Sonar Blog

Live from Ithaca… SonarU Cornell celebrates 4sqDay!

Live from Ithaca, here’s an update from the SonarU Cornell team,* Ian Perry and Clayton Dubin! This was Ithaca’s first official 4sq Day and the team made sure it was a memorable one. They managed to throw together a hopping event in a super short period of time, complete with check in specials, games, prizes, and even a Mayor’s proclamation for Ithaca. *Want to share the Sonar love at your school, too? Get in touch!

Here to tell you all about it, Ian and Clayton:

Foursquare Day was a success! The day started off with a promotion at The Cornell Store, where we set up a table and showed off Sonar to students.

Most people there had not heard of Foursquare Day or Sonar, so we quickly gave them a rundown and wished shoppers a Happy 4/16! The next event was a demo at the Popshop, a newly opened co-working space in Ithaca’s Collegetown.

Sonar Campus Captains Ian (L) & Clayton (R) with David Wasserstrum from 4sq!

We held an informal chat with current and prospective entrepreneurs from Cornell, brainstorming the many uses of Sonar and hearing how some students are already using it! Many students said they used Sonar to scope out nightlife options and see which bars were hopping.

The main event was the Meetup at The Nines, and we had a great turnout of people checking in to take advantage of the special being offered. David Wasserstrum from foursquare joined us and shared stories of Foursquare Days past, and excited foursquarers used Sonar in a scavenger hunt to find connections with people around them. All participants were then entered into a raffle, and the winner, Natalie Lin, took home a $50 gift card to The Cornell Store. Runner up Lilian Loh won a free Foursquare Day t-shirt courtesy of foursquare.

The event brought together students from all different fields at Cornell; undergraduates, business school students, and law students, as well as several entrepreneurs, including Cornell MBA student and CEO of ampcloud, Arthur Soroken. We enjoyed sharing Sonar and Foursquare, and saw a lot of promise for spreading Sonar magic on campus.

We hope people all over the world enjoyed Foursquare Day as much as we did!

04/17/12

Sonar Does Foursquare Day - Spotlight on LA!

Today’s post features some of our pals working on foursquare day. The big day is coming up and we’re pumped to be involved at a few events this year. Things are getting pretty crazy here in the office in NYC, but we wanted to include you in on the fun. Repping the West Coast, our pals running 4sqDay LA sent us an update from California we just had to share.

Reporting from Los Angeles, here’s the skinny from Sarah Cho!

As an organizer for 4Sqday for the second year in a row, I am very excited to be working with Vanessa Bedard, a Social Media consultant and fellow avid Foursquare user, in putting together one of the best 4SqDay events, coming this Monday, 4/16/12.

Sarah (L) and Vanessa (R)

This year’s festivities will be held at Casey’s Irish Pub in downtown LA. There will be food and drink specials and lots of fun activities and entertainment, including a big photo booth for attendees to snap and take home photos, giant & regular size Jenga games, fun giveaways, a themed scavenger hunt and an Ipod Touch giveaway. As in last year’s event, Vanessa will be bringing her famous Foursquare Cupcakes to this year’s celebration as well.

We are also very excited to be partnering with Sonar to incorporate fun ice breaker and trivia games for our attendees to introduce them to Sonar. In addition to having attendees download the app to play and familiarize themselves with it prior to the event, we will also have signs with QR codes posted throughout the venue which will direct users to Sonar’s download link for both IPhone and their Android beta version.

On top of all the fun, Digital LA will be moderating a panel discussing the benefits of using Foursquare in the entertainment and fashion industry. Speakers include Daniel Bedingfield, music artist, Vanessa Bedard, and more.

If you’re in the area, don’t forget to check out all the specials being offered throughout LA by checking in on Foursquare, and of course use Sonar to discover new connections with the people around you!

04/13/12

Sonar Campus Captains at the University of Michigan

Calling all students! Remember that nifty Campus Captain program we told you about not too long ago? Now that we’re officially up and running, we’d like to introduce you to the students bringing Subby to a campus near you.* First up, the University of Michigan.

*Want to be one of the first to bring Sonar to your school? Get in touch!

Nung Yoo, Kahlin Naidoo and Dimitry Slavin of M-Entrepreneurship are our first crop of Campus Captains and are working hard to bring Sonar to UMichigan. Since M-Entrepreneurship focuses on educating students about entrepreneurship, implementing innovative ideas, and helping members gain real-life experiences by working with start-ups, the team is pumped to rep Sonar on campus, and we’re happy to have them on board!

So what’s in store from your friendly neighborhood UMich team of Campus Captains?

