Consumer Electronics Daily News

Visually Impaired People Turning to Audioboo for a Social Experience

Many popular social media sites are text, image and video based, meaning those who are blind can find it difficult to fully engage with the content and interact with other users. However, since its launch almost three years ago, social sound network Audioboo has attracted a worldwide following in the visually impaired community. This is not only due to voice being a natural communication tool for such communities, but also because the desktop platform and apps have been built with full accessibility to record, listen to and share audio in mind.   

Audioboo recognised the potential that the platform offered the blind and partially sighted community, and ensured accessibility was at the fore of its recent app and desktop redevelopments. The Royal London Society for the Blind (RLSB) not only runs its own channel on Audioboo, but the organisation is an avid supporter of the platform and is currently working on full integration with its new website.

Dr Tom Pey, Chief Executive of the RLSB, said: "Technology propels people forward every day. It has the power to open doors to new learning, new friendships and new possibilities. But this power can only be harnessed and enjoyed by people when a piece of technology is accessible and engaging. For many of the blind and partially sighted young people that RLSB works with, Audioboo is the perfect example of a technological tool that is both of these things. Our channel is a hub for news and information, so vision impaired young people can follow us and find out about exciting services, events and opportunities that are exclusively available to them."

The internet, apps and social networks are often taken for granted by sighted people – if a tool or platform isn't accessible to those who rely on screen readers, it can make the difference between a blind person being able to use it or not. While technology can make a significant difference in both leisure time and work to visually impaired people, so easily, they can be excluded from communities and day-to-day communications and the latest trends, such as social media.

Amy, an everyday user, commented: "I feel a part of the Audioboo community, but I also feel very much a part of the growing visually impaired community on Audioboo which is really, really great. It's really supportive, and it's growing, and I'm proud to be a part of it. App-wise, Audioboo is really accessible."

Rob Proctor, Audioboo's CEO explained:  "The feedback we have been getting from organizations like the RLSB and direct from users with sight impairment has been immensely positive, and we're hearing that Audioboo is making a real difference to the lives hundreds of people across the world. It has fast become the social network for blind people, as it is breaking down barriers and opening up new worlds for learning, communication and friendship."

For more information about Audioboo, record boos or to listen to and share a variety of audio news and other content, visit www.audioboo.fm.

BitterSweetBreakups.com Launches as a One-Stop Resource for Recent Divorcees

It's a disturbing reality that more than half of marriages now end in divorce although it is that statistic that led two divorcees to create BitterSweetBreakups.com, a brand new startup just launched.

The website offers a refreshingly light, intimate feel for those seeking direction, refuge and recovery from heartache. From encouragement and advice delivered in a positive and empowering way from real women that have been there, to fun divorce gifts, Bittersweet Breakups extends beyond practical advice and into a complete support system for women.

The site offers an exclusive divorce gift registry where the divorcee can register for the household items she lost in the divorce. It even allows for one to request cash (which can help with attorney fees, moving expenses, etc) in a tasteful, less direct way. Also on the site is The Breakup Room, a social media gathering spot to get further support from other woman going through the same process.

Bittersweet Breakups offers ideas for planning a divorce party complete with printable divorce vows and pictures of divorce-themed cakes that can be taken to your local bakery for replication. The site also provides resources for legal advice, life coaching and real estate professionals at discounted fees.

 

flayvr Launches on Android

flayvr today launched on the Android platform. flayvr automatically organizes photos and videos from users' smartphones, instantly showcasing memories as exciting fun collages to keep and share with friends across social networks.

flayvr's engaging albums eliminate the hassle of users having to sift through their Android gallery for a picture or video and make it easy to share life's moments personally or across social networks right from an Android phone. The app will allow Android users to:

• Instantly and seamlessly organize all their photos and videos in one place.
• Customize each flayvr album by adding and/or removing photos and videos from their Android phone to personalize each album. Each flayvr album is completely private; users have full control over which photos and videos are shared.
• Share flayvr albums as HTML5 via email, SMS or directly to social networks in one click.

