Most people today never heard of Utterz which was an innovative and fun community that launched around the same time as Twitter. You could do all the things we do now on Twitter and Facebook but even more. For example, not only could you publish posts on their website with text, images and video, but also audio via your cell phone. This was just before the release of the iPhone so it was very unique in that respect. Once the iPhone came out, Utterz really picked up new users quickly.
I actually liked the goofy name and the funny mascot Bessie with all of the built-in puns about cows including the catch phrase “Be Herd!”. It was so easy to share a voice post by simply calling a dedicated phone number and best of all you could listen to your circle of friends by using the phone’s keypad to cycle thru them. You could even reply to any audio post with you phone. It was perfect with a hands free setup in the car during long commutes.
Utterz wasn’t just a destination for your posts with a vibrant community, but it also let you publish whatever you posted to any of your other services such as on Twitter, Facebook, Flicr, and any of your own blogs. It was very easy to setup your channels too. They even had groups so you could share your posts only with that particular group (much better than G+ circles because it was easy to curate and join).
Everyone is going crazy over Google+ these days but Utterz everything it does and much much more. There have been some other audio/mobile based platforms since Utterz closed shop such as Cinch.com, ShoutOMatic.com and AudioBoo, but none of them can match everything Utterz did.
Here’s Simeon Margolis who was not only one of the founders of Utterz but also the official face/voice of the Utterz brand and community. We all loved Sim who was very active with the community. When he left rather abruptly, it took the wind out of the sails (and sales) of Utterz. So many things changed and not for the better either. The name even changed to Utterli which made no sense and along with that change they took good ole Bessie the cow mascot and shot her. So the cute and odd vibe was gone and so was its leader. Slowly, Utterz…um…Utterli died. Never to be herd from again. Sorry, just had to use one last pun in Bessie’s honor.
Here’s a good demo of how Utterz looked and functioned.
Here’s how easy it was to connect your Utterz to your other platforms.