Well I’m glad you asked. Within a short amount of time, the gang has already put together a plan to get the word out on Sonar; they’ve whipped up a survey to spec out student interest and are hosting events left and right to spread the Sonar love. Word on the street is they’re taking UMich by storm. But these busy bees still find time to play. Nung, AKA “the Big Boss”, is the founding president of M-E and a member of the Nexecon Consulting Club and the Global Investment Club as well. Kahlin is tight with his bros and serves as the current Fundraising Chair for Beta Theta Pi. And Dimitry is interning at a law firm in his free time. Slackers they are not! We’re pumped to have such an awesome group of go-getters bringing the Sonar magic to Michigan. If you’re a student at UMich and want to join in on the fun, holler at them! The more the merrier.

04/10/12

In this week’s Sonar Spotlight, BRIAN FITZGERALD’s got it made

Yep, it’s that time again, you beautiful Sonar fans, you. Time for another Sonar Spotlight where we get to know the wonderful folks who make up our Sonar community - you!* Up this week, BRIAN FITZGERALD, head of Digital Networking and Mobilization for Greenpeace International. Throw your hands together, friends.

*As always, tweet @xsvengoechea if you’d like to be featured, or would like to nominate a friend to enter the spotlight!

X to the O,

the Sonar Crew

Brian Fitzgerald Sonar Spotlight

Brian Fitzgerald lives in Amsterdam working on environmental justice, a field he’s been working in for 30 years now, in what he calls “a weird variety of roles.” Like what?

I delayed a nuclear weapons test in Nevada, sailed aboard the Rainbow Warrior in the North Sea and the Indian Ocean, helped open offices in Italy and the Soviet Union, flown a hot air balloon, saved whales, gone door to door, been arrested, and have done a number of desk jobs.

Brian, you sound awesome. Who are some awesome people you’ve met through Sonar?

At SXSW in Austin, Sonar was pinging like crazy — I’m a regular attendee and it’s probably not surprising that in a geographically concentrated group of early adopters with similar interests in technology, Sonar will find a lot of commonality. But I was looking through the list of folks checked in at an EFF party with a colleague and we both recognized a common follower, @rachelannyes. Neither of us had met her IRL, or were even entirely sure why we were following her. I looked up from her profile picture in the app and there she was at the next table, at a party which was spread out across three floors of a very busy bar. Among our common followers was Kieran Mulvaney, who I’ve known for decades. Turns out she works on oceans issues as a communications specialist with Upwell, a major curator of information on a whole slew of issues we work on with links to the Oceans Conservancy and a bunch of fellow travelers. She was a big fan of Kieran’s work, and we tweeted our meet with a shout out to him. He was amused we’d connected. And I assured him I never mentioned to Rachel the darker elements of his past, including that noodle incident.

The noodle incident, eh? We won’t ask more… Switching gears then, are you naturally social & outgoing?

Nope. I love SXSW because there’s a social expectation that you’ll reach out to strangers, talk to people in a shuttle or on a queue — there’s a permission environment for socializing that’s a bit too rare in daily life. But, as a random Australian I met on the street in Austin correctly challenged: why doesn’t the rest of the world function more like this? Once you get a taste of the richness of random interaction, and discover how quickly you can develop a friendship bond around the thinnest of common interests, it’s hard not to want to take an app like Sonar out for a spin every day.

So how do you take Sonar out for a spin?

So far, as a research project. But it’s starting to fascinate me on all kinds of levels. I’m looking for ways to use Sonar, and haven’t settled on a model or matched it to a campaign need yet. But I can easily imagine pushing it out to subscribers, asking folks attending a major concert or festival or rally to look for one another on the basis of a common follow of the @greenpeace twitter account or a common “like” of the Greenpeace International Facebook account, and perhaps take a specific collective local action. If that local action were something that aggregated into global pressure, woot! #Winning!

Yes! We love that Sonar can be leveraged for a greater social good. How about for personal use? Dating?

I’m off the market, but I can easily see its dating potential. I’m more interested in how Sonar might facilitate connections between people who support Greenpeace or other causes of the same ilk. Of course, people hitting on each other because Sonar exposed them to be the kind of fun-loving troublemakers with a passion for nature that have a Greenpeace connection? That’d be a smooth move.

We hear you on that. Subby can be pretty smooth; some might even say suave.

On that note, it’s about time to wrap up. What are some final thoughts on how Sonar works for you?

At Greenpeace we’ve spent the last few years building up around 17 million online connections with people. Our next challenge is to turn those into 100 million local networks of people who can see one another face to face, know what we’re looking to achieve globally, and take their own local actions in their communities to further our common vision of a sustainable future. Sonar is one tool that could really help them find one another, recognize one another, and start to make those connections.

