Doing its best impression of Prince, the micro-blogging service formerly known as Utterz has changed its name to Utterli. After conducting some market research they learned that many people, especially females, did not like the name Utterz. So they decided to rebrand their service and even put poor ole Bessie, their cow mascot, out to pasture for good.

Giving the People What They Want

However, the biggest news for Utterli isn’t the new name but their new Groups feature which has been something that their users have wanted for many months. Users can now create or join groups and access the text, audio and video messages specifically aimed for that group. Groups can be public where anyone can join or they can be kept private where only invited members can join. There’s also a third type of group which can be private and hidden, which means other members can’t even see that it exists.

Even though you can access Utterli online, many of their members prefer to access the service through their mobile device. Utterli has also implemented a new speech recognition system that seemed to do an excellent job understanding my voice as I pronounced the names of groups I wanted to share a voice message with. Simply pressing the number two starts recording your message. When you’re done you decide who should get the message: an individual, a group or just save it privately for you to hear later on. You can always make it public later if you choose to do so.

Utterli Open API

An API was recently made available and several social applications have been created already for Facebook and Bebo. Look for many more mashups to come soon thanks to the new Groups and speech recognition features.

Conclusion

Personally, I liked the name Utterz but they felt there was sufficient justification for the drastic step of rebranding your service. What’s important though is the new groups feature which can be access via mobile device. It’s a growing trend for social networking sites to allow members to establish groups and provide access to their services through mobile devices. As our circle of friends continues to grow, our need to be able to control and manage the information that comes our way becomes increasingly critical. Being able to create groups to filter this firehose of digital information is a most welcome feature and comes not a minute too soon.

There’s an interesting meme that was picked up by Duncan Riley over at the Inquisitr earlier this evening with regard to the effect of FriendFeed on traditional blogging. It’s an interesting meme and something I’ve been spending a not insignificant amount of time thinking about myself.

 I’m in the midst of writing a long series of long posts for my personal blog on journalism with relationship to New Media, and I’m currently working on the subject of micro-blogging, and it’s role in the new and evolving ecosystem of for-profit online journalism.

That’s why I’ve paid special attention to blog posts like the one Hematopoiesis put out this evening that say stuff like “FriendFeed is killing blogging.” Duncan Riley disagreed that what Hematopoiesis argued was the case. I can see merits to both sides, and if you widen up the lens you look at the question with, you can see definite merit in both sides, plus some very interesting context.

Low-Impact Blogging? What’s that?

A few days ago, I wrote a fairly controversial article called 4 Questions for Early Adopters.  In the piece, I suggested a method for selling fringe concepts like “status microblogging” services Twitter and FriendFeed as something I termed “low-impact blogging.”  That term is sort of the basis on how I see these services evolving into the mainstream.

It certainly isn’t the only very clear path to mainstream, as Plaxo’s union with Comcast and all the cross-overs that entails with physical objects that the cable company is putting in people’s homes certainly qualifies for mainstream lifestreaming. But from an Internet user’s perspective, there is very little else that is universally familiar like the concept of blogging, thanks to social networks like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook giving everyone a blogging platform with their socnet account.

Going back to the term, though, I see most of the folks who’ve taken up Twitter, FriendFeed, and other similar services drasticly decrease posting volume, but not to the expense of their substantive editorial or news based posts, it seems. A lot of the personal updates, questions to incite discussion and the observational posts shorten themselves and end up on the lifestream.

Certainly, to some, this can be seen as “killing blogging,” as for many of us (myself included), personal diaries and journals were how we got started in blogging. If that’s all you blog about, you could very easily see these services as something that’ll completely eclipse the medium.

FriendFeed, Drop.io, Twitter and Utterz as a Meta-Platforms

Something I’ve done with my personal website is to not just embed various lifestreaming and micro-blogging widgets on the site, but made a valiant effort to actually incorporate the output of these sites as part of the featured content.

