Press Release
August 25, 2008 0 Comments

ZANNEL LAUNCHES THE FIRST MOBILE POLITICAL COMMUNITY ON ITS INSTANT MEDIA NETWORK; 13 Grassroots bloggers will lifecast from the floor of the Democratic National Convention

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – AUGUST 25, 2008 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA – AUGUST 25, 2008 - For the first time ever, grassroots bloggers will be broadcasting video, pictures and text updates straight from the floor of the Democratic National Convention using their mobile phones and Zannel, the instant media network that is used by millions of people for lifecasting, micro blogging, and as a mobile social network.

The Democratic National Convention, being held in Denver, Colorado August 25-28, has accredited a select number of state-based bloggers with floor access during the entire convention. Thirteen of these bloggers, representing every region of the United States of America, are contributing to Zannel’s PoliticsBlue community channel (www.zannel.com/politicsblue or text DEM to 58888 to view on mobile) from the convention through Election Day.  Representing North, South, East, West, and even registered Democrats living abroad, these bloggers will broadcast their journeys to this historic event, their observations, on-the-fly interviews, interactions with delegates, and authentic captured moments with political figures on the national scene. By leveraging Zannel’s award winning mobile platform, they will be able to instantly share their convention coverage with their blog’s readers, the Zannel community, and to the blogging and social networks to which Zannel syndicates content..

“Sen. Obama and the Democratic Party have talked about breaking down the walls of the convention to really let people get involved in the process,” said South Carolina blogger Tim Kelly.  “Zannel is providing a way for bloggers to do that in an engaging and immediate way, and I’m excited to be a part of PoliticsBlue.”

“Blogging is not just great therapy it has allowed me the opportunity to truly connect with my community and beyond.  To be the first credentialed blogger from Utah to attend the convention is pretty amazing,” said Utah blogger Rob Miller.  “To have Zannel allow me this opportunity to reach out to a even greater audience is beyond my wildest dreams.”

“We’re excited to enable our nation’s political discourse to be instantly seen and discussed by people on their mobile or PC,” said Adam Zbar, CEO of Zannel, “and we will continue to work hard to develop mobile features that help keep the civic conversation up-to-date, vibrant, and accessible.”

According to Zbar, Zannel will soon launch a PoliticsRed community channel, and welcomes bloggers of all stripes to follow and discuss the latest Red and Blue updates, or to create their own mobile political channel at zannel.com.

Winner of the 2008 Webby AwardTM for Best Mobile Social Network, Zannel’s Instant Media Network™ service allows users to instantly and visually communicate with their friends anytime and anywhere by posting video, picture, and text updates from their phone in order to start real time conversations.

About Zannel
Zannel makes the mobile industry’s first Instant Media Network™. Millions of people use Zannel to instantly and visually communicate with their friends across mobile and the web, for lifecasting, micro-blogging, and as a mobile social network. Founded by the team that built the first large-scale mobile media storefronts in the US, Zannel has combined the best of mobile messaging, media sharing, and social networking into a simple, compelling user experience.

About The Bloggers:
Participating grassroots blogs in Zannel’s PoliticsBlue community (www.zannel.com/politicsblue) are:

Florida: Florida Progressive Coalition - http://flaprogressives.org
Georgia: Georgia Women Vote – http://georgiawomenvote.blogspot.com
Kentucky: Blue Grass Roots - www.bluegrassroots.com
Massachusetts: Blue Mass Group – www.bluemassgroup.com
Mississippi: The Natchez Blog - www.natchezblog.com
New Hampshire: Blue Hampshire - www.bluehampshire.com
New Mexico: Democracy for New Mexico - www.DemocracyForNewMexico.com
South Carolina: Crack the Bell - www.crackthebell.com
Texas: Burnt Orange Report - www.burntorangereport.com
Utah: The Utah Amicus - http://utahamicus.blogspot.com
Vermont: Green Mountain Daily - www.greenmountaindaily.com
Wisconsin: Uppity Wisconsin - www.uppitywis.org
Democrats Living Abroad: Yanqui Mike    - www.yanquimike.com.ar


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Blog
November 19, 2008 0 Comments

Friend and Following feature improvements are live

Zannelers! In order to tidy up the Zannel interface and prepare for some really cool things we have in the pipeline, we’ve made some improvements to the friend and following features.

Firstly, you can now change the alert and feed settings for each friend or person you are following. You can choose if you want their posts displayed in your feed, or if you want to get alerts and if so, what kind.

These detailed alert settings are a great way to control what shows up in your feed. For example, if you are following the user “FlowerPower” and they go on a crazy posting spree with hundreds of daisies, you now have a tool to dial them down. Go to their following settings and turn off the alert and feed options so their flower pictures no longer bury you.

Another big change you’ll notice is that your friends tab in the top navigation bar has been absorbed by the following tab. Fear not Zannelers, your friends are still there! Just click the following tab and you’ll see all your friends listed with their own special friend icons to separate them from the users you are following. You can even sort the list just to show your friends. Since the posts of your friends and people you are following all appear in your feed, we thought it made sense to manage them all from one place.

It might also behoove us (we love the word behoove!) to revisit the difference between what it means to follow someone vs. being a friend. Here are a few important distinctions:

* Following: When you find someone whose posts you think are cool, you can follow him or her. Their new posts will appear in your feed. It’s an easy way to keep track of what you are interested in.

* Friends: Many people want to keep their posts private, or only allow messaging and comments from people they trust. If you’re somebody’s friend, you’re saying you trust each other enough to be sharing posts and communication.

We’re really excited about these enhancements, and have a lot more in store in the coming months, including improving how you find things on Zannel. But we want to hear from you! Let us know what you think and send us a note with your thoughts: feedback@zannel.com

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