next2friendsblog.com

We’ve been having so much fun with all the videos that have been submitted that we’ve decided to extend the deadline for the Next2Friends Most Creative Video Contest! We are pushing the deadline to May 31st, 2008. That’s one more month to showcase the talents of the Next2Friends community. Here are a couple of videos that have been submitted so far. My including them here has no bearing on their prospects for winning. I am not a judge of the contest, I’m merely showing the diverse style of videos we have been receiving. We welcome any and all videos for our contest! So keep the submissions coming!

Here’s one from the Quizbowl team:

And here’s another one that is totally of a different style by Next2Friends user Naren:

Remember you could win the following prizes:The 1st place winner will receive an Apple iPod Touch, a $150 iTunes voucher and a Next2Friends T-Shirt.

The 2nd place winner will receive a $100 iTunes voucher and a Next2Friends T-Shirt.

The 3rd place winner will receive a $50 iTunes voucher and a Next2Friends T-Shirt.

For complete details visit this previous post:

The Next2Friends Most Creative Video Contest Details

Good luck and keep them coming!

Real Life,

Real Time,

Real People,

www.Next2Friends.com

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans at Next2Friends dot com

Next2Friends has had a face lift! The first thing you’ll notice is the much clearer home page. We’ve recognized the need for something a little clearer and simpler for a while and are quite happy with the modifications. You’ll notice a very clear delineation of all the things you can do with Next2Friends:

There is also a very simple explanation of how to use Next2Friends Live, the only way to broadcast and upload video from your cell phone that is TRULY live, not delayed buffered streams!

And there is an ever-increasing list of updated features like the new Dash that allows you to keep track of all the latest moves your friends make. Think media-rich News Feed:

And real cool new Profile changes such as the ability to adjust and edit your avatar and, my personal favorite, the ability to Blog from within your profile!

And that’s just the surface. Underneath it all is the fact that Next2Friends is an exciting intersection of Social Networking and Mobile Technology like none other!

Real Life,

Real Time,

Real People,

www.Next2Friends.com

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans at Next2Friends dot com

We at Next2Friends are thrilled to announce yet ANOTHER exciting, fun and creative way for you to earn great prizes! Whether its an Easter-egg hunt, the dawning of spring or simply a window into everyday life, we are all surrounded by fantastic visual inspiration. Combining people’s talent and the Next2Friends technology, we’re looking to celebrate this creativity, reward it and bring it to life online for others to enjoy too!

THE NEXT2FRIENDS MOST CREATIVE VIDEO CONTEST

On May 31st, 2008 Next2Friends will be choosing the three most creative videos and awarding the winners the following prizes:

The 1st place winner will receive an Apple iPod Touch, a $150 iTunes voucher and a Next2Friends T-Shirt.

The 2nd place winner will receive a $100 iTunes voucher and a Next2Friends T-Shirt.

The 3rd place winner will receive a $50 iTunes voucher and a Next2Friends T-Shirt.

To Enter

It’s really simple. Anytime between now and Saturday, May 31th at 23.59hrs GMT, just upload your video to your Next2Friends profile and send a message to Hans Erik (http://www.next2friends.com/?n=HansErik) with your video’s Next2Friends permalink in the body of the message.

Rules and Guidelines

One entry per person. Videos will be judged on a scale from 1-10 in the categories of Originality, Execution, Production Quality, and Overall Message. There is no minimum length but videos must not be longer than 4 minutes and cannot contain any profanity and obscene or offensive material. The judges’ decision is final and binding.

Bonus Points Opportunity!!

Each entrant has the chance to boost their score by an extra 12 points! 1 point will be awarded for every 5 verifiable friends you get to join Next2Friends (up to 10 friends, or 2 points maximum) and 10 points will be awarded if your video is shot using Next2Friends Live from your phone!