Each item not only features the original content (or an inline frame referencing the original content), but the subsequent discussion about the content, making it actual inline (and monetizable) content for my site.  Each discussion has a form at the bottom allowing site visitors (who have FriendFeed accounts) to participate in the discussion as they would on a blog post.

Even more promising is how usage and implimentation are the sites Utterz and Drop.io. Utterz is technically in the same space as FriendFeed and Twitter, though they’ve been around much longer (in fact, up until about April of this year, most traffic monitoring sources like Alexa and Compete ranked them very close to FriendFeed). Instead of going the route of syphoning off conversation from the blogosphere, their strategy was to inject it back in.

Utterz and Drop.io add an extra twist…

With Utterz, you have the ability to post video, audio or text, and all posts are accompanied by an option to cross post it back to your blogging or distribution platform of choice. Utterz has a pleathora of mobile posting options and an open API that functions almost identically to the Twitter and FriendFeed API (which is sure to lead to the inclusion of the service in tools like Twhirl or other microblogging stand-alone apps), and has the potential to completely eliminate the need to ever hit your blog or podcast interface.

It’s an interesting spin and convergence of micro-blogging, chat, blogging and podcasting. Drop.io, I learned today, is also evolving in its usage, to a similar utility.  It isn’t tied into blogging platforms or syphoning off discussion from existing blogs like FriendFeed, but creating a new way to seamlessly build media. FriendFeed user Nathan Rein described today the way he’s using it to effortlessly generate podcasts and teaching materials for his students:

Trying drop.io as an informal teaching journal. Set up a drop, and after each class, quickly phone-in notes and it becomes a podcast. This is even less fuss [than creating podcasts with Utterz], and it’s a little more “private” in a way. At the moment I am (unless I’m mistaken) the only person listening to my “dropcast,” and since it basically consists of notes for my own use that I want to keep in the cloud, no one else is likely to be interested in it. Thus a storage paradigm makes more sense than a blogging paradigm in this case.

Web 2.0 Apps are the New Distribution Tools

Ultimately, most of this new media not being funneled into blogging is going to end up in the same places, but the means to create, distribute, and garner discussion on the media will be done with tools that better suit the process.

FriendFeed is superb at creating spur-of-the-moment discussions from a wide cross-section of folks on interesting ideas, blog posts, and bookmarked news items. Twitter, from a content producer’s perspective, is a great research tool, and an even better way to market your media to folks who really care. Utterz is an excellent central meta-distribution platform. Drop.io, like Utterz, is also good at giving producers on the go a way to effortlessly build their media for slightly different applications.

In the end, most of this stuff can and will end up on the websites we’ve built originally to showcase our blog content, and the majority of it all ends up in an RSS feed at multiple points along the way.

In short, micro-blogging isn’t killing traditional blogging, it’s evolving it.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Mashable Rocks: Connect with us on FriendFeedFriendFeed Launches SearchFriendFeed Recommendations? Who Are You Likely to Like?FriendFeed Gets $5M, Launches to the PublicFormer Googlers Team Up to Launch FriendFeedFriendFeed Brings Twitter BackFriendFeed Launches Rooms. Moving Towards Semantic Web?

Because they’re typically steeped in subjectivity, product reviews tend to be more effective when grouped together. This is generally why you, the consumer, often want to consult with multiple sources and individual perspectives in order to make an informed decision before you proceed to checkout. So, just to make things a little easier for you, we’ve put together a brief list of places on the Web you might like to go to stock up on opinions about a myriad of products, from gadgets to vehicles to attire to the miscellaneous, before laying down your hard earned cash.

Perhaps the most abundant catalogue of product reviews on the Internet, Epinions, a Shopping.com property, is a megaplex of pretty much everything under the sun that pertains to human lifestyles of all sorts. Indeed, its supply of notes about electronics is vast, but it is also holds its fair share of opinions on travel, restaurants, and food and drink. Suffice it to say that its variety is as much a strength as is the sheer volume of information it manages today.

