The funny thing when we talk about social media is that we often don’t take a step back to realize that the majority of our communication (aside from videos, images, etc.) is text on a screen of some sort. Well, that’s not very social now is it?
As I’ve mentioned before, we’re almost missing a very personal, human element that should be a part of any media dubbed as social.
But last night I learned about a new app that brings social media to a whole new level: utellit. I went to the second ever Technori Pitch – one of my favorite startup pitch events in Chicago – not really sure what to expect when the utellit founders stepped on the stage. Honestly, I read about the app before I went to the event and figured it was just going to be another one of those apps I found interesting but had no real use for.
I was wrong.
Utellit is smart. Described as “social voicemail” or “social voice messaging,” utellit lets you record your voice and automatically share it via Facebook, Twitter, email or text. The founders pointed out how many people leave Happy Birthday posts on someone’s Facebook wall, but how much more personal would it be if you could record your voice giving a birthday greeting? What if you wanted to sing the Happy Birthday song? Now you can.
This app instantly puts the emotion back into your social media interaction.
Goodbye, LOL….now I will just record myself actually laughing out loud.
And instead of live tweeting from events, you can suggest that someone listens to what’s actually happening at the event.
After I heard the pitch I could think of so many different reasons of how and when I’d use this app with friends and family. This morning I sat in a client meeting and thought of how they could use utellit to enhance their social media presence—they can use utellit or crowdsource utellit “social voicemails” to add another dynamic to their interaction with their fan base.
It’s a win-win from all perspectives, and the opportunities for this app are endless.
The best part is that utellit is already integrated with the social media sites where we spend our time, so you don’t have to set up yet another social media profile. I also like the email and text sharing for when I want to bring a social media-like interaction to my parents who don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account.
If you think about it, utellit is just an enhancement of the way we already communicate—it plays off the basic principles that make us addicted to social media in the first place.
