Smart phones are great. In addition to making you a prime target for robbery while you are walking, head down, texting LOLz to your friends… you can now become even more discerning with what you get and when you get it with the next wave of hyper-local applications.
For a few months we have been using a locally coded & engineered new app called “Howler” @gethowler . I dimed these guys out while speaking on a social media panel during Social Media Week on Monday in Hollywood and people were really interested. Here at Venice311, we tweet the crime & grime in Venice – and we also toss in a lot of tweets that reflect the lifestyle here. Everything from the shock and awe that tourists have over the weed sales at the boardwalk, to normalcy of residents managing human fecal matter left by passers-by on their property. A request we have had from many however, is how do they get “just the crime”. They don’t want instagram pix of teenagers on the beach professing getting a contact-high from walking through the Rap CD area, or local events – they *just* want the crime.
Well, we have been in beta test with Howler for a few months, and soon we will be sending out *just* the crime on Howler. What is awesome about Howler is that people will receive Howls only when the crime is within the local impact area to that follower… and it all works off the technology on your smarty-pants smart phone.
So check out Howler on the iPhone ( for now ). Give some feedback. It is still in Beta so this is not the final polished version… but we’d like to at least let you all know about it so we can get the app working just right. Lots of other local businesses like Arbor, The Erwin and The Ave. are using Howler too.
Bonus: The icon is a monkey. Monkeys are good.
Get your crime watchin’ on… and be safe!
