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The Superbowl & Social Media 2012

Kristi — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:50:06 +0000

It’s finally here… the day we get to eat chili, hot dogs, snack on stadiums made of sandwiches, drink beer, and chat all day with our friends about the NFL Superbowl! Some neat things that are going on in the social media world:

The NFL has a GIANT command center set up, and massive bandwidth has been pumped through the stadium so people can share about the game live with their friends who aren’t fortunate enough to be there. Check this out! and look at this gallery of images from the SMCC. They aren’t just watching to see what is said – over 20 people will monitor to reach out proactively to help people with things like parking info, getting lost in the stadium, getting an answer to a question, etc. even though they have not been directly asked via Twitter or Facebook. This isn’t push marketing – this is amazing customer service! Very, very cool!

Mashable has some ways you can use SM while watching and talking about the game: http://mashable.com/2012/02/05/super-bowl-2012-social-media

And we have set up a mini Tweet Command Center using Intefy today, that anyone can make their own just by logging in and tweeting while watching the search streams in the other columns. Go to http://intefy.com/superbowl if you want to watch it or use it today. Here are some things you should know about using this app:

Login Securely using Oauth to Tweet
Once you login, you can tweet from this page securely and we don’t see your account credentials, dm’s or anything.

Retweet and Reply from Other Columns
If you mouse over a tweet you’ll see some icons show up under the avatar. Click one to retweet or reply, and the text will pop over into your Tweet box so you can edit and send it to easily communicate with others. (You won’t necessarily see it on this page if it doesn’t contain a keyword being searched.)

Problems with the Page?
If you run into problems, tweet us @intefy and we will try to help. The product is going through a development change regarding the way searches happen – if the page times out today and you see error messages, wait a few minutes and reload the page and hopefully the time will have passed where it will display tweets again. We will soon have a different api from Twitter implemented that will eliminate this issue.

We have no preference for a winner today, since our own beloved Chiefs aren’t in the game, but have fun watching the Superbowl and ads! See you online.

Fresh ID’s Very Special Snow Day, with Soccer Players, Snowballs, Sports Fanatics & Social Media

