If you’re a fan of hip hop, funk and electronica, chances are you’ve heard the hot new track from Bystorm/Jive recording artist Miguel called “All I Want is You” featuring J Cole. Miguel has a sexy, sleek and smooth vibe and is being called out as a captivating singer, songwriter, producer and performer. If you haven’t heard the track, you can listen here.

Miguel is kicking off Labor Day weekend by performing on September 1^st at Eva Longoria Parker’s glamorous Eve Nightclub in Las Vegas. If you want to be seen on the strip with celebs like Kim Kardashian, Prince, will.i.am and Eva herself, then Eve Nightclub is the place. And by checking in on Whrrl, you can be seen with Miguel!

That’s right – Miguel is giving four lucky pairs of winners VIP access to watch his performance at Eve Nightclub and meet him afterwards! All you have to do is check in on Whrrl at Eve Nightclub on September 1^st for a chance to win. Imagine partying the night away VIP style with Miguel – you know what they say about what happens in Vegas…

When you check in, you’ll also become a member of Miguel’s exclusive “All I Want is You” Society on Whrrl. Miguel has added recommendations about the hottest, sexiest places to go in Sin City. You can add your own recs, too, and show Miguel (and your jealous friends at home) that you’re a Vegas insider.

And don’t forget to check in on Whrrl for a chance to win free food, drinks, bottle service, show tickets and more from Vegas’ world-class hotels, restaurants and brands. To learn more, click here.

Are you in?

… and now your business can participate in Society Rewards, too!

If you’re anything like me, then you know getting off that plane in Las Vegas means you’re already taking a gamble. Between the world-class  hotels & resorts, entertainment, fine dining  and nightlife, you know it’s going to be an adventure. I always struggle with where to go and what to do because it’s simply overwhelming!

What if I said you could check in on Whrrl and not only find the hottest recommendations things to do in Vegas delivered right to your phone – but also that you could win *before* you hit the casino floor?

It’s true! Whrrl expanded its Society Rewards Program and partnered with the top hotels, resorts, restaurant, entertainment and nightlife in Vegas to offer you super cool, free stuff when you check in. It’s that simple. What will I win, you ask?

Cirque du Soleil: Free tickets to Mystère or tickets starting at $50 for six of their popular Las Vegas productions.

The Mirage Hotel and Casino: Complimentary Red Bull and vodka cocktails at the Race and Sports Book Bar or Onda Wine Lounge for 250 lucky winners.

Luxor: Complimentary appetizer with the purchase of an entrée at Tacos & Tequila (T&T), a flavorful Mexican restaurant.

PURE Management Group: Free drinks, meals and bottle service at their popular Vegas restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

N9NE Group: Free VIP tickets to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Palms Pool on August 14, 2010.

Sierra Gold: Free cocktails including beer, wine and well drinks.

But that’s not all. Checking into each of these places will immediately grant you membership to their Society. Why does this matter? Because you’ll be able to view and swap recommendations about the hottest things to do in Vegas with other people that have similar interests to you.

For instance, if you recommend to other Cirque du Soleil Society members that Mystere is a show they should not miss, you’ll earn points for that rec. Additionally, you’ll earn points when someone both wants to do your rec, and then actually does it. The more points, the higher you level up in Societies. And the higher you level up in Societies, the better chance you have to WIN!

Does Society Rewards sound like the perfect program to reward your loyal customers? Now you can join the program online at: http://rewards.whrrl.com It’s free to sign up, and Whrrl Society Rewards offers:

Measureable results: See who is checking into your business and what they have to say.

Virality: Recommendations are shared to networks including Facebook and Twitter.

Community: Extend your brand into mobile and build a strong community of loyal customers helping each other.

So, I know don’t know about you, but these odds sound pretty darn good! :)

We have more news in the coming days and weeks about Society Rewards, including a special VIP event at Eva Longoria Parker’s Eve Nightclub. Stay tuned!

Read the official press release on the Vegas Society Rewards here.

The countdown begins this week for BlogHer 2010 – and I’m more than excited to be joining the masses of bloggers, Tweeters (and soon-to-be Whrrlers, if you’re not already) in New York City!

We have tons of fun things planned for our bloggy friends while in The Big Apple, including giving away more than TWO THOUSAND dollars in prizes!  You’ll find Whrrl (and me!) here:

Crazi Beautiful’s I Heart New York Social:

We know this will be many bloggers’ first trip to New York, and you’ll want to hit up all the “must-see” NYC sites – The Met, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum and more. One-hundred lucky ladies attending CraziBeautiful’s I Heart New York Social on Thursday will receive The New York Pass in their swag bags. This pass is the ULTIMATE New York tourist pass – free entry to more than 55 locations across the city and skipping line privileges (it would normally cost you $800 for all the entry fees!)

