Sharing your voice clips on Facebook

Now you can share any recording you make on Phonevite via your favorite social networks and your own blog/web site. Today, we show you how to share your voice clip on Facebook. Just follow these simple steps:

1. From the Send Phonevite page, click on the Facebook link under the recording you want to share:

2a. If you are not logged in to Facebook, you will be prompted to login:

2b.  Add some caption comments:

3a.  The voice clip will appear on your Facebook profile:

3b.  When you click on the Play button, the embedded player will appear, and you’ll be able to hear the voice clip right from the Facebook Profile:

Happy sharing.

Catch ‘em evil robocallers!

Have you received the robocall that goes something along the lines of “Your auto warranty has expired…” and then you are prompted to connect to a specialist to extend the warranty. Most of my friends and I have got these annoying messages. They are a huge scam. And I despise them because they give an awful rep. to a technology that can be used for great purposes (e.g. emergency notifications, practice/game reminders, birth announcements, etc.).

Well, the good news is that the Feds (the FTC specifically) are going after the perpetrators of this huge telephone scam. “This is one of the most aggressive telemarketing schemes the FTC has ever encountered,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. More than 1 billion of such calls have been made. Leibowitz added: “I’m not sure which is worse, the abusive telemarketing tactics of these companies, or the way they try to deceive people once they get them on the phone. Either way, we intend to shut them down.” Go Chairman Leibowitz! Please rid our phone networks from these junk calls. They are the equivalent of phishing spam in the email world.

However, just because 95% of all email traffic is spam does not mean that email technology is evil. I hope that people are able to see and enjoy the benefits of the relatively higher percentage of benign, community-oriented voice broadcasting (the other preferred term for robocalls).

FREE! Feedback from The FREE! Summit

Last week, we had the pleasure and honor of attending The FREE! Summit as one of the featured Greenhouse companies that received tons of FREE valuable feedback from the fellow-attendees.    Mike Masnick from Techdirt emceed the event and Chris Anderson, editor in Chief of Wired and the author of The Long Tail, keynoted & shared many FREE! nuggets of wisdom (“If you don’t offer FREE! somebody else in your space will… the only way to make money is to monetize scarcity”)  regarding successful Free-mium models (e.g. Nexon, Club Penguin).   Then, Ooma‘s CMO Rich Buchanan, Yousendit‘s CTO Ranjith Kumaran and  Robert Rowley of Practice Fusion, presented their respective, extremely interesting company Case Studies.   Next, it was four different companies (Justin.tv, AD-village, isleptthroughclass.com and us, Phonevite)  sharing challenges they face with FREE.    We each gave our 5 minute pitch, and then we, the presenting companies and the whole crowd, were broken up into four different lunch rooms, where we shared lunch and Phonevite was treated to some great advice by the many sharp people present.   Phonevite’s session was kindly moderated by Tami Bhaumik, VP of Corporate Marketing of Ooma.   Rich Buchanan, from Ooma, and Ranjith Kumaran, from Yousendit, also shared the table with us, and we appreciated theirs as well all the amazing feedback we received from all the tables.     Tami was kind enough to write down and send us some of the ideas we were given:

1)     How do we overcome skepticism over “free?”

• Problems accepting a “free” in any business model is generational.  Quite simply, older people are more skeptical.  Younger are more in tune with getting things for free.  They are willing to take a chance until they get burned.
• Offer up front payoff as to how you are offering something for “free.”  Be transparent.  No hidden agenda.
• Perhaps offer:  “How are we able to be free?”
• Cite up front how you make money
• Free only works to a point
• Expand PhoneVite services to other sites to extend viral opportunities
• Cite customer case studies up front for top tier targets to visually grasp how it works and how it might work for them.
• At the end of the call, in order to position yourselves in a positive light, say “PhoneVite is concerned about your privacy…” making you seem more legitimate and trustworthy

2)     How do we convert more to Premium and reduce churn?

• Differentiate the service more
• Reduce the number of free calls. Give them a taste and then get them to pay.
• Perhaps allow customers to use unlimited calls for 30 days and then pay.
• Refine target audience segmentation focus for those that are more apt to convert.
• Know your current users backwards and forwards.  Conduct a survey to see why they are using it and what they like about it.
• You must define your user group pods.  You cannot effectively market to everyone.
• Move your value proposition above the fold and reduce the amount of clutter on your website.

3)     Pricing on tiers?