"flayvr redefines the way we consume and share our favorite life moments by magically organizing photos and videos. flayvr is instant, hassle-free and allows for a seamless shareable interactive experience across all Android devices," said Ron Levy, flayvr's Founder and CEO. "Launching on Android is an opportunity for us to share the best of what flayvr has to offer with new audiences across the world and help them bring back to life millions of photos and videos that are stuck on devices."

flayvr's unique technology enables smartphone users to go back and re-discover all of their photos and videos, bringing cherished memories, previously buried on their phones, back to life.

 

COMEDY CENTRAL(R) And Twitter Join Forces To Launch #ComedyFest

COMEDY CENTRAL and Twitter announced today the launch of #ComedyFest, the first-ever celebration of comedy and comedians to be programmed on Twitter. The five day festival, which runs from April 29-May 3, kicks off with comedic icon Mel Brooks setting up a Twitter account at an event at LA's Paley Center featuring comedy legend Carl Reiner and moderator Judd Apatow. The event will be live-streamed in Brooks' first tweet, and can also be viewed on CC.com. #ComedyFest will feature an all-star roster of comedic talent including 16 programmed events with more than 50 comedians. #ComedyFest will bring the COMEDY CENTRAL audience – and everyone who likes to laugh – closer to the biggest comedic talents across genres and generations.

"Twitter has become an essential medium for comedy and comedians," said Michele Ganeless, President, COMEDY CENTRAL. "#ComedyFest will exist in the twittersphere – creating comedy that lives on social media. It's a great extension for our brand; it's where our audience lives."

Using only 124 characters, Fred Graver, Head of TV at Twitter, said, "Awesome to have @ComedyCentral on-air and on Twitter celebrating comedians and the rise of 140 character comedy. Please RT."

#ComedyFest events will live on Twitter, and fans can follow at @ComedyCentral and #ComedyFest for up-to-the-minute event coverage.  Additional information including festival lineup can be viewed at CC.com, CC Tumblr, and on the CC Facebook page.  

Brazzlebox Social Network for Small and Home-Based Business Now Launched

Brazzlebox is now live and launched beginning in the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica and Albany, New York.  The network will soon expand into all of New York state and then nationwide.  Small and home-based business owners, agents of business, business consultants, community groups and consumers can all join Brazzlebox for free.

Brazzlebox was created by small business owners for small business owners. "As a small business owner for over the past 15 years, I have become aware of the triumphs and tribulations of owning and operating a small business," said Glen Zinszer, Founder and CEO of Brazzlebox. "Over the years I have owned several different businesses in central New York, ranging from a restaurant, to a retail store, to an insurance company.  My stories have made me aware of the headwinds small businesses face these days. From high costs to big competitors, to family and financial strains, I have laughed and cried my way through much of it. In June 2012, I put my earnings toward a system, Brazzlebox, designed to make it a little easier for business owners to write their small business story right through to a happy ending. After all, what is more American or more important than small business? Maybe family? Families support small business and small business support our families. At Brazzlebox we are building a virtual extended family for every small business that joins."

Brazzlebox, an exclusive small business social network site, has been developed by the leading New York technology firm, InfoTech Solutions for Business.

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Viralheat Extends Flint Publishing App for Chrome to Firefox and Safari

Viralheat, the social media marketing suite provider, today announced it is unveiling Flint 2.0, a new version of its popular publishing tool for Chrome.Flint 2.0 now also includes social sharing for Firefox and Safari. The easy-to-use application supports cross-platform engagement, allowing users to simultaneously post to their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ accounts in just two simple clicks from any page in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.

In order for businesses to stay on top of social media management, it takes research, awareness of current trends and continuous creative thinking to create fresh, compelling content. In fact, successful daily management of social channels can help businesses of all sizes drive brand awareness and maintain customer engagement.

Viralheat's all-in-one social media marketing suite makes it easy for social media marketers to manage, monitor, analyze and engage across multiple platforms.  Marketers can connect all of their social accounts for individual or cross-channel publishing in addition to easy access to mentions about their company, brand or keyword searches. Viralheat also provides detailed reporting and analytics across Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and websites.

