G-SNAP Beta Launched!
Some of you might remember I blogged about G-Snap a while back, and at the time I was very impressed with their product and even more impressed with their level of service. Well, these guys have outdone themselves this time. I spoke to my good friend Ramsey Ksar from G-Snap today and we discussed their new beta release of their software. It’s simply amazing, I am not for sure if there is anything on the market now that even comes close to what this application can do.
The guys from G-Snap actually spent time inside the chatrooms with our users from time to time and asked questions about what they wanted to see in the next release and then took these suggestions and turned them into their latest beta release. I actually witnessed this on several occasions, that kind of interaction between a software company and it’s users is definitely the best way to guage your products perception.
Here are some of the features included in their beta release, and from what I have gathered everything appears to be very stable:
Live Event Coverage with G-SNAP!
With G-SNAP!, it’s easy to create on demand communities for your live event to give you the ability to communicate the “play-by-play”, event updates, lecture points, etc! Snapcasting also give you the power to empower a community to gather and discuss! All this happens in real-time without having to refresh your browser! Additional Snapcasting features include:
- Live event thread with viewer comments on Web and Mobile
- An archive of all your Snapcasts
- Manage the game clock and scoreboard for sporting events
- G-SNAP! Snapshot to communicate critical event updates
- Invite additional Snapcasters to assist
- Upload photos, video, or Powerpoint via your desktop and mobile
- Private Snapcasts for your private events!
- Multimedia experience with the G-SNAP! Media Gallery (view uploaded photos, videos, slides and other media files from your desktop or mobile)
- Snapcast Standby mode: this is great for multi day Snapcasts.
- Real-time search across all Snapcasts!
- Real time stats to keep you informed as to how you’re doing
- Avatars and more!
- Customized event URLs – just ask and we can set it up for you. For example, http://gsnap.com/myliveevent
Mobile Snapcasting!
Covering a soccer game? Maybe a conference? Didn’t bring our laptop? With G-SNAP! Mobile, it’s easy to Snapcast an event from your mobile phone! You can provide the play-by-play all while uploading images or videos. With G-SNAP! Mobile it’s also possible to attend view any Snapcast!
Multimedia Snapcasts
Add photos, video (even YouTube!), or even Powerpoint files from your desktop or mobile phone into your Snapcast. You can also add a live video stream from our recommended video friends at Ustream or Mogulus by grabbing the “embed code” for your video and adding it to your Snapcast!
Robust Moderation Features
As the Snapcaster, you control your content. Set viewer comments to require your approval prior to publishing or ban a specific user who’s a nuisance. Or, give specific viewers “trusted” status to auto-approve their comments.
- Allow viewers to comment freely or require each entry to be approval by you!
- Trust a user while comments are set to “require Snapcaster approval” and all their entries are auto-approved. Or ban a trouble maker and they’ll be given the boot!
- Inappropriate word filter: this is default on but if you chose, it can be turned off. It’s your Snapcast but be mindful of your audience!
Personalization
Have a website or blog? Create a Snapcast on G-SNAP! and then embed the viewer on to your page! Keep your viewers on your site – we don’t mind!. Additional features include:
- Personalized theme allowing you to put a custom background image, header image or pick a background color
- Custom avatars and more!
- Private Snapcasts are a breeze to setup if you’re hosting a private event!
I was also speaking to Ramsey today about incorporating G-Snap into two other possible projects we have going on, the ability to tie a web chat with a mobile device certainly has an appeal, especially when covering live events such as outdoor festivals and sporting events.
Just a few of the things that i see that I know our users are very excited about is the ability to have avatars on their accounts that show up beside their comments, this appears to do wonders for following the flow of the conversation, plus it allows users to more or less customize their own profile which is something we all know that they appreciate.
I am also very impressed with the layout and interface for the snapcasts, very nice. Here is a link to an upcoming snapcast for those of you interested in checking out their software first hand. I recommend setting up an account and taking part in the chat so you can get the full effect as to how impressive this software is. (Link: http://gsnap.com/588)
G-SNAP!
My partners and I launched our Nascar project earlier this year, and as a lot of you probably already know from reading my blog entries, I am spending a lot of time on that project. We have had an extremely successful run so far w/ the website and message boards, but probably the most popular feature that we have launched so far has been our live racing chatroom.
We initially started out using Cover-it-Live software but it became too intensive to manage on an ongoing basis so we got into contact with a company called G-Snap that offered a similar solution. We did a little investigating and found out that their solution was a better suit for what we were wanting to do with our live racing chat.
