Reaction to Facebook’s Place announcements from Jeff Holden & John Kim
All the Internet is buzzing with Facebook’s Places announcement and launch yesterday. Curious how Whrrl plays into the mix? You can listen to a Cinch interview Robert Scoble recorded last night, with Jeff Holden and John Kim’s thoughts on the news:
Click image to listen
What’s better than free Wi-Fi… free gas! We’ve launched a new Society Rewards program!
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 for the love, Whrrl fans
It’s been quite a ride since we launched Whrrl 3 during South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) on March 11 . The team here at Pelago had no idea what to expect from our users, the media, social media/technology influencers, and the public at large about the latest version of our product. We’re super excited and humbled at your positive and supportive feedback, including:
- Awesome blog posts and articles written about Whrrl 3. The first article to break the news – TechCrunch, was reTweeted 513 times and shared to Facebook 72 times. Wow! We also received mentions in the New York Times, CNet and ZDNet, a 5/5 rating on Appolicious, a TechFlash blog post and more. (You can find a full list of our press here.)
- Whrrl featured in the “What’s Hot” Featured section of the Apple App Store:
- The love we’ve seen in the Twitterverse:
(You can see a full list of our favorites, here.)
- And buzz from our on-the-ground “Ninja opps” in Austin (it wasn’t spray paint by the way, and we’re cleaning it all up!)
We want to thank everyone who has taken the time to download, use, review, Tweet, blog and tell others about Whrrl. We *heart* you! Your ideas, suggestions and feedback is always appreciated so drop us a line: feedback@whrrl.com
Max’s Kansas City brings its rich history of music, fashion and art to life on Whrrl
We’re very excited to be partying together with Max’s Kansas City to revolutionize the music world. Max’s sent out a press release today that we wanted to share with our readers…
New York, NY – December 3, 2009 —Maxskansascity.com, the online nexus of authentic fashion, art and music culture, announces today that it is teaming up with Whrrl – a location-based, social networking application. Now, when users go to www.whrrl.com, they will find exciting featured content about today’s artists, musicians, fashion designers, actors, writers and filmmakers, (e.g. Andrew WK, Chin Chin, Cat Solen, Gareth Pugh, etc.) and also learn about those celebrated idols that frequented the legendary New York City location.
Members of the MaxsKansascity.com community will now have the opportunity to discover the history of Max’s, and connect with each other by sharing their own stories on Whrrl.
The just-launched Maxskansascity.com is an online community dedicated to continuing the artistic trajectory of Max’s Kansas City. From the late 1960s through the early ‘80s, Max’s was a gathering place in NYC for all things hip and, as William S. Burroughs called it, “the intersection of everything.”
Famous icons including Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, Richard Avedon, Roy Lichtenstein, David Bowie, Janis Joplin, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Aerosmith, Betsey Johnson, Halston, Twiggy, Dennis Hopper, Stanley Kubrick and Federico Fellini are just a few of the heralded characters that formed the eclectic tapestry of Max’s Kansas City.
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About Max’s Kansas City
Max’s Kansas City is dedicated to propelling and exploring the fusion of art, fashion and music. In the same way the original Max’s represented the melting pot of “pop culture” for its generation, the new Max’s aims to be a progressive and dynamic genre of “avant-garde art culture” for today’s artistic community. From the storied history of the legendary establishment that Mickey Ruskin built, and onwards into the future, Max’s Kansas City will continue to be the authenticator and gold standard of all creative movements in art, music and fashion.
www.maxskansascity.com
Contact:
Marni Wandner, Sneak Attack Media
Phone: 212.481.3400
Email: marni@sneakattackmedia.com
Whrrl gets a cameo in US Weekly!
On page 68 of this week’s edition of US Weekly, Ali Sweeney mentions Whrrl as her favorite iPhone app to use! Woot!
Thank you Ali – and everyone of our users! We heart you for all your support!
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Whrrl on Facebook