A bit more rough-cut, but supported by Web-based heavyweights (About.com, NYTCo), ConsumerSearch is touted as a reviewer of reviews. While not the prettiest player in the market, the quantity of information found on its servers is quite large. If you’re willing to forgive its bland interface, you might find it a resource worth visiting and revisiting once in a while.

This one’s an oldie for sure, but still relevant. Some might pass it off as a review source too focused on detailed research and less about connecting consumers with the broadest product list possible, but ConsumerReports has been trusted by a large number of readers for many years, and continues to play a very active role in the field. If nothing else, it’s one more place to go to achieve that well-rounded view you’re seeking.

Amazon is a retail giant, for sure, but its product reviews are a massive resource in and of themselves. Some items will show pages of feedback, while others will show less, or maybe none at all. But taken as a whole, Amazon is a destination as valuable for its convenient shopping mechanisms as for its consumer commentary.

If electronics are your focus, CNET carries some merit among review sites. The in-house review staff at CNET regularly put out text and video reviews of gadgets built for business and personal use, and user input helps to complete the picture. CNET was purchased by CBS not too long ago, and some are expecting the adoptive parent to focus more on the TV-style projects being produced at the technology site, but for the time being, CNET is still a decent choice for aggregate opinion.

We covered Sazze earlier this year when it introduced itself as product review site with a social component, and it continues to look like a solid place for reviews. Its home page highlights a select number of products, and beneath the cover there are thousands more. There’s a good chance you’ll find what you’re looking for here, and each page is laid out intelligently, so it’s all very easy to browse.

Reevoo launched last summer, and in that time it has built itself a bit of an international name with the debut of a French adjunct in March of this year. Simple enough to use, with a database fronted by five main categories - ‘Phones & Computing,’ ‘Entertainment,’ ‘Photography,’ ‘Home & DIY,’ and ‘Toys & Baby’ - Reevoo has quite a lot of reviews and ratings beneath the hood. Take a look, we say. You might like it.

Not to be confused with the option above, Retrevo is sort of a hybrid of reviews and general product information (product manuals, etc.). The site is completely intuitive, and while its presentation of data might not be everyone’s favorite cup of tea, its gets the job done.

You might like it for its name alone, Buzzillions, but past the title, it’s actually a good piece of kit. It has a wide reach across the product realm, and everything is pleasantly wrapped. It is for sure one of the better places to visit among sites listed here.

Another product search and review engine that presents itself as infused with expertise, Crowdstorm is low on material on its front page, which might be a touch disappointing for some visitors, but its method of delivering information is rather interesting. You can browse for products manually, or ask for “expert” advice on stuff you seek to buy. Crowdstorm operates sites for both US- and UK-based audiences.

PEbuzz is one part social network and one part gadget review joint. We offered a few thoughts on the site some weeks back, and while it could definitely use a nicer, more modern exterior, it may well be what you’re after. For what it’s worth, PEbuzz is free to join.

Photo enthusiast are you? Look no further than Digital Photography Review. Covering everything from the latest industry news to detailed - and we mean detailed - product reviews and comparisons, DPR is the place you want to go for anything to do with digital imagery.

RateItAll has some decent offerings. It likes to tout lists having to do with anything deemed culturally or consumeristically (not part of the official lexicon, but we’ll go with it all the same) significant by the populace. Will this serve you well? That depends. If you’ve read this far, it’s safe to assume you’re privy to lists. And RateItAll is right down that alley. The site also offers applications for Facebook and MySpace users.