Kristi — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:50:26 +0000

If you follow any of the Fresh ID team on Twitter, you probably couldn’t have missed the snowbrawl mayhem we dove headfirst into yesterday. It actually began the night before, when I noticed Sporting KC, Kansas City’s pro MLS soccer team, who we follow and have met with before, posting about one of the players needing a hashtag for a snowball fight. Kei Kamara who hails from Kenema and is the forward for the team, had been tweeting about never having been in a snowball fight, and some fans from The Cauldron (Sporting KC’s most active fan group) were talking about rectifying that, and a plan was hatched. There are more details and a great post about it at the Sporting KC site. Now, Fresh ID has already been talking with Sporting KC about doing some live online events, and I couldn’t help asking if we could jump in and get this captured live for people who wouldn’t be at the match. Kyle Rogers, the Digital Strategist for Sporting KC, was game, so we whipped up an Intefy page and wrangled our friend Steven Chau to go over and film the snowball festivities for us as the Fresh ID team had all stayed home because of the weather. Our friend and commercial photographer Zach Cobb was already planning to be there to do photography of the event, so we owe them a nice big lunch to thank them for being the ones to get their hands cold and wet while we stayed in! Zach’s pictures of the day are totally awesome – check out the full gallery at the Westside Studio site. The day of #specialKCsnowmageddon, our whole team was glued to the computer tweeting and organizing behind the scenes with Steven and Kyle, who were on the ground at Snowbrawl Central. The chat room on the Intefy page was packed with people for two hours prior to the high noon event – we don’t know how many exactly, but have estimated between 45-75 at any given time. People were lamenting on Twitter they hadn’t gone to UMKC where the players and fans were headed for the snowball fight, and some people ditched class and left work to go attend, because it just sounded so dang fun. So what is the point of this post, exactly? There have been dozens of recap posts by people who know the game of soccer far better than I do, but I wanted to share what I noticed most in the afterglow of this very impromptu, very unexpected and utterly fun event: A player’s relationship with his or her fans is ALWAYS on the fan’s mind. When you take the extra time to acknowledge fans, that’s one thing. But when you take the extra time to spend real time with them, off the field of your sport, an enduring and very special bond is cemented between you and the people that admire you. That many of the posts by fans reflect an awe-inspiring feeling of communion with these guys is no accident. The price? A few hours time, the willingness to play, and some burritos (Kei graciously footed a Chipotle bill for folks afterward, with Chipotle kicking in at least 23 free meals in honor of Kei’s jersey number.) The thing most remembered about the day will be that we all had fun together – both the online watchers and the players and fans who shared time in person. A sports organization who will step outside the lines of what is typical, what is traditional, or what is expected, is a pretty damn cool organization to be around. Sporting KC tossed in support of this little adventure, let us hack their brand to toss a branded entity online in a hurry, showed up to help with the event, brought their video production guy who did interviews and made a wonderful recap video of the day, and worked with us to help host this online. With no executive committee meetings, no delays which would have made it impossible to proceed, and with a good-natured sense of humor about it all. It’s good to have friends and fans, because they will help you make things happen. When Kei first started tweeting about snow and his lack of experience with it, that might have been the end of it. But his team mates got involved, their fans got involved, our friends got involved, other photographers and videographers and Chipotle and soccer journalists and people who just wanted to play with the whole idea, all pitched in and the involvement of all is what enabled this idea to become a reality. Part of the reason for the “afterglow” of this special snow day is that this was an exhibit of social media connectivity in its finest form. Sometimes, the best social media moments are totally unplanned. What makes an idea “viral” or get momentum around it can seem a fickle thing in the world of social media. Everyone wants their idea or video or campaign to take wing and be spread far and wide with tons of enthusiasm around it. But that cannot be guaranteed, and if something like this had been planned by the marketing department at Sporting KC, the idea might have fallen flat… we’ll never know, because this idea was the genuine inspiration of a man not born around snow who wanted to have some fun with folks. You can’t pull off a rocking event or campaign successfully without being prepared. Despite the lack of planning, the ONLY reason this worked as a totally spontaneous bit of real exposure for the soccer team is because a number of people were ready to make things happen given an opportunity. For example, Kyle was ready to throw support behind this, and he brought people to do a video recap of the event. Our team has a platform that can be branded pretty nicely in an hour or less, and an art director who can make adorable, Sporting KC attired snowmen at her boss’s whim, plus Fresh ID has the capability to organize live events online with short notice as we’ve done a number of them now. Someone (not sure who) contacted the press and I hear one of the TV stations was at the snowbrawl but I never saw footage on TV. A shame, really, because this was a very neat experience that others have already talked about emulating in other cities. Many soccer bloggers in and out of the area saw what was happening and posted a story – including one from the Kansas City Star and Yahoo Sports. Planning may not be an option, but preparation is a necessity if you want to be able to move as swiftly as the tide turns in the world of social connections and random ideas. Athletes are inspiring. For me, at least. It was great fun to watch these guys sled, and dive headfirst into the snow, and get pelted with snowballs and play soccer in the snow, an act that already has me fantasizing about what it would be like for them to play snow soccer in their new stadium next year. Their agility, their flexibility, their prowess in their chosen sport is very admirable and inspires me to get off my rump and do something sporty. So for that, I thank these guys especially! They touched a lot of hearts, made some new friends, captured the interest of some new fans, and turned a few other teams green with envy yesterday. Not bad, for a boring old snow day! Here’s the recap video. Enjoy, and never be afraid to follow a crazy idea all the way through! ~Kristi

