Valley PR Blog

AZ firm Shwaag touts “social powered generosity”

By Linda VandeVrede on March 15th, 2010 In People

Sometimes I have to live vicariously through others.  If you’ve followed this blog, you know I’ve been trying to decide which ebook reader to buy - Kindle, Sony, Nook, and so on. 

Tyler Hurst had the right idea, however – instead of burying himself in research, he got on the ball when he saw local company Shwaag (@shwaag) offering a Kindle, and tweeted and posted on Facebook about it and “begged [them] to have it after I didn’t win the first two times.”  Last week, which fortuitously also was national read an e-book week, he finally won his Kindle.  

Tyler is a self-described Phoenix-based marketing consultant and soon-to-be founder of AntiPRGuy. He types like most people play piano, can always be counted on to choose a side and wears barefoot shoes.   A perfect Kindle winner.

If you haven’t heard of Shwaag, it was created by Eric Keosky-Smith and Michael Edwards.  They went into business together, they say, because they shared a desire to create a business that not only was a little bit different, but would also make a difference. The concept behind Schwaag is “social-powