<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.\nName: Flowd\nQuick Pitch: Flowd is a location-based mobile app that facilitates closer connections and rewards between bands and their fans.\nGenius Idea: More and more bands are getting into the social space via tools like Twitter and Facebook, but location remains a truly untapped realm when it comes to promotion. Imagine getting an accurate gauge of how many fans attended a gig, real-time comments from said gig and the ability to host giveaways and promotions tied to that gig, all in one app.\nThat's the gist of Flowd, a fan outreach tool that's basically Foursquare for bands. This app launched at the beginning of December as a free iPhone [iTunes link] and Android app developed by Digia Ventures.\nAny band \u2014 from up-and-comers to established acts \u2014 can sign up for Flowd via its website, where they can set up a profile complete with a bio, photo, skins that fans can apply to their own app pages (which can vary from device to device) and a welcome message that fans will receive upon following the artist in question. That artist can also add tour dates via an integration with Google Maps that pins the event in question to a physical location. Fans can then check in to that location.\n\n\n\n\nBy creating events such as this, artists can also host contests that reward fans for attending and checking in. Right now, that functionality is rather bare-bones: Bands enter contest details manually to the \"info\" field and check back with Flowd to see who checks in. There's no real way to update fans on whether or not they've won, aside from manually messaging them.\nFans, for their part, can download the Flowd app \u2014 or register in-browser \u2014 in order to follow their favorite bands (and send them private messages) and their friends. In this way, users can keep up with where bands are performing by checking their \"Flow\" or news feed and check in to shows in order to garner rewards. \nUsers can also foster social interactions with friends and followers (which can be found via Facebook) by updating their statuses with pictures and comments via what Flowd is calling a \"Shout\" (yes, that is a direct rip from Foursquare) and commenting on friends' Shouts and checkins. One can also push Shouts to Facebook and Twitter.\nIn theory, this is a clever idea and could be extremely popular with music lovers. In practice, the app is extremely new and populated by a mere handful of lesser-known bands. Locations also need to be added, as it is hardly as populated as Foursquare and other, more established services. (In truth, it may have been smarter to build this app on Foursquare's API.)\nStill, Flowd offers a specialized experience that more overarching apps like Foursquare do not. Yes, you can create an Event checkin on Foursquare, but that's not really the purpose of the app. It just remains to be seen whether such a specialized, fledgling service can take flight in an already crowded flock.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, Bliz\nSponsored by Microsoft BizSpark\nBizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/12/24/flowd/>