• Potential elasticity testing.  Price high with couponing to test price elasticity
• Pre-paid testing
• Subscription Model testing
• Offer a certain amount of time for free and then turn on paid model.

Now, we must get busy executing these concepts.   Thanks everyone.

Phonevite Expands its Free Program to Help Organizations with Swine Flu Emergencies

With the pandemic rise of swine flu, and the worries and panic associated with such outbreaks, it is important that community members stay closely informed of the most recent developments.

Phonevite is temporarily upgrading its free outreach program to allow schools, churches, municipalities and other community organizations of ALL sizes, to broadcast time-critical phone alerts and updates for free* during this time of global crisis.

Click here for more details.

Musicshaking with Phonevite

One of the partnerships that we are thrilled about is the one with Musicshake, a user-generated music site that allows anyone to create their own music.   Through the partnership with Phonevite, Musicshakers can share the music they have created or that they enjoy over the phone.   Check out the video below that shows how it’s done:

Musicshake can be found at http://www.musicshake.com

Pitching at the Global Tech Symposium at Stanford

Last week, March 25-27, we had the opportunity to present at the Pitch Competition of the Global Technology Symposium at Stanford.    We were chosen as one of 6 pre-screened/selected start-ups to present our respective companies.    This was perhaps our 5th or 6th stat-up beauty contest that we appeared at, and though experience should have made me calm, I was actually quite nervous.   The Global Tech Symposium was quite different from other conferences like TechCrunch50 in that it drew an older, more serious,  global crowd (maybe that’s why I was a little more anxious).

The first company to present was Befunky, an Istanbul (Turkey) start-up that “develops applications that empowers everyday people with the ability to breathe new life into their photos and videos, become instant artists in one click, share their creations with the world, do it all without any technical knowhow and complicated software”.   Although I wasn’t too impressed with their application, their numbers were quite amazing.   The VC panelists thought the same.

The second company was Coda, from the Czech Republic.   They were innovating technologies for Self-Inflating Tires.  Quite interesting, but the VC’s thought that they needed yet to be proven and to first pass regulatory muster.

I was starting to think that all the companies were from overseas, and was getting some funny line ready to fit in (e.g. “we may not be based overseas, but we are of Korean background, I grew up in Spain, and I used to work at the UN), but fortunately the next company was based in Menlo Park, CA.

Crystal Clear Technologies was a water-purifying tech development company packed with Ph.D.’s.   Howard Hartenbaum (August Capital, Skype’s first investor) picked on them for this fact alone, mentioning that companies with many Ph.D’s in the management were not likely to succeed because if they had the patience to go through a Ph.D. program it also might mean that they are too patient to succeed and become big/profitable.   Another funny episode from this presentation was when the CEO was showing their financial projections in a slide, but the conversion of the file to Mac (the computer we were using was a Mac) made all the numbers go blurry, and the title on the top was “Crystal Clear Financials” with totally unreadable numbers everywhere.

Next it was us, and once on stage, surprisingly, my nervousness disappeared and I was able to deliver our demo & presentation in a straight-forward fashion.   The feedback we received from the judges was that we should have bragged about our numbers/stats a little more (I told them I’d send them the stats later by email) and that I should have given a live demo (instead of showing the Youtube demo, with which I had some technical trouble due to my unfamiliarity with the Mac).

The two remaining start-ups were Sputnik Ecommerce, from San Francisco, providing storefronts and production management web tools for print vendors (neither the judges nor I understood very well the business), and Visuvi, a search engine for images (which seemed to have grander plans than they could swallow).

Many in the crowd came afterward to tell us they thought ours was the best presentation, but at this competition, unlike in American Idol, the crowd’s opinion didn’t matter.   In the end, the VC judges deliberated, and they picked Crystal Clear Technologies.      I had the chance to talk to some of the judges – 2 of them were already friends, and 2 others I became friends during and after the conference.     The sort of inside story was that while Phonevite was one of the favorites, Crystal Clear elicited enough curiosity (i.e. the VC’s didn’t understand the industry well enough to judge it as a potential winner/failure) to become the less controversial and agreeable pick. Oh well…

Hotnewz.tv Review of Phonevite

We have it on our homepage too, but found this posted on Youtube today:

Phonevite To Go Demo on YouTube (1 min.)

caveat: it’s a very amateur video I made in a rush (it even has the cell phone static, you’ll hear what I mean LOL) for the Under The Radar Conference (we were selected as a Grad. Circle company at their last mobile tech beauty pageant… hey, at least people laughed!)