Fresh ID’s "Intefy" To Sponsor Event Technology Conference

freshid — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:03:43 +0000

Fresh ID CEO to speak at event focused on the latest in meeting technology KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI (September 7, 2010) – Intefy, an integrated, real-time media tool designed for online live events, has been named as a sponsor of Event Camp Twin Cities. The event is focused on helping event professionals find innovative ways to connect and engage with attendees. Lisa Qualls, CEO of Fresh ID, creators of Intefy, will be speaking at the event, which will be held on September 8-9, 2010 in Minneapolis, MN. “I’m very excited to attend and present at this event,” states Qualls. “The face of conference and meeting technology has completely changed over the past few years. I look forward to sharing what we have learned by working with event professionals all over the world and am eager to hear from the other industry thought leaders on what they predict will be the experience for future trade shows, conferences and seminars.” Qualls will be speaking during the “Pecha Kucha” session on Thursday afternoon. Her presentation will highlight how to build an event brand, grow the event community and create an ongoing attendee experience that lasts once the event ends. The session is designed to deliver fast paced, focused presentations that share many ideas and content quickly. Event Camp Twin Cities is the second live event to be created from the Twitter chat, #eventsprofs. The first event was held last year in New York City, NY. When asked about this year’s event, co-founder Samuel J. Smith stated, “We have designed this year’s event around four key words; Social, innovation, collaboration and experimentation. For each element that we added to the event, we examined it against those four key words. We wanted to make sure that we held true to our promise.” Highlights in this year’s program include; Trying new collaboration formats such as Pecha Kucha, business games and digital scavenger hunts, an opportunity to see the latest meeting technology such as Livestreaming and social media tools firsthand and discussions on the social and digital future of events led by executives from BizBash and INXPO. In addition to the event in Minneapolis, there will be remote sites in Basel, Switzerland and Dallas, Texas. The event will be streamed online for free, and online attendees will be able to view presentations and participate with other event attendees through Intefy by visiting http://intefy.com/eventcamptc. More information about the event can be found at http://eventcamptwincities.com and http://meetingsreview.com/news/2010/09/01/Tomorrow_s_events_technology_today. About: Fresh ID helps businesses around the world expand their business and reach their goals. By understanding companies from the inside out, Fresh ID designs intelligent solutions and products specific to what clients need in order to do business and engage with prospects and customers. Brand identity and monitoring, social media consultation and campaigns, web design, site socialization, interactive design, application development and user experience strategy are a few of the services offered by Fresh ID. More information about the company is available at http://freshid.com and http://intefy.com. Event Camp was born out of an online Twitter group of event professionals called #eventprofs. This passionate group of planners and suppliers started meeting online and participating in Twitter chats every Tuesday and Thursday. Over time the community grew and eventually, one year later, Event Camp was born on February 6, 2010 in New York City. More information about the group and this year’s event can be found at http://eventcamptwincities.com.

Intefy in Kansas City’s Just for Starters Entrepreneurial Competition Today

Kristi — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:58:47 +0000

We are so excited about an event going on tonight here in Kansas City at the Kauffman Foundation. “Just for Starters” is a forum for aspiring entrepreneurs to share a business idea with a panel of judges, in a timed presentation. Our own Matt Bartlett will present Intefy amidst some stiff competition. According to the event information: The finalists were selected by KC Roundtable, a local young-entrepreneur group. Four judges – Grant Burcham (Bank President), Sam Meers (Marketing Expert), Grisel Wiley (Angel Investor), and Mark Allen (Successful Entrepreneur) will critique the finalists and ask them challenging questions. At the end of the night, the audience will decide the winner. We will be hosting the event live and talking about it throughout the night @freshid and using the #starters hashtag. If you want to attend in person, buy a ticket now, or pay at the door. Registration includes attendance, alcoholic drinks and food and it will be a wonderful time! Find out if Muslim Ranch can beat out the Pocket Shocker; or how a brand new construction company expects to be successful in this economy. See our Intefy product in action and hear what we have planned for it. Is there a KC entrepreneur who will revolutionize collection practices in the US? You must attend to find out the answers to these exciting questions and more! Thanks to Diana Kander for inviting us to take part in the competition and allowing us to share the event live with our online friends. We’re crossing our fingers Matt brings home the prize, but even if he doesn’t we’re pleased as peaches to be selected as a finalist, and so proud of Matt we can’t even talk about it without sounding like we’re gushing (or like we’re his Mother.) We are so grateful to have him on our team, and will be cheering for him! Watch the action live at www.twitterface.com/justforstarters starting at 6:00 pm CST tonight, July 15th. Kristi

UnGeeked Elite!