Omgili covers more than just product reviews. Or, as it describes them, “consumer experiences.” But part of the puzzle has to do with stuff you buy, so what they hey, it gets the final spot here. Enter a search term, and you’ll get back a search page with product results along with ratings bars that manage five degrees of buyer approval/disapproval, from “excellent” to “miserable.” Omgili pulls reviews from about seven independent sources, including Amazon, PriceGrabber, NewEgg, CNET, Target, Yahoo Shopping, and Edmunds.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:ExpoTV Adds DFJ Gotham to Round of Venture FundingAmazon Launches Product WikiAbout.com Takes ConsumerSearch for $33MTestfreaks Launches Alpha Review Site; Seeks TestersAmazon Acquires Digital Photography Review SiteCiao Launches Lists Function: What’s On Your Top 10?Crowdstorm Still Kicking

Source:Mashable!

This is a guest post written by Chris Brogan, who blogs about social media for business at chrisbrogan.com.

There are only so many hours in a day, and you’ve got to determine which social media tools drive business, which ones build community, and where you can learn the most in the process. Maybe you’ve built a blog or a home page or some other starting point for your online presence. How do you manage the rest of your online presence, and how do you keep track of everything? I have some ideas for you. Let’s start by building the following:

Listening Post

Get a Google account and get Google Reader. Go to Technorati and Google Blogsearch. Find the search bar and put in:

-Your name in quotes.

-Your company name (if that matters).

-Your competition’s name.

-keywords to your industry.

Every time you do a search, look for the orange RSS subscription button on Technorati, and click it. Look for the RSS subscription link to the left on Google Blogsearch. Click it. Add all of these to your Google Reader (upper left area of the left sidebar).

You’ve just built a rudimentary listening post.

A Social Hub or Two

Go to FriendFeed. Build an account and add your blog, your Flickr photos, your Upcoming.org, and your whatever-you’re-doing-on-the-Web into it. This is another way to share out what you’re doing, but also another place where conversations are happening that you might not see if you’re not there with another kind of listening post.

You might also check out Lijit, a service that offers a different spin on a similar thing.

Some Social Network Outposts

At this point, my top 3 choices for social networks are:

-LinkedIn - for professional networking.

-Facebook - for social circles.

-Twitter - for everyday conversation and networking.

I belong to and use several other networks for different things, including Utterz (I’m on their advisory board), Flickr, several Ning sites, and a few other niche things. The three listed above are the ones I think have the most resonance. You might substitute MySpace for Facebook. You might like Jaiku more than Twitter. The details don’t matter. I just listed what I feel are the best choices at present.

On those sites, amongst other things, be sure to point links back to your primary site or your blog. Thread the needle for people.

Note: several of these sites also have RSS subscriptions for comments and other updates. You can add those to your Google Reader, too, to keep track of it all.

What to Do With It All

This is partially difficult to answer, as it’s up to you what your goals are for using social media. But some of the things you can do once you have this all in place are:

-Learn who’s talking about you (or your company, or the other keywords you put into your reader), and engage them in conversation on their site.

-Make relationships with others before you need them on social networks.

-Find other professionals in your field, or in unrelated fields on social networks.

-Connect with old friends and business colleagues.

-Discover new people through reading and learning, and follow the media they make on the various networks, and/or in Friendfeed.

-Learn more about your competitors through the media they make, and discover where you can build more value.

Obviously, there are dozens more possibilities. If nothing, I hope to have provided a potential starter kit for managing some of the elements of online presence around your primary blog or website. You might have some different experiences along the way, and some parts might not work, so feel free to adjust. Your mileage may vary.

Would you add anything else to this premise?

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:GMnext Is an Online Car Show (With Commercials and Without the Models)Podcast: A Conversation with Metacafe’s Michelle CoxNetShops Adds Google Brand Executive to the Teamad:tech Panel: Advertisers Crave Social Networks and Social MediaPopularMedia, Getting Your Brand Word-of-Mouth MarketingGoogle Still The World’s No. 1 BrandYahoo To Launch Brand Sites with Avatars, Yahoo Answers, del.icio.us, Flickr and More

Another web-based conferencing service, Foonz might be going down that route. Randy Corke, President & […]

Another web-based conferencing service, Foonz might be going down that route. Randy Corke, CEO of […]