We’ve created the I Heart New York Society, which includes most of the must-see destinations on the pass. (Psst…if you don’t get a pass or an RSPV to the party, you can still follow along in Whrrl from your mobile phone with the Society, so join now by clicking the link!)

We’ll be giving away more than $2,000 in prizes for checking in on Whrrl at one of the sightseeing places on The New York Pass.

Each time you check in to a place with a prize, you’ll get a chance to win. (Each check in to a prize-holding place within a 24-hour time frame will receive a chance to win.)

Here’s what you’ll get, and where:

• The Empire State Building: One lucky lady will win a Dell Mini Inspiron Netbook ($299), and two gals will win NuSkin’s ageLOC Transformation Package (more than $400 value)
• Statue of Liberty: Summer Heat Beach Bag Packages from NuSkin with an ageLOC Galvanic Spa in each bag (three total – each worth more than $400)
• Madame Toussad’s: A silver charm bracelet from Lisa Leonard Designs
• Museum of Modern Art: A $250 leather bag (in black) from Hobo
• The Met: The “Help Me Be Good” children’s book box set from Joy Berry (winner of the iParent Media Award and worth $128!) and an interactive “I Love Potty Training” app for iPhone from Joy Berry.
• Guggenheim Museum: Another free one-day pass from The New York Pass (worth $58)
• UPDATE: American Museum of Natural History: iLuminess Airbrush Cosmetic System ($229)

And there’s more prizes coming! Follow Whrrl on Twitter – we’ll be Tweeting in the #BlogHer stream, announcing prizes and chances to win throughout BlogHer10!

Sex and the City Whrrl Walking Tour through NYC:

I’ll be leading a Sex and the City walking tour through a few spots in NYC that the ladies filmed at, including Carrie’s doorstep and the garden where Steve and Miranda were married. We’ll also stop to taste the infamous Magnolia Cupcakes that Carrie and Miranda love – and I’ll be teaching a Whrrl feature at each stop. If you’re not on the RSVP list, you can add yourself to a waitlist (in case someone cancels last minute) or take the tour yourself by joining the Sex and the City Society on Whrrl!

During the two weeks after BlogHer, we’ll hold a contest for the best Whrrl Society created, and the winner will receive a coveted Kindle from Amazon.com! (Details coming soon, so stay tuned).

If you can’t make either of those events, be sure to look for this person:

I’ll be available on-site at the BlogHer events to tell everyone how they can start their own location-based service through Whrrl Societies, bringing their real-world passions alive for their blog readers, and partnering with brands in a whole new way!

Look for me out and about at the official BlogHer parties, events and the lobby during panels (I’ll also have a cute little gift to give you, if you find me). I won’t be wearing a hot dog hat, but you get the idea.

And don’t forget – you can use Whrrl in NYC as your personal tour guide to the city. We have tons of New York City-based Societies that will help you find the best shopping places, breakfast spots, Latin food and more. And, each place you check in at could have a recommendation of what to order or try! Take recommendations from New York’s Whrrlers of the best places to go and things to do…

NYC Sports Bars: http://whrrl.com/j/KRKRJ3T

NYC Wine Bars: http://whrrl.com/j/Z4QEJL

NYC Nightlife Society: http://whrrl.com/j/WWXS2B

Sex and the City Society: http://whrrl.com/j/SATC

Cupcakery Society: http://whrrl.com/j/UGPNY4

NYC Shopping Society: http://whrrl.com/j/WKM8KAG

NYC Underground Hot Spots Society: http://whrrl.com/j/undergroundny

Latin Food Society: http://whrrl.com/j/latinnyc

Al Fresco New York Society (rooftop patios and bars): http://whrrl.com/j/W2B6YX3

See you in New York!

We’re excited to announce that today we launched Whrrl Society Rewards – a social loyalty program designed to close the gap between a brand’s online social media presence and real-world physical presence. As part of our unveiling of the new program, we teamed up with Murphy USA who will reward their customers who love them through Whrrl Society Rewards. 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.