freshid — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:11:58 +0000

We at the Fresh ID office are extremely excited for an event coming up on May 13-15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The event is called UnGeeked Elite and is a three day conference that highlights social media, marketing and branding forums. The event has an excellent line-up of speakers including Olivier Blanchard, Chris Brogan, Scott Stratten, Dan Schawbel and others who are all well-known social media, marketing and branding experts. In addition to gaining great insights from the experts, your ticket and attendance also gets you free copies of books by Chris Brogan, Sally Hogshead, Scott Stratten and Hubspot. All of the information about the event and speakers can be found at the official UnGeeked Elite event page. It will definitely be worth the price of admission (and if you register before May 12, you can get a huge discount)! The event is being sponsored by SOHObiztube, a great online community that helps businesses manage brand message, value and promise. Check it out at sohobiztube.com. If you are like us and can’t make it to Milwaukee but still want to attend the event, you can do so by purchasing a virtual event ticket. Attending this way will give you access to our custom Twitterface page for the event. You can check out the page here prior to the event. It will be password-protected for registered attendees only once the event starts. The entire conference will be streamed using Livestream Pro, and, of course, you can always interact with those physically or virtually attending the conference via Twitter while watching the presentations. If you purchase a ticket for all 3 days, you’ll save… tickets are available for each individual day for $99, and for the entire conference for $199. You can register for the event and purchase your ticket(s) by visiting the UnGeeked Eventbrite page. For us, this is another little milestone in the life of the Twitterface product, which we will soon be renaming/rebranding to Intefy, by the way. This is our first virtual paid event, and the first time we will be able to have people tweet from the page using Twitter’s more secure oauth mechanism. We’re very excited, and looking forward to testing this process out with CD Vann and the (truly) Ungeeked Elite!

Never More Excited About Twitter!

Kristi — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 21:33:34 +0000

Ev Williams, CEO of Twitter said to Chirp attendees (most of whom are application creators or developers), “3 billion requests a day is what you guys make to our server, that’s just api traffic… Twitter is hard to compare to other services because there’s not been anything like Twitter. There’s no other major service that is as distributed, and is really a network, with so many in-and-out points.” Ev’s entire talk is below, but I want to explain a bit about why I, Kristi, and all of us really at Fresh ID, are more excited about Twitter than ever before. First of all, there’ve been some grumblings and murmerings because Twitter is starting to do things it feels it must, like buy or partner with mobile phone developers to make official Twitter clients for various, oft-used smartphones (such as iPhone, Droid and Blackberry.) If you watch Ev’s talk you’ll see why they’re doing this – there’s an awesome clip of a real user experience of a woman trying to find a Twitter app in the iPhone App Store. It thrills us, as user experience people, that Twitter’s doing this kind of real-world research. But the reason why we feel excited, despite learning we are going to have to make product architecture changes as every app must use oauth and not store Twitter account data as of June 2010, is because of the number of announcements and steps they have taken that show REAL caring for the Twitter ecosystem and all of the millions of people that make up our Twitter community of users, developers, stakeholders and their own company employees. Twitter aims to grow to hundreds of millions of users, creating significant opportunities for us all. Ev made it clear throughout the week, that Twitter is not looking to take out third-party apps, but they need to do what they must for new and existing users and and rather than rehash their features or worry about what they’re doing, we as developers and marketers and entreprenuers need to step up and use their tools to innovate, not imitate. And they are in the process of giving us MORE tools than ever. http://dev.twitter.com was launched during the conference and they are just beginning to give us api’s for virtually everything they do, and in some cases with less limits and better results (something called user streams.) They’re doing this for themselves and the third-party apps, to enable greater creativity and more exploration of what we can do with the base architecture. We set up a Twitterface page at the last minute, and you can still see tons of tweets from people who attended the conference and people with questions. I encourage you to check it out and watch Ev’s talk there, or below. There are some more great links below about the content and news that’s come out of Chirp, so you might want to check those out too.

Watch all the recorded videos from the Chirp conference at Justin.tv
Watch our developer Joe Taylor talk about changes we’re making with our product from the conference (about 5 min. in)
Crib sheet for what happened at Chirp
Ryan Sarver (director of Twitter’s api platform) Talks Developer Happiness
Music from the conference (seriously awesome mix)

If I missed any great coverage, please leave it in the comments. We’re excited our dev Joe got to take part in the event… it’s obvious he’s really energized by being with the other smart, creative people at the conference because he’s full of ideas and energy, which is yet another reason we’re more excited about the work we are doing around Twitter than ever! Bonus Guest/Coverage/Coolness Will.i.am, of Black Eyed Peas fame, showed up as an unexpected guest at Chirp. Several things were neat about his appearance: first of all, he did a darling interview in which he used the word “dope” a lot and said he had to get into music so he didn’t end up like “these cats” – as he pointed to the overwhelmingly geeky developer audience. (It was funny!) Then he stayed the rest of the day, sitting and learning with everyone else, and apparently spun tunes and tweeted at an after-party as well. Here’s an interview he did with Scobleizer at the conference: