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Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Utterz steps up its instant online communication game

imageI joined Utterz shortly after it launched. I liked the idea as soon as I heard it: a way to share a thought impulsively by recording it over the phone. The recording is saved to a profile where those who choose to follow you are notified that you have a new Utter. What you Utter can often become a conversation, just as text does on Twitter and video on Seesmic. As with Twitter, you can put a widget on your site that plays your latest Utter. As with YouTube, you can embed an Utter as part of a blog post.

Utterz, Seesmic, and Twitter represent a suite of tools for me. Most often, I’m at my computer and it’s easiest to send a tweet. Sometimes, though, video seems more appropriate to the message. When I’m not at a computer and keying text into my mobile phone just seems like a hassle, I can call it into Utterz.

Twitter is well-established and, if Biz Stone and his crew can overcome persistent reliability issues, it’s not going anywhere. Utterz and Seesmic have less certain futures. Seesmic is still in alpha, so it’s way too soon to make any guesses about its prospects. Utterz, with its cow-based theme, has attracted usership only in the thousands.

Utterz has stepped up its game with announcements made today. I spent some time on the phone last week with the company’s CEO, Michael Bayer, who walked me through some of the changes the company is introducing. (The discussion was arranged by The Conversation Group, which represents Utterz.) While it won’t dethrone Twitter, the upgraded Utterz represents a threat to Seesmic.

Most of the changes are based on user input, Bayer said; that thousands of comments helped prioritize which improvements to introduce now and which to work on for later. The new features reinforce Utterz’ promise to let you produce any kind of content instantly, using any device, and to post that content where you want. Utterz now supports voice, video, images and text from computers and mobile phones and lets users direct where their content winds up: on their blog, their Facebook account, wherever. In our conversation, Bayer stressed Utterz’ platform-agnosticism.

Today’s announcements include the addition of threaded conversations on the Utterz site. In addition, Utterz is going global with local phone numbers for voice contributions in nearly 20 countries including the UK, France, Italy, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, Israel and others.

The multiple-media approach makes this partricularly interesting. The only way to reply to a Seesmic video is with another Seesmic video; Twitter tweets require tweets in return. With Utterz, I can respond to text with a video I record directly from my webcam (just as Seesmic works) while someone can reply to my video with audio called in from a mobile phone.

Utterz is introducing one more change today: an improved interface. The design looks more business-like. The cartoony cow motif was fine, but not exactly the kind of thing that would inspire widespread business adoption. The new interface looks just fine for work:

Shel Holtz

Audio uploaded to Utterz are added to feeds as RSS 2.0 compliant enclosures, which allows the service to double as a podcast host.

Taken together, these enhancements make Utterz a formidable competitor in the growing world of instant online conversation.

Here’s my Utterz profile, by the way.

Comments
  • 1.Utterz does offer an alternative to a high quality produced podcast and a means to quickly articulate your thoughts.

    We have recommended Utterz to political campaigns for on the spot field reports that complement other social media vehicles.

    I was a much more frequent user of Utterz, now I find it a bit more time consuming. I agree with your assessment Shel about the suite of tools that it falls into. The changes will help corporate types see a more direct connection between their communications objectives and the Utterz platform.

    Albert Maruggi | February 2008 | St. Paul

  • 2.I was expecting convergence in this area fairly shortly, but I did expect it to come from one of the 'bigger' names, such as Twitter.

    Certainly I'm more comfortable Twittering at the moment, whilst one of my colleagues is far more likely to post quick responses via Seesmic (Well, he is a video producer).

    Being able to combine whichever is the most appropriate tool at the moment of inspiration is a winning idea, if enough people find out about it and use it.

    BadgerGravling | February 2008 | Peterborough, UK

  • 3.Shel - thanks for sharing this. I had been aware of the tool but had tried out Gabcast. Now you can record from your PC as well as mobile it's more appealing for a higher quality recording.

    I've registered for an account and recorded my first Utterz. I think it could be a great way to get a mobile podcast out when at events.

    Only problem I've found so far is that I can not use Skype for the Irish number.

    Krishna De | February 2008

  • 4.Thanks for sharing! I wasn't aware of this tool and can't wait to try it out. Thanks again for this!


    Just Talk About It! Online Community

    Bill | February 2008 | p

  • 5.Good writeup...I used Tweeter but never heard of Utterz till now; I like the idea of it, but like you said it's going to have to do some great things to get more of a base out of the thousands.

    Matt | February 2008 | USA

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