Judges

The panel of judges is comprised of an independent panel of industry experts. Christine Perey is owner of Perey Research and Consulting and an expert in Mobile Social Networking. She is also the founder of the Quicktime Movie Festival. Linda Zimmer is CEO of MarCom Interactive and an expert in modernizing marketing, communications and branding for contemporary audiences along social trends. Holly Scothern has promoted some of the biggest brands and most innovative start-ups in the internet, technology and new media industries for the past 14 years.

Good luck and we can’t wait to see what you’ve got!

And that’s a wrap!

Real Life,

Real Time,

Real People,

www.Next2Friends.com

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans at Next2Friends dot com

Next2Friends has been rated #12 on CommandShift3.com by users around the world in the category of Best Designed Social Networking Sites. Next2Friends also rates in the top 10% of all websites and categories on CommandShift3.com.

CommandShift3.com is a ratings site where users are presented with two websites side-by-side in the form of “battles”. Users then can navigate the two sites and award the “win” to their favorite of the two. Next2Friends beat out Social Networking giants MeetUp.com, which came in at number 16, LinkedIn.com, which came in at number 32 and Friendster.com, which came in at a distant 36.

Next2Friends is an exciting take on Social Networking that incorporates Mobile Technology in some revolutionary new ways including intelligent Proximity-Based Tagging and Profile Matching, seamless integration between a users mobile phone and their profile and Live-Streamed Video from virtually anywhere.

Next2Friends was added to CommandShift3.com in mid-October and quickly rose to it’s current position of number 12. As voting is ongoing there is the continued possibility that Next2Friends could rise higher still. Thanks to all who participated and if you haven’t already, head on over to CommandShift3.com and cast your vote!

Real Life,

Real Time,

Real People,

www.Next2Friends.com

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans at Next2Friends dot com

Sprint Nextel Corporation is upgrading their smart phone called the Mogul to take advantage of a faster data network. The change will allow the Mogul to connect to the internet at greatly improved speeds, twice as fast for downloading and eight times as fast for uploading.

The new download speed should be in the range of 600-1400 kilobytes per second up from the current range of 400-700 kilobytes a second. The upload speed will be in the range of 300-500 kilobytes per second up from the current 50-70 kilobytes per second.

This has particular ramifications for mobile social networks such as Next2Friend that allow intensive uploading and downloading from mobile technology. The Mogul currently runs on Windows Mobile which Next2Friends is slated to be compatible with in the coming weeks. At that time users should be see greatly improved Live-Video-Streaming from their Mogul as well as much faster Snap-Ups to their profile.

Sprint’s has said that the majority of it’s broadband network, covering 234 million people, has been upgraded to allow the greater upload and download speeds.

Real Life,

Real Time,

Real People,

www.Next2Friends.com

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans at Next2Friends dot com

SONIA!!!

Sonia is the winner of THE GREAT NEXT2FRIENDS VALENTINE’S DAY IPOD GIVEAWAY! The competition was for the person who had the most friends by February 14th. She sort of came out of nowhere to win. We at Next2Friends were watching people’s stats pretty closely and the competition looked to be between two other people, but in the closing 24 hours Sonia shot ahead by quite a few friends! Sonia is 24 and lives in Australia and is a very active member at Next2Friends. Great work Sonia! Here she is in her back yard (with her goats and chickens) thanking Next2Friends for the new iPod:

Alas, there can only be one winner, BUT Next2Friends is giving away ANOTHER iPod Touch to the user who has uploaded the most content by 8pm, February 29th, 2008. Content can be either pictures or movies. That’s a little over a week away! And what’s more, Next2Friends can turn your mobile phone into a portable content creator. With Next2Friends loaded onto your mobile you can upload live-streamed video or photos instantly to your profile.

So if you aren’t a member already go to www.Next2Friends.com and get busy uploading. As we saw from this last contest there is no way to predict the winner. It could be you! Good luck!

Real Life,

Real Time,

Real People,

www.Next2Friends.com

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans AT Next2Friends DOT com

Next2Friends has been named one of Web Designer Magazine’s Top 100 Unmissable Talents, Sites and Technologies for 2008!

