Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on ten badges that location-based service, FourSquare, can do to help promote community service. No sooner had I hit the publish button, I received a message from Heather Meeker, Director of Marketing & Communications for a new location-based service called Whrrl who said that that her company is already doing this community service on a much wider scale. So I inquired more about what they’re doing and it was interesting what I found out.
I had first heard about Whrrl in 2009 at the South by Southwest interactive conference and discovered that it was a new service out there to tell more about a story relevant to a check-in. You’ll read more about what Whrrl is according to their CEO and Founder, Jeff Holden, below, but if you’re a user of any location-based service like FourSquare, GoWalla or even Brightkite, you’re going to think that Whrrl is nothing more than just another novelty that shows your friends where you are. However, it’s more contextual based…in fact you’re going to be able to literally tell a story at that check-in. So if you were at a conference, you can show your friends exactly what the sessions were about through tweets, photos & videos attached to that check-in. In a manner of speaking, it’s all consolidated data!
So what is Whrrl doing to help promote community service? Here’s what Jeff Holden has to say:
Network Solutions: What is Whrrl and why should users be interested in it?
Jeff Holden: Whrrl 3, which just launched 2 weeks ago, is a real-world game to end Social Rut, to get people out from behind Farmville and other monotonous activities and back into the physical world. At the core of Whrrl are Societies, groups of people who check in to the same kinds of places.
Whrrl gives you many “weapons” by which you can inspire others and break them out of their Social Rut, and the whole experience is wrapped in an “influence” game, in which you gain points based on how successful you are at inspiring others to do your real-world recommendations. As you gain points, you level up in your Societies, and that unlocks higher-level “Social Offers” from merchants as well as special privileges in Whrrl.
Network Solutions: Since I wrote about FourSquare and community service badges, what makes Whrrl interested in this space? How are you different from FourSquare, Brightkite or even Gowalla?
Jeff Holden: When we talk to causes, they typically care about two things: (1) getting people to actually take action, to help the cause, and (2) building a thriving community around the cause. If you think about Whrrl in that context, it’s hard to imagine a better fit. Whrrl is all about communities of people inspiring each other take real-world action, and we’ve thought deeply about how to channel that for causes — we have a unique model and set of capabilities on this front. So that’s both the driver of our interest in the space and how we’re different.
To date, we’ve worked with causes including Mark Horvath of InvisiblePeople.TV, the MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) and Seattle Twestival. Specifically in the case of Mark Horvath, we were the first company to reach out to him and offer our support to help with his tour of the US last year to bring awareness to homelessness.
Network Solutions: How can businesses leverage what Whrrl is producing? FourSquare has teamed up with Bravo and now with celebrities to do a business deal and other small businesses are rewarding the “mayors” of their establishments. What can Whrrl do to compete with that?
Jeff Holden: Whrrl has a very specific model for partnerships: we team with our partners in the movement to end Social Rut. Every partner is engaged in this mission with us and brings their resources to bear to that end. We have numerous partnerships, from merchants who make “Social Offers” in Whrrl to Society members, to the Travel Channel, The Experience Music Project, Max’s Kansas City and Thrillist who contribute their unique content — recommendations, photos, stories — to the cause.
Businesses are engaging with Whrrl because (a) the movement to end Social Rut resonates with them, (b) our Society model offers them the opportunity to create a new and potent kind of community associated with the brand, and (c) our rich media capabilities mean they can express their content in an unconstrained fashion tied to the real world.
Network Solutions: What service projects has Whrrl been a part of? Why is it so important for Whrrl to contribute to these things?
Jeff Holden: To date, we’ve worked with Mark Horvath’s Invisible People initiative, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Feeding America and Seattle Twestival, among others. As for why it’s important for Whrrl to contribute – I think it just comes down to the fact that we care and want to make a difference. We feel our platform is one that can be used to help raise awareness.
Network Solutions: What results have you seen as a result of the company’s community activism?
Jeff Holden: Just as an example, have a look at: http://bit.ly/90u3wU. You can see that Mark Horvath has been successful at driving 10,000′s of views based on his efforts with Whrrl. I don’t want to speak for Mark so I encourage you to reach out to @hardlynormal and get his point of view as to his experience with Whrrl.
Network Solutions: Can you tell me what new stuff lies ahead for Whrrl in the future?
Jeff Holden: We’re completely focused on our mission, and you should expect to see us doubling down there and bringing some very cool new innovations to the table. You’ll also see us expanding our footprint, e.g. on to Android, Blackberry and internationally, in the near future.
You can read more about Whrrl’s story on their blog by clicking here.
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