Whenever I get a chance, I love to try a sip of any new flavor of Web 2.0 Kool-Aid being served. Gotta admit until yesterday I never drank it from Utterz. Utterz has been on my radar screen for quite some time. Utterz CEO, Michael Bayer, is a friend of mine and fellow sushi lover. Given Twitter’s recent rash of outages, I thought I would go over and take a sip of what Utterz has been serving. And I like what I’m tasting.

My simplest definition is that Utterz is “Twitter on steroids with voice, video, picture and text capability.” I’m sure that line makes Michael cringe because in reality, Utterz is so much more. Utterz takes microblogging to a whole new level by allowing its members to create a mashup blog post from anywhere in the world via their mobile phone. Member call 712-432-Mooo (6666) from their cell and record a voice utter. Within 10 minutes of calling in their utter, members can then send video, pictures, and/or text to go@utterz.com and Utterz will mash it all into a single post and put it on utterz.com. If ya’ want, Utterz will then feed the post to Twitter, Facebook and a bunch of other Web 2.0 play grounds. Way cool. 

The hump that I’m not sure I’ll ever get over with Utterz is that, like most people, I don’t like the sound of my own voice (note to self: call a therapist). The good news is you don’t have to use the voice feature. I love the thought of combining videos & photos to my mobile-based text microblogging and the opp to mash it all up into one blog post. Shazaam!

My challenge today is that having only been an Utterz member for 24 +/- hours, I’m lonely (note to self: schedule second therapy appointment). Unlike most PR people, I do not strive for mass followers on Twitter and mass friends on Facebook in order to feel a sense of self worth and importance. I tend to be very selective with the people I bring into my world. Quality over quantity. You will never see me following thousands of people on Twitter or Utterz, ’cause, guess what…it is physically impossible to do so. However, I am very lonely on Utterz because my friends/family/collegues are not there yet. Time to start pimpin’.

I think Utterz needs to simplify its positioning in order to achieve mass adoption (think: Twitter). My company has been immersed in Web 2.0 since 2005 through self-immersion and our Web 2.0 clients. When we launched Gather.com in 2005, we found the most effective line for media pitching purposes was to refer to Gather as the ”MySpace for Grown-Ups” (note: we couldn’t say “adults” because that made people think porn). While that wasn’t the language Gather used to describe themselves, it was a way to open the door and get instant attention and understanding from the media in three words, something considered nirvana in media relations. The Gather launch was wildly successful, as was the follow-on three years of media coverage. We evolved our single-pitch-line description to align with the natural evolution of Gather’s strategic direction. Utterz will have the same opp to evolve its positioning.

MySpace paved the way for social networking through its content-based approach. Facebook then came along and began eating MySpace’s lunch through its people-based approach. I think Utterz has the opp to do to Twitter what Facebook did to MySpace, they just need to tighten the messaging to reach the masses and then get it out there. Michael Bayer is absolutely, unequivocally one of the smartest people I know, so I have no doubt that will happen. He is also one of the funniest guys on the planet. That’s probably why the icon for the Utterz brand is a cow named Bessie. Moooooo…

Do you utter?