Here is a great shot of Next2Friends inside the magazine. Lower right hand corner:

And here is Next2Friends, coming in at number 63, right behind Grand Theft Auto 4. Considering how much MORE money was spent on Grand Theft Auto 4, we are quite proud to be number 63! Quite a nice little write up!

This is in no small part due to Next2Friends being designed by internationally recognized Nick La, whose inspired work has been featured in countless magazines, advertisements and websites. And of course some of the credit goes to the many programmers and technicians who have made Next2Friends a reality. And lastly, we can’t forget the blossoming community of people who are using Next2Friends to connect with others in dynamic new ways, and making Next2Friends a part of their daily life. Thank you to everyone involved, we at Next2Friends are excited to have received this honor!

Real Life,

Real Time,

Real People,

www.Next2Friends.com

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans AT Next2Friends DOT com

Next2Friends is not only a really cool place to be, but we are also offering you great ways to earn cool rewards. This month we have 2 great giveaways:

THE GREAT NEXT2FRIENDS VALENTINE’S DAY iPOD GIVEAWAY!

Next2Friends will reward the user with the most friends and contacts by 8pm GMT, February 14th, 2008 with an iPod Touch. So get all your friends on board and get on your way to winning a new iPod Touch!

And if that wasn’t good enough now Next2Friends is also offering you ANOTHER way to earn an iPod Touch:

THE GREAT NEXT2FRIENDS LEAP YEAR iPOD GIVEAWAY!

Next2Friends will reward the user of our mobile communication & networking platform who has uploaded the most content to their profile by 8pm PST, February 29th, 2008 with a second iPod Touch. Content can include movies or pictures. Surely another great reason to download Next2Friends on your Mobile Device and to start using some of the great features like Live Video Streaming, Snap Up, Ask-A- Friend & Blue Tooth Tagging.

So there you have it, two iPods being given away in ONE MONTH!

Good luck!

The Next2Friends Team

As a result from direct feedback from our users worldwide, Next2Friends is rolling out dozens of great improvements to our mobile communications platform. Some of these exciting changes include:

- Profile invites so you can invite your friends to look at your Next2Friends profile
- Improvements to the Ask-A-Friend service
- A new video uploader integrated into the Gallery Page
- A new photo uploader integrated into the Gallery Page
- Google maps linked to Ask-A-Friend and Next2Friends Tagging
- An easier method for downloading our four mobile applications to your handsets

And much more! We will continue to improve the site and your experience so please keep that feedback coming. So if you have pre-registered but haven’t completed your signing up please go to:

http://www.next2friends.com/Signup.aspx

And don’t forget:

THE GREAT NEXT2FRIENDS VALENTINE’S DAY IPOD GIVEAWAY!

Next2Friends will be giving away an iPod Touch to the user with the most friends and contacts by February 14th, 2008. So get all your friends on board and be on your way to winning a new iPod!

Good Luck!

Real Life,

Real Time,

Real People,

www.Next2Friends.com

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans AT Next2Friends DOT com

Next2Friends has announced that it will be holding a contest in which it will be giving away an iPod Touch to the user with the most Next2Friends contacts by February 14th, 2008.

Next2Friends users connect with one another over the new Next2Friends multi-faceted communications platform that enables a level of real-time interaction surpassing all other social networks available today. Whether it’s through live video streaming from any capable mobile device or webcam, or using intelligent profile matching based on real-time proximity, Next2Friends bridges the “virtual world” with the “real world” like none other.

Any Next2Friend user with an active profile is eligible to win. The total number of friends and contacts of all users will be tabulated at 8:00pm GMT, February 14th, 2008 and the winner will be awarded a prize of the iPod Touch. If you don’t already have a Next2Friends account sign up for a free account at www.Next2Friends.com. Good luck and may the most connected win!

Real Life,

Real Time,

Real People,

www.Next2Friends.com

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans@Next2Friends.com