Here's how the new version works: Flint 2.0 allows users to publish articles and stories to any of their connected social media accounts in two clicks from anywhere on Safari, Firefox or Chrome's browsers when signed into their Viralheat account. Next, when users click the Flint logo on the page they wish to share, the Viralheat publishing box appears showing pre-populated information, ready to post to the selected accounts. Users also can select an image, link, quote or text selection on a web page, and then right-click to share via Flint, with the option to use any of the publishing suite features to edit the post prior to sharing.

"Typically, it can be a struggle for content managers to regularly come up with content to share, and keep engagement high," said Vishal Sankhla, Co-founder, Viralheat. "With its simple online user interface, the new Flint 2.0 allows people to easily and quickly publish inspiring and relevant content across all social media, in just two clicks. And because they are better able to share rich content on a timely basis, users tell us that Flint 2.0 has actually allowed them to grow their follower base, even up to two times in some cases."

According to Sankhla, the new version offers numerous additional benefits, including: increased engagement across all social media platforms; the opportunity to drive traffic and increase link and content sharing; the chance to expand social influence; and the opportunity to maintain a consistent social network presence.

Flint 2.0 also boasts a time zone support feature, which allows users to schedule unlimited tweets, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn updates in advance. In addition, the publishing tool offers a geo-targeted publishing function, allowing users to specify targeted updates for Facebook, according to city, state, country or region.

To start using Viralheat's new Flint 2.0 for Chrome, Firefox or Safari, visit: http://viralheat.com/flint. To learn more about Viralheat's social media marketing suite, visit:  http://viralheat.com/.

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Gozaik's Twitter Resume Launches in Beta

Gozaik (gozaik.com), a free social web application for recent graduates and young professional job seekers that allows users to produce multimedia, mosaic-style resumes for Twitter, launches in Beta today. The platform makes all jobs tweeted searchable within their system, and enables users to apply for jobs via Gozaik's aggregated Twitter algorithm (employers can utilize the site to find candidates, too).

"There are two huge problems in the job market today," says Budzienski. "One is that recent graduates and young professionals seriously struggle to express how they'll be able add value to a work place, and with how to effectively market themselves -- especially in this economy where the competition is fierce. The other major issue is that tens of thousands of jobs are tweeted every day and there is no product that allows an easy 'apply to' option with a multimedia resume. It's easier and more convenient for a recruiter to reply to your tweet than to pick up the phone all day. Twitter facilitates the quickest response possible. Gozaik solves both of these problems, allowing a platform for young job seekers to express who they are and the skills they possess, using the social media know-how they've acquired, and employers to receive a quick, clear, accurate snapshot of who a candidate actually is through Twitter."

Gozaik currently has two patents pending; the technology of the first patent dissects, organizes, and structures the tens of thousands of jobs tweeted on a daily basis by employers, and allows users to directly apply to a tweeted job using their Gozaik resume, which is a series of mosaic-style tiles each displaying a part of them: an introductory video, education, skills, recommendations, photographs, art, awards, volunteer experiences, and social media handles.

Gozaik's second patent revolves around the ability to spotlight candidates and employers who are "trending" across locations and fields, based on certain data points within an algorithm. Candidates and jobs with the most activity trend within a user's or employer's dashboard, increasing the ability for both to get maximum exposure and help to foster an atmosphere of growth and competition among users.

With the technology showcased through the two patents, employers can use Gozaik to receive candidates through direct tweets or on their Gozaik Dashboard, and more easily locate the talent they're looking for.

Gozaik's team is a big believer in tapping into the power of Twitter to create a more successful hiring experience for job seekers and employers. Gozaik's philosophy is that since 24 percent of its demographic is on Twitter, there is a huge opportunity to link this exposure to finding jobs. "Every job seeker should be on Twitter, and every employer should tweet their jobs with us," Budzienski says. "Every Gozaik user will be able to see companies' jobs for free, and instantly apply to them. If companies don't have someone managing their Twitter feed, or paying attention to candidates applying through this method – now is a good time to start."