Phonevite Manners – Voice Broadcasting Etiquette

Here are a few tips to make your Phonevite messages more recipient-friendly:
- Tell call recipients who you are and what organization you represent – Many a time, people assume that the recipient will recognize who the caller is, but that is not always the case, so it is good to let them know who’s calling and remove any doubt, just like when one leaves a message in a voice mail system. (e.g. “Hi, this is Pastor David Smith from City International Church”)
- Mention that they are hearing a pre-recorded message - Because the quality of the call is so clear, recipients sometimes think that it is someone calling them live and they will try to initiate a conversation. Consequently, they will likely be puzzled when the caller keeps talking (i.e. the message keeps playing as it should)… Because of this potential confusion, it is wise to let them know that the message is a recording and not a live call.
- Make your messages short and to the point – Just like when you leave a voicemail, try to not be too repetitive and unnecessarily long-winded. It is a good idea to write out the script and/or the main important points and read them as you record the message.
- Send the message via email too – There may be some people that cannot hear the whole message because they are in the middle of a chore when they answer the call. For such cases and for all recipients to be able to review the information in your message, at their convenience, we recommend you send the message via email too. The recipients will receive a link to a unique URL (web page) where they can play the recording like they would a YouTube video.
- Make recipients aware of the Opt-out Option – When sending a message to a large group (e.g. whole school, mega-church), it is always nice to let the recipients know that you respect their privacy and that they have an option to opt-out at the end of every call answered by a live person.
- Leave a number where they can reach you – Although your verified Caller ID appears on the screen, it is good courtesy to leave a phone number where the recipient of the message can reach you back. You can also use our RSVP and Message-back options to elicit responses from your recipients (e.g. “Please use the RSVP prompt at the end of this call to let me know if you can make it” or “Let me know what you can bring to the pot-luck tomorrow by leaving a response at the end of this call”.

What we think of Robocalls

“I hate those annoying robocalls” is what I read in the news and blogosphere quite often. There is an organization with the sole purpose of stopping them. From my Google research of the term “Robocall”, it is mostly used in the negative sense, as famously derided by former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who, ironically, was criticizing her own campaign’s robocalls.

So, what do Phonevite and I think about them? Well, the answer is we agree and disagree.

AGREE
——
If by Robocalls we are talking about unsolicited calls, without permission and/or prior existing relationship, soliciting a purchase, vote, order and/or donation, then we agree and wish that these type of calls be limited or done away with. In fact, our home page and Terms of Service explicitly spell out that we do not want Phonevite to be used for Telemarketing or Solicitations. Yes, there is a way for these types of calls to be made in a non-intrusive, legal way, to people who have opted-in and/or have an existing established relationship, but we do not have the legal expertise/resources or technical system, yet, to filter appropriately and provide our customers with a mechanism to send calls only to those pertinent parties. Because of such limitation, we’d rather issue a blanket prohibition and play it safe, than mar our reputation for respect of privacy, and also, because indiscrimate spamming, whether done over the phone, text or email, is annoying and intrusive.

DISAGREE
———
If by Robocalls we are talking about any type of automated calling, voice broadcasting, autodialer and/or phone tree, that uses current and future technologies available to send pre-recorded messages to many parties at once, then we disagree, as strongly, with the position that such calls should be banned without discrimination. Ask the thousands of schools that use such systems to broadcast weather-related closing announcements to the parents, community organizations that send emergency alerts to the neighbors, the churches that connect with their congregations, the sports coaches letting the team know the game is cancelled because of rain, and the overwhelming majority will tell you of the many benefits of these systems. It is in these type of community-based alerts, notifications, reminders and invitations that Phonevite specializes. We understand that these systems could be abused by people with wrong intents, and that is why we have placed several safeguards (e.g. mandatory phone number verification, opt-out prompt at the end of every call, etc.) as well as a daily monitoring system for potential misuse of our service.

The dangers of abuse exist with any kind of communication system: email, voice or text. It would be ridiculous to ban the usage of the computer, phone and/or cell phone only because of their potential to be used abusively or because someone has already used the devices for spamming purposes. I hope we don’t chop the technological tree just because of a few rotten apples. It is better to prune those spoiled branches and to diligently watch and care for the growth of the whole tree.