This morning, Utterz, a social network that promises to let “anyone post instantly to their blogs, online journals, and social networks with voice, video, picture, and text right from their mobile phone,” launched a new web site, and upgraded its offering with extended functionality including a conversation threading feature designed to let users more easily find and track conversations of interest, and local support in 17 countries for the company’s moblog (blogging by mobile phone) technology.
I had the opportunity to speak Friday with Michael Bayer, the CEO of Utterz, and Sim Margolis, product and community manager for the company, about the update.
Users can already direct Utterz to a particular channel, such as sports or entertainment. On the new site, users will be able to add threading to engage with the community to facilitate group conversation and bring a much “richer conversational experience.”
Michael told me he wants Utterz to be seen as offering the most choice for users. “You can create these mashups of voice, video, pictures and text and turn them into Utterz. And we’re empowering people to choose how and where and when they communicate. We want to make it really easy for them to use the tools they want to use,” he said.
When I first tried Utterz, I was actually overwhelmed by the range of media and device types available, but as I used it, it became clear why this range of choice matters, and amounts to more than “bells and whistles.”
With Utterz, you can post from your desktop or from any mobile phone. Video Utterz can be created from an existing file or, with the new site, using a webcam. Audio Utterz can be created from the PC microphone, an existing audio file or by simply calling the Utterz moblog phone number and recording an Utter through your phone. It can then be auto-posted to Utterz and any of a number of blogging and microblogging environments. One of the key barriers to executive blogging in particular is the time commitment, and I think the Utterz mobile phone integration is a huge advance in this regard.
I recently did a study of a number of microblogging tools including Utterz, Seesmic, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku and Tumblr. I was in a café trying out a few tools. I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t have a webcam for my PowerBook, and if I did, I wouldn’t disturb the other patrons of the café by recording there live. So I stepped outside and called the Utterz moblog number and recorded an Utter. The interface was simple and quick.
As Sim explained it, “Utterz gives you pinpoint control over voice, video, pictures and text in any combination; and where it gets posted. You can decide all that from your phone.”
With the new site, every reply to an Utter becomes an Utter, and threads will include replies. Sim says Utterz’s threading employs a unique interface to let users “navigate into an interesting conversation and zero in on interesting threads” which they can then follow by “highlighting, expanding and collapsing.”
The folks at Utterz gave me some screen shots for an early look at the new site design:
Utterz has also expanded mobile phone support with local numbers in 17 new countries. The conversational video field might be getting a little crowded, with several entries, like Seesmic, jostling for the top spot, but Utterz is definitely a top contender and a company to watch.
Tags: moblog, utterz, threads, threading, video, audio, jaiku, pownce, tumblr, twitter, seesmic, michael bayer, sim margolis