We like to think of Whrrl Society Rewards as an entirely new form of a loyalty program. It’s different from traditional loyalty programs in four important ways:

• Whrrl Society Rewards is prize-based. Consumers have an opportunity to win prizes when they check in to participating retail locations and earn additional opportunities to win as they achieve higher levels in Societies – which happens as others act on their recommendations. Because the rewards are prizes of chance, the program can be started and stopped easily and quickly, without the long-term financial liabilities that come with traditional transaction-based loyalty programs.
• Whereas traditional programs, e.g. loyalty “punch cards,” are based solely on transactions, Whrrl’s Society Rewards is based on a person’s ability to inspire friends to try new ideas at real-world places. When a user recommends an idea, they earn points and can level up in a Society. Users receive additional points when others “Want To” try that idea, actually do try the idea or pass on the recommendation to their friends. Users also earn points by getting others to join the Society and by checking in at qualifying locations.
• Retailers and brands can have their own Societies on Whrrl. Societies are passion groups for the real-world, bringing people together to motivate each other to try new things in a vast array of topic areas, including live music, fashion, food, shopping, outdoor activities, “follow in the footsteps” groups and more. Retailers and brands can create their own Whrrl Societies and motivate their customers to join, activating them in the real-world.
• Whrrl Societies are viral. There are many opportunities for Society members to share out to their friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, from check-ins and recommendations to prize win moments, which organically grows the Society.

We can’t wait to see how this program unfolds! If you’re interested in rewarding your customers with Whrrl Society Rewards for checking in, contact us at merchant-feedback@whrrl.com!

You can download our entire press release on the program here: Social Rewards Murphy USA Release

And read about our exciting news in the following articles:

“Check in with Whrrl, win free gas” on TechFlash

Whrrl Launches Real-World Social Rewards Program; First Partner is Murphy USA on MSN Money & also on PRNewsWire

“Check in with Whrrl, win free gas” on uInnoBlog.com

“Moso Network Whrrl Fuels Up On Real-World Rewards” on Adotas.com

“Murphy Gas Uses Whrrl Social Rewards to Accelerate Customer Loyalty” on SocialTimes.com

“Murphy’s USA Creates Loyalty Program With Location-Based Service Whrrl” on ClickZ

“Whrrl Adds Game Of Chance Spin To Social Media Loyalty Program” on InventorSpot

Thanks to feedback from the Whrrl community, we discovered our third party e-mail company had a breach in security that affected some users’ personal e-mail addresses. We apologize if any of you have received spam at the e-mail address associated with your Whrrl account!

We hate spam too, and would never sell or share your e-mail address. Because e-mail security is important to all of us at Whrrl, we terminated our services with the previous company and switched to a new e-mail company – MailChimp. They have an excellent track record with their Anti-Spam and Privacy Policy, which is monitored by Truste & The Better Business Bureau.

We believe social products are built on trust between the service and its customers, and we look forward to future spam-free communications with our users.

Thanks for your understanding!

Get your groove on! Check in to your favorite club this Memorial Day weekend and get recommendations from Jive hip hop artist and producer Bei Maejor!

Bei Maejor (pronounced Bee – Ma-jor) just released his new single “Drunk in the Club”, which is heating up the charts as we speak. Check in to your favorite club and automatically become part of the official Bei Maejor “Drunk in the Club” Society on Whrrl!

What places does Bei recommend for great drinks? What club has the sexiest crowd? Where does Bei like to go afterhours once he leaves the club? Join the Society to find out! Also, see recs from other club scenes around the nation.

As a member of the Drunk in the Club Society, you’ll able to post your own recs, too! Check in to tell Bei about your favorite “Drunk in the Club” experiences. Snap lots of pictures of what you’re drinking, who you’re with and who’s on the dance floor! Remember to tag your check-ins with #drunkintheclub.

Keep it hot, Whrrlers, this weekend and all summer long!

We’re excited to announce that you can now create your own, personal guide to your city through private Societies, now available on Whrrl.com!

How slick is this – easily create your own Societies by uploading a pic, giving it a snappy Society name, and then filling it with recommendations of things to do at the places you go. When it’s finished, you can send out a link to your friends and inspire them to get out of the house and go on their own adventures. The link is private, so only the people you send it to will be granted access to your exclusive Society!

Send your friends a guide to cupcake shops or gastro pubs; create a mission for them to complete on a night out; take pics of secret spots throughout the city to find; or research the history or footpath of your favorite actor or musician, and have your friends follow in his or her footsteps.

The ideas are endless – and it’s an easy way to encourage your friends to be the social rock star that you are.