Gozaik aims to differentiate itself from other social job sites like LinkedIn, and sees itself as filling a different need for a different generation. "LinkedIn does networking very well – I use LinkedIn," Budzienski says. "But it's become too crowded for our demographic to navigate successfully." He observes that with over five million millennials unemployed, and their reports of finding it difficult to use LinkedIn, it's a clear sign younger job seekers need a different mode to navigate their job searching.

"In 2025, the number of college graduates, globally, is estimated to double to 225 million," notes Budzienski. "The traditional resume just isn't working for this generation. Gozaik provides them with a resume, yes – but a resume that really tells their unique story, and what value they'll bring to a company. In thirty seconds, a hiring manager can feel like she just had coffee with her next marketing assistant, graphic designer, financial analyst, or teacher. She can see that Candidate X is well-spoken, has a good sense of humor, has a great design sense, or whatever the case may be, in under a minute. That's powerful. And in today's world -- necessary."

Coming soon: the Gozaik mobile app, and an app designed for Facebook, which allows employers to search a candidate on social media and select their Gozaik app in order to view their credentials, while keeping the rest of their Facebook profile private. Gozaik is also developing systems to make college campus recruitment more cost-effective, eventually hosting social job conferencing that will allow recruitment efforts to take place online via group conversations and information sessions. 

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Publicist Connects Mommy Bloggers and Product Brands

Wendy Hirschhorn, a veteran publicist with blue chip clients, has launched Wendy's Bloggers, a bridge for brands to create valuable relationships with influential mommy bloggers and their followers.

Mommy Bloggers are typically defined as stay-at-home moms in their 20s or 30s with at least one or two children. Many of them got into blogging to supplement their family income and found that they really liked sharing tips on saving money, raising kids and reviewing products. For many, their honesty and opinions attract thousands of like-minded women.

Three years ago, Hirschhorn began to build a powerful network of mommy bloggers who regularly reviewed and posted her clients' products on their websites and hosted product giveaways.

"Although there were nearly four million mommy bloggers to choose from, it was not an easy process to find really great Mommy Bloggers," Hirschhorn said. "At heart, they are moms and wives first, bloggers second. I had to screen hundreds to find those who met my professional standards. That included the ability to write cohesive reviews, to generate sufficient traffic to their sites, and to use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr and other social sites to promote their product reviews and giveaways."

"While most Mommy Bloggers wanted to be brand ambassadors for a select group of brands, it was difficult for them to penetrate companies that would provide products for review," Hirschhorn continued. "Moreover, they felt unappreciated and underutilized by the companies whose products they did review."

Hirschhorn understood. "I knew they were up against companies that just didn't have the time, staff or, in some cases, the inclination to follow up with them," she said.

That was the "aha" moment for creating Wendy's Bloggers. "I had what brands, retailers and consumer products companies needed: the experience, the time, and a network of dedicated mommy bloggers," Hirschhorn said. "And I had what mommy bloggers wanted: an advocate, a soundboard and the means to contact the brands, retailers and consumer goods companies they longed to reach.

Prime Time Is Peak Time for Mobile Gaming and Social Media

Mobile gamers and social networkers spend the most time playing games or posting updates during TV prime time—weekdays from 8PM to 10PM—according to an hour-by-hour analysis of Arbitron Mobile smartphone panelists in the United States during the fourth quarter 2012.

Five functions––voice calls, messaging, browsing, social networking, and gaming—dominate weekday smartphone use by Arbitron Mobile panelists in the United States.

The 9 to 5 workday schedule drives most smartphone usage patterns

Average time per hour for each of the five top smartphone functions rises sharply until the 9AM to 10AM hour when messaging, browsing, social networking, and gaming enter a late morning plateau.

The plateau exception: mobile voice calls. Average time per hour continues to increase until noon, when it sags slightly over the lunch break, and then accelerates again to a 5PM peak.