We got in contact with G-Snap and started using their product this past week during the Bristol race and it was an overwhelming success. I can’t speak highly enough about the quality of their product, and they even put us in contact with another Nascar fan and master Snapcaster, Andrew, AKA Cooter. Cooter more or less runs his own show during the races and does an awesome job! He inputs lead changes, laps, cautions, etc. into the snapcast as well as chatter he picks up on his scanner during the race.
If you are into Nascar, we would love to have you join us this next week to checkout G-Snap in action. You can click here to visit our Live Raceday Chatroom during the race on Sunday’s…
What is Snapcasting?
Snapcasting is a patent-pending technology created by G-SNAP! to enable a revolutionary, new social networking experience that pairs people and their passions to live events.
In this new experience, G-SNAP! is providing a single location (a Snapcast) where users from all over the world can follow the play-by-play of a live event on their desktops or mobile devices. Fans can also experience a new sense of community as they interact with each other sharing comments or opinions during the Snapcast.
For example, let’s say you are a passionate San Francisco 49ers football fan and this season they’ve made the playoffs. Unfortunately, you are out of town on business but still want to follow the game (a 49er fan can dream, right?). This is where G-SNAP! and our Snapcasting technology comes in. Simply go to gsnap.com on your desktop or mobile device and search for the San Francisco 49ers. Next, select a Snapcast that suits you and, voila, you are now attending a Snapcast with the play-by-play of this critical game. You can even interact with the rest of the community by providing your own witty commentary.
Here’s another example from a different perspective. You and your friends are big fans of Steve Jobs and Apple, Inc. Somehow only you magically secured a ticket to Macworld where "Steve" plans on unveiling some kind of micro super computer that solves world peace. Seriously. Well, you can easily create a Snapcast from your mobile phone and bring ”Steve’s” updates to your friends, along with detailed descriptions of the product, audience reaction, or even the smell of a demo gone wrong.
With G-SNAP! and our Snapcasting technology the possibilities of the types of events to cover (or which to attend) are limitless. It will be up to you, the Snapcasting community, to be as creative as you want to be to utilize this revolutionary, new social way to actively participate, or to simply listen in to live events.
Embedding a Snapcast
It’s easy! Simply create the Snapcast as you usually would and select the "Embed" button on the bottom left of the page. From there, just copy and paste the code into your website or blog!
Snapcasting Style Guide
So you’re looking for some style tips. We can’t quite help you walk the red carpet but maybe, just maybe, you can become so good at Snapcasting that you too might walk that carpet someday. Here are some helpful hints as you Snapcast.
Talk to Your Audience
- Keep your audience in mind. Only cover the things that truly interest them.
- Try to keep the updates to actual event details. If you’d like to add small commentary, try adding it to the comments section.
- Utilize the "Snapshot" feature to communicate big events such as a team scoring.
Describe the Feeling
- Give your audience insight into the sights and smells of your Snapcast. For example, let them know the audience is unusually energetic or how the smell of cotton candy is permeating the air. These are details that aren’t possible to digest if you’re watching on TV.
- It’s always fun to let the audience know about the one visiting team fan sitting in the home team section trash talking as he’s being escorted out.
Keep a Consistent Pace
- Possibly the most important tip we can provide is to keep a consistent pace as you Snapcast. Inconsistent updates are a recipe for low audience numbers as they could think you’ve ditched them.
- If you are covering an event that is fast paced, consider asking someone to assist you. How you ask? During the Snapcast, it’s easy to add another G-SNAP! user as an additional Snapcaster.
- Let the audience know if there is a break in the action (timeouts, in between quarters, halves, or periods, injuries on the field, problems with a demo, etc.). If it’s you taking a break, let the audience know how long you will be gone for.
- If you are Snapcasting an event and you are utilizing the clock, try your best to keep it accurate. Also consider adding someone to your Snapcast to help you manage it.
X-casting Increases Engagement
- The more you x-cast (photos, videos, audio), the more engaged your users will be and the longer they will stick around.
- Use creative, engaging descriptions when uploading your x-cast. An uploaded photo with a lousy description won’t be clicked on!
- Before you X-cast, update your G-SNAP! profile with the email address(es) you will be using when sending your xCasting emails.
Mobile Snapcasting
- Keep your updates concise
- X-cast often as that will help add more content to your Snapcast
- Have a fully charged battery (and maybe a spare!)
- If you screen auto-refreshes, you can always put your cursor in the update box. As long as it is in there, your phone will not refresh.
- Make sure you have the right plan from your mobile carrier. The right plan will avoid sticker shock when you get your next bill. By the way, this point is covered in the G-SNAP! Terms of Use in case you didn’t read it.
- If your phone has wifi, consider jumping on to a wifi network versus a 3G network as it will save battery life.