Join and check out some new Societies we’ve started to get ideas of the possibilities:

Or, if you’re a member of the Bruce Lee Society, you can follow in Bruce’s footsteps and complete missions like this one:

@ Space Needle (203 6th Ave N Seattle, WA 98109-5005)
Re-live the moment. Bruce Lee Bruce takes out Linda Emery (his future wife) for their first date on Oct 25, 1963. They have dinner at the Space Needle. Take someone you love to the Space Needle for a great dinner, overlooking the entire city of Seattle.

Even more exciting – every time members of your Societies add a recommendation and target it toward your Society, all Society members within a 25-mile radius will be alerted! Start sharing pics and recommendations of the best ideas in town, and all your Society members with similar interests will be kept in-the-know.

We can’t wait to see the Societies you’ll create!

To celebrate and commemorate their 125th anniversary, St. Edward’s University made history on May 8th at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas with more than 180 students, parents and faculty participating in the first ever socially connected graduation!

Instead of having students share their day, separately, through Facebook and Twitter from their phones, St. Edward’s decided to use Whrrl so their students could all connect their cameras and share their perspective of graduation with each other, and the audience. We were so excited to be part of this momentous event for St. Edward’s and help these graduates document one of the most important events of their lives thus far…it was far cooler than we could have imagined. After all the graduates received their diplomas, St. Edward’s queued, “Celebrate” from Kool and the Gang, and the auditorium filled up with laughter and noise as pictures and comments displayed on an overhead screen for all attendees to see. Their graduation, achievements, congrats and photos were all threaded into one Whrrl story to pass onto friends and family who weren’t able to make it – something each of them could keep forever and look back on to remember.

Thank you St. Edward’s University and the 2010 graduates for letting us join you on your special day. Congratulations!

See a Whrrl story from graduation with more than 100 points of view here:

Find all other stories and check-ins at the Frank Erwin Center for St. Ed’s 2010 graduation here.

Imagine when you graduated if you were able to catch every moment as it happened in a live, interactive and collaborative experience – sharing hundreds or even thousands of unique points of view in one story. Much better than just taking pics on your camera, from only your point of view!

Look no more… We’ve partnered with Austin’s St. Edward’s University to provide the first-ever socially connected graduation! In celebration of the university’s 125th anniversary, more than 600 graduating students can sign up for Whrrl and share their experiences together this week when they graduate on May 6th. Whrrl, along with St. Edward’s, will be promoting this one-of-a-kind experience to the students and their families to get them excited to join and participate.

Here are a few cool details that really excite us:

· This will create a seminal record of the graduate’s new, socially connected adult life.

· Our plan to share one moment, captured through the eyes of the students, will be re-inventing graduation in the new context of a socially connected world.

· Graduates will check in to connect their cameras.

· When the story is shared to Facebook and Twitter, friends and family will not only see the graduates’ pictures, but photos from everyone at graduation.

You can read more about St. Edward’s Socially Connected Graduation on their blog here. Also catch the article, “Graduation ceremony to be biggest yet” on St. Edward’s University’s online news site, Hilltop News.

Congrats to the 2010 graduates!

Murphy USA, one of the most beloved gas brands in the nation, is teaming up with Whrrl to fight Social Rut!  Starting today, the widely popular Murphy USA Customer Service Bus Tour will make its first official stop and wind its way across 8 states and nearly 250 Murphy USA locations, bringing a party to every town with giveaways, prizes and games. The bus will reveal its location only once it arrives and checks in on Whrrl, giving users a first look at its whereabouts.  For fans who don’t want to miss the tour, clues to where the bus will stop next can be found on Whrrl.

While the bus will only tour for a short period of time, anyone will have an opportunity to join the Murphy USA National Society so they can continue to unlock special offers. When customers check in on Whrrl at any Murphy USA location, they will be accepted into Murphy USA’s National Society.

Here’s how it works:

• Check into one of Murphy USA’s nearly 1,100 locations nationwide
• You’ll become a member of the Murphy USA Society
• Members will receive exclusive offers that can be redeemed at any Murphy USA location
• To redeem the offer, just show the attendant the offer on your phone

Murphy USA is embracing social and local technology to re-invent what it means to be your gas station.  Why does fueling up need to be a mundane activity when it can be opportunity for fun?

We are excited about working with a brand that wants to add spice to your everyday activities. Stay tuned to hear about how this partnership will develop!

Here is Murphy USA bus tour schedule. Please remember to give the bus a bit of leeway with travel time and traffic when scheduling to meet up with it.