Both mobile social media and mobile gaming see a slow increase in their average time per hour for Arbitron Mobile smartphone panelists starting with the 1PM and 2PM hours, respectively.

The late afternoon hours of 4PM and 5PM mark a significant inflection point for smartphone usage patterns among Arbitron Mobile panelists in the United States.

• Starting at 5PM, the average time per hour for voice calling falls off sharply. At the same time, average time per hour for mobile gaming and social networking begins a sharp acceleration toward their respective peak hours of 9PM.
• Messaging begins a slow decline at 4PM that continues until 9PM. It then begins a sharper decline in average time per hour that goes on into the after midnight hours.
• The end of the workday exception: mobile browsing, which maintains a consistent average time per hour from 10AM through 10PM. As prime time wanes, browsing then declines at a slightly lower rate than other top smartphone activities.
• Mobile gaming and social media activities accelerate between 5PM and 6PM to their hourly peaks in TV prime time. Around 10PM, the average time per hour for gaming and social networking begins a steep decline that continues into the early morning, when the workday-based cycle begins again.

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TapInfluence Releases Cloud-Based Software To Automate Influencer Marketing

TapInfluence (formerly BlogFrog) today announced that its software platform for automating all aspects of an influencer marketing program is now available as a cloud-based offering. The software automates the time-consuming process of identifying and engaging with large numbers of social influencers (content creators on blogs, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and other social platforms), and includes a powerful, integrated management platform that distributes content across all social networks and provides detailed campaign analysis via measurement dashboards. Brands can now connect and interact with millions of consumers in meaningful and authentic ways through a single platform, and tap into a searchable marketplace of more than 100,000 registered social influencers.

"Brand marketers know that money spent on banner advertising is increasingly wasted as consumers are completely numb to this intrusive form of digital marketing. TapInfluence is driven to get brands out of the sidebar and directly into the content that engages customers, builds trust and loyalty, and provides value to all parties – brands, influencers and consumers," saidRustin Banks, Co-founder and CEO of TapInfluence. "Our integrated software platform, coupled with our growing marketplace of influencers, addresses this growing shift in marketing resources and supports the maturity and rise of influencer marketing in the overall marketing mix."

Influencer marketing is vitally important to brand marketers as consumers increasingly ignore banner ads and turn to social networks where friends, peers and like-minded people share purchase-related content. This social content – which is more trusted, authentic and effective than digital advertising – is the basis for effective influencer marketing. Meanwhile, as brands build their own communities of social influencers, the job of managing programs and monitoring content across social networks has become extremely time-consuming. TapInfluence is the only software to automate all aspects of influencer marketing, including influencer identification and activation, content distribution and ROI-based analysis.  

Influence marketing is critical to maximizing return on social media engagement. Gleanster Research estimates that somewhere between four and five percent of a brands' target audience can actually influence sales, said Ian Michiels at Gleanster: "Finding these individuals and engaging them as brand champions should be a cornerstone to every social media strategy."

Since its founding in 2009, TapInfluence has been connecting brands and social influencers to create mutually beneficial relationships. The company pioneered large-scale, influencer marketing programs that reach millions of consumers across all social networks. A long-time champion of the blogger, its software helps marketers and influencers connect with consumers in ways that are lasting and meaningful. Its unique ability to facilitate the publication of socially distributed content led to rapid growth for the startup, $4.1 million in funding and a client roster that includes 75 Fortune 1000 brands, marketing agencies and publishers. It is now executing on its strategy to automate the influencer marketing process, extending its influencer community beyond bloggers, and creating an interactive marketplace to facilitate the influencer/brand relationship.

According to a February, 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. report entitled: "Four Social Marketing Tools You Need," "Agencies have long offered viral marketing services – but influencer marketing is finally being seen as a science rather than an art. Vendors are now using data to help marketers identify key influencers from either the general online population or a marketers existing customer base and then to recruit those influencers into technology-driven and highly trackable viral sharing programs."