As of today, 88Nine is putting Milwaukee on the map thanks to a new web and mobile service called Broadcastr. For some time, we have been looking at ways to present our various campaign stories such as "Make Milwaukee" and "The Neighborhood Project" in an easy, unique and fun way. Then a few weeks ago, I came across that solution on a tech blog. That solution is called Broadcastr.
Broadcastr, a new social-media platform for location-based audio, launched today. The site lets people create and share recordings on an interactive map, like a museum tour of the whole world. Broadcastr also offers a free mobile app for both iPhone and Android so one can listen to or record stories anywhere (app will be available with a week or two). You can even embed the stories to your blog, facebook profile and more. Think of Broadcastr as Foursqaure and Twitter meets the spoken word.
“The human voice is how people communicate most of the time. It’s intimate and expressive. Yet up until now it’s been missing from social media. Broadcastr brings our voices into the digital space,” says co-founder Scott Lindenbaum.
Broadcastr’s mission is to build a layer of narrative and memory in the real world. “In a time when so much of social media is disposable, we’re creating something different: A platform that provides an up-to-the-minute stream of information, which will also grow into an invaluable and easily-accessible archive of history and story,” says co-founder Andy Hunter.
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Each story on Broadcastr is pinned to a GPS location, including restaurant reviews, citizen journalism, personal messages, funny anecdotes, and more. On Broadcastr mobile, users can take a walk while stories about their physical surroundings stream automatically into their headphones, like a museum tour of the whole world.
Stories on Broadcastr can be searched by metatag, category, creator, rating, date, or keyword; users can follow their friends and favorites, and share their stories on Facebook, Twitter, and other networks.
A few weeks ago, 88Nine RadioMilwaukee was invited by Broadcastr to be a featured partner and publish our campaign stories about Milwaukee on their site. Other featured partners include Fodor's Travle Guides, The 9/11 National Memorial and Museum, UNICEF, NYC Parks, and more.
88Nine sees a lot of great uses for Broadcastr. Storytelling organizations like Milwaukee's Ex Fabula can reach more of Milwaukee, by posting short stories from people located all over the city. One can use to talk about restaraunts or even create your personal guide for your neighborhood. Journalists can easily create audio reports from events via the app on their smartphone.
88Nine RadioMilwaukee has posted over 50 stories on Broadcastr, and we will be posting more every week. We will also post stories from this year's SXSW in Austin, Texas.
Here is a story from Fox explaining how The 9/11 National Memorial and Museum is using Broadcastr.