New Zealand life through the eyes of social media

Media Release

4 July 2011

Vodafone to capture first snapshot of New Zealand life through the eyes of social media

Tweets, TXTs, PXTs, and status updates will form the script of New Zealand's first social media snapshot, which Vodafone will bring to New Zealand on Friday 8 July.

For 24 hours Vodafone will host 'Share Everything Day' and invite all New Zealanders to share what is happening in their world. The results will provide insight into exactly what Kiwis are willing to share with their friends, fans and followers and how we, as a nation, use social media.

Anyone with the internet or a Vodafone mobile phone will be able to submit content through Facebook, Twitter, SMS or MMS. At the end of the 24 hours the pictures, videos, TXTs, tweets and audio files that are submitted will be packaged into a short film which provides a snapshot of what New Zealand looked like on July 8, 2011.

"New Zealanders are unique in the way that we use social media. In part due to our geographic isolation, to events such as the Canterbury earthquake, and our population size, we develop close knit groups, and often use it with a broad dash of healthy irony and humour," says social media commentator Rachel Goodchild.

"To my knowledge no one has ever tried to take such an indepth snapshot of Kiwis' social media habits and I am fascinated about what we may discover. I am sure it will reflect the diversity of our social media users, and uncover a few surprises."

On July 8 Vodafone will host an application on the Vodafone New Zealand Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/vodafoneNZ) which will allow anyone to share content. Tweets can be submitted for inclusion via the hash tag #shareeverything. Content can also be sent from any Vodafone mobile via TXTs and PXTs to 256.

The short film, produced from the content, will be released at an online premiere at midday July 15. The premiere will be hosted on the Vodafone New Zealand Facebook page.

Vodafone's General Manager of Consumer Marketing, Kursten Shalfoon, says "The increasing penetration of smartphones in New Zealand, coupled with the rise in social media has seen people sharing more than ever - the big and little things are now all updated on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

"We want this film to represent all New Zealanders and we're excited to see what people throughout the country will share this Friday," says Kursten.

As an added incentive content submitters will be in to win Vodafone airtime credit and 10 Samsung Galaxy S II phones.

For those who want to share everything every day, Vodafone has launched an add-on providing Vodafone customers nonstop access to Facebook and Twitter for $6 a month, without it counting towards your data allowance.

The offer includes an additional 50MB of data which is available until 30 September 2011, for details and full terms and conditions visit Vodafone.co.nz/nonstop

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