Brian, we dig it. May Sonar help you reach your wildest, greenest dreams.

04/3/12

Sonar Spotlight, Friday Edition: Leiti Hsu!

Hey Sonar fans, welcome to the second installment of Sonar Spotlight, where we feature stories about fantastic folks like you!* Meet Leiti Hsu, a gregarious pleased-to-meet-you kind of gal who is all about connecting with others. Leiti likes delicious food, beautiful things, and sharing experiences. A former consultant, Leiti switched gears and jumped into the startup world as the 10th employee at Lot18, and is now working at sister company PopDust. She LOVES meeting people (say hi!) and we plucked Leiti from the crowd when we saw just how active a user she had become, and how!

*As always, tweet @xsvengoechea if you’d like to be featured, or would like to nominate a friend to enter the spotlight!

X to the O,

the Sonar Crew

Leiti first joined Sonar after a serendipitous meeting with Sonar’s very own founder, Brett Martin at a Starbucks in SoHo, on the hunt for a solution after her iPhone battery died. As luck would have it, Leiti ended up borrowing Brett’s charger and chatting with him for a few hours, swapping stories about startups and mutual connections. Soon after, Leiti downloaded Sonar, and has become one of our most active users yet.

Sonar is a natural fit for this friendly and outgoing gal. “Connections keep on giving,” says Leiti. “It’s not inauthentic if you’re genuinely jazzed about people. And it’s not just networking for professionals - it’s connecting for life. People are there to help you if you put yourself out there in a positive way. I like to have a snapshot for people as humans, and Sonar helps me do that.”

So what kind of snapshots has she gotten? She learned that she shared a number of Twitter interests with Daniel Leahy, founder of Savored, when he stopped for dessert at an ice cream parlor near her apartment. She said hello to Caroline Lau (Artsy) at a General Assembly event at SXSW, with whom she shares a number of mutual friends. There are of course the occasional missed connections, but Leiti noted, “Even if you don’t meet, it’s a great excuse to reach out and tell them they rock.” She and Gemma Craven missed each other on the Four Seasons Austin lawn at SXSW, but they now keep in touch on Twitter. “The cool thing about Sonar is you’re making real connections. These aren’t strangers from abroad randomly friending you on Facebook. It’s much more organic, especially in New York. Having a shared check-in location is almost like having a shared friend. It means something,” Leiti says.

Her favorite part?

“Social apps (Sonar, FB, OkC) have the effect of a few drinks, as they amplify who you were already offline. That’s why I love Sonar. It helps me to be me — an uber-connector…but with x-ray vision into the shared connections and interests with the fabulous people around me!”

Thanks, Leiti!

03/30/12

Calling all Sonar enthusiasts — Join Sonar Crew!

Love Sonar? Help us spread the love - become a member of the Sonar Crew! We’re looking for Sonar enthusiasts to test out new features, help us build buzz and spread the word on meeting new people with Sonar. Sound good? It gets better.

As a member, you’ll get to:

Access and test new product features before they go live to the general public
Say cheese for the camera if we pick you as a featured member on our blog
Host meetups for Sonar friends in your city
Have a hand at helping us build a Sonnar community near you
Connect with a private network of Sonar enthusiasts worldwide
Rock some sweet Sonar swag
Contribute blog posts updating the world on your Sonar efforts and extravaganzas
Nominate others to join in and access Sonar perks, too

So don’t be shy, the water’s fine!

Send a message to ximena@sonar.me, or drop her line at @xsvengoechea. Let us know:

Why do you want to join Team Sonar?

What’s something fun about you? Bonus points if it’s something nobody knows.

Who’s someone you’d love to meet through Sonar?

03/27/12

Tweet Love

We asked those of you itching to get our Android beta to write us a little tweet poem about why you dig Sonar, and oh, rhyming tweets never looked so good. Cheers to Katie Gore Waxer for her tweet poem (tweet rap?), below. Finger snaps, Katie! Android beta coming your way.

We’ve got more beta invites to give out - holler at us, future Sonar Shakespeares and Jay-Zs!

03/22/12

OH HEY THERE, KAYLA DANIELS, you’re in the Sonar Spotlight!

Hi Sonar fans! Sonar is all about getting to know people, so we want to get to know you! We love you so much we wanted to start shouting from the rooftops and singing your praises. Turns out blogging is much more effective for that sort of thing, so here we are… Without further ado, we give you the first in a series* of Sonar community spotlights.

*Want to be featured? Holler at your girl @xsvengoechea and she’ll be in touch!

