click is already digitized — the places people go is as analog as it gets. How can we capture the places people “click on” in the physical world?
If you haven’t heard the term “check in” (outside of the hotel context), it is the mechanism Whrrl uses for a person to say “I’m here” wherever they are (perhaps in a hotel!) When you arrive at your favorite coffee house, you check in. When you get to the office, you check in. When you go out for happy hour, you check in. The nice thing about checking in, beyond the fact of adding the place to your footstream, is that you completely control when you’re “on the grid” and who can see your current location.
Whrrl v2.3 – You, As Your Footstream
Up through v2.2, Whrrl has been primarily about “storytelling.” This was a step toward our vision, though most of the Whrrl “iceberg” has remained below the surface of the water. While capturing the place where a story happened was an extra in Whrrl v2.2, you’ll see that checking in takes a very central role in Whrrl v2.3, and you’ll find some cool new benefits for doing so (beyond having the place context associated with stories).
In Whrrl v2.3, you express yourself through the places you go and the people you spend time with in the real world. You’ll see this come through loud and clear with this release, particularly on your Whrrl profile page.
Note: Some of the new features I talk about below, like Whrrl Societies, tidbits about your social relationship with places and most of the website changes will turn on in the next couple of weeks. Honestly, we thought Apple was going to take longer to approve our app, given it’s the holidays, but they did it in 6 days! Rest assured that all of your check-ins will count toward Societies and be reflected in your footstream.
By checking in everywhere you go, you’ll establish patterns. Are you a Starbucks person or do you eschew the big chains in favor of independent coffee houses? Fast food or foodie? Do you seek out brewpubs and microbreweries, or is PBR your beverage of choice? Whatever your patterns, you’ll find yourself being accepted into Societies of the real world, an entirely new concept in Whrrl.
Every Society is a mini-community of people who share similar patterns. Since footstreaming patterns are, literally, voting with your feet about the places that are important to you, therein lie expressions of passions. Are you a diner person? How about dive bars? Value shopper or is quality the only thing that matters? Which comic book stores are the real deal and which are posers? At which places are you a “regular?”
We can’t wait to see where the Whrrl community takes Societies, and we have some very cool surprises in store that will make Societies super powerful and fun.
You’ll also see ongoing feedback about your social relationship with places. When you check in somewhere, you might learn which of your other friends have been there, discover that you’re the 2nd most frequent visitor or learn that someone you know is there right now. The more of your friends who Whrrl, the more interesting and fun these little tidbits become.
Of course, as with previous Whrrl versions, you’ll be able to fully capture your experiences at places as photos and notes. Also as before, you can check in with other people and collaborate on your story. And you can share whatever you’re doing in Whrrl with your existing Facebook and Twitter networks. We’ve made improvements to these areas of Whrrl, e.g. the ability to “like” slides (which enables real-time polling, too!) and share individual slides to Facebook and Twitter. We hope you love these new capabilities!
We’re incredibly excited about this release, but know that there is much, much more to come: we’re already hard at work planning the next release. We’d love to hear your feedback, positive or otherwise, about Whrrl v2.3 (especially when all the features are turned on! J). Don’t hesitate to shake the phone for feedback or just send a note to feedback@whrrl.com. (Just so you know, I read every single one of these.)
Jeff Holden is the CEO and Founder of Pelago, makers of Whrrl. You can read more about Jeff here, or find him on Whrrl here.