X to the O,

the Sonar Crew

*****************************************************************************************

Everyone, say hi to Kayla Daniels, born and raised in Colorado and currently a media specialist for the Colorado Springs Gazette. She helps businesses promote themselves and lives and breathes social media. She’s also part of our inaugural class of Android beta testers, and quite the power user at that!

We asked Kayla a few question about how Sonar makes her heart sing and this social media sweetheart happily obliged. Below, some excerpts from our chat:

So Kayla, tell us about how you’ve been using Sonar. Business or pleasure?

Both. I used to use Foursquare to track my mileage, via an IFTTT command that posts my check ins to my Google calendar. I replaced Foursquare with Sonar, so it does that for me, but I also use it to tell friends and family where I’m at and what I’m doing. I use it about 4-5 times a day, depending on what I’m doing.

Give us some highlights. Who’s the most interesting person you’ve met through Sonar?

I have a new acquaintance, via Sonar. She and I travel in a lot of the same circles, but never met each other until Sonar showed me that we both go to the same school. I was on campus checking in when I saw that she’d also checked in, reached out via Twitter and we started talking. I was able to strike up a conversation with her based on that commonality, and shazam, we’re really surprised to see how much we have in common. We’re planning to get together for coffee later this week.

How has Sonar changed the way you interact with others?

Sonar is really great for showing me how I’m connected to other people. It’s interesting to see how many complete strangers and I share friends and connections. I live in a city of about half a million people, and it seems I’m connected to a much larger number of them than I’d ever thought.

Sonar is awesome for….

Finding new people, making new friends,showing how you’re connected to people near you. It’s like seven degrees of Kevin Bacon. Only, I’m Kevin Bacon, just less Footloose.

You heard it here first, folks. Thanks, Kayla!

03/19/12

Sonar is hiring a community/content/social media intern!

Are you a social media junkie, fully-networked and fluent with the latest social technologies? A great storyteller who likes to meet new people online and off? If so, we’d love to chat with you.

Sonar is a mobile startup that helps you learn about and connect with like-minded people nearby. We are always on the hunt for talented people, and right now we are in search of a social media intern and community builder that wants to get his or her hands dirty growing and activating the Sonar community.

Your Role: design and execute Sonar’s social media and content strategy
Sonar’s community intern will help senior management design and execute Sonar’s social media and content strategy. You’ll be the voice of Sonar online and off, helping to build our brand, articulating our user voice, writing for our blog, creating and managing our Twitter and Facebook strategies, and preaching the good word about Sonar at NYC events left and right. This will be a great opportunity to get to know all the movers and shakers in the NY tech scene and we are looking for applicants that are excited to jump right in!

Location & Terms
The position is located in Manhattan, New York City (In NoMad, near Shake Shack. Yes!)

Full-time: Monthly stipend. The better you are, the more we will pay you.

Part-time: Unpaid, but our fearless leader Brett will treat you to as much tasty Stumptown coffee as you can handle. Cuban lunches will be awarded for above average performance. If you prove to be a great and reliable writer, we can pay you per post.

We’d love someone full time but if you can dedicate at least one or two days a week, we’d be happy with that. Thanks!

Contact
Please send 1) resume and 2) links to your social media profiles and blog(s) to work@sonar.me - We can’t wait to meet you!

03/16/12

Proud to Have the Best Users in the World… Here’s How We’re Using Your Smarts

Oh, Sonar users, how we love you so. We have been absolutely amazed, astonished and astounded by the excellent feedback we’ve received on the new features and changes to the Sonar app we rolled out last week. Quite frankly, we’d like to give you all a hug. Or a high five, depending on your comfort level with sharing personal space. We love you.

We wanted to take this opportunity to address an issue that some of you have brought to our attention and to give you an update on some upcoming changes. The latest version of Sonar runs in the background, pinging your phone on occasion in order to aggregate the most up-to-date information about the people around you as you go about your day.

Our goal is to deliver you the most comprehensive look at who’s around, leveraging as much data as we can to make the best possible recommendations, and Sonar is always pre-computing so you don’t have to wait. We realize this can have an impact on your phone’s battery life. Sonar leverages some super-useful technologies to significantly minimize the number of pings on your battery, but we definitely should have been more clear about this new functionality and provided an on/off switch to give you full control. We hope you’ll accept our apologies for that. Our next release, coming very soon, will have a Pause Sonar button, which will prevent Sonar from running in the background until you next open the app.

To every single one of you who have provided feedback: HIGH FIVE! We think about your comments, ideas and suggestions every single day as we make decisions about new features and directions and use cases for Sonar. Thanks for sharing your smarts, we wouldn’t be here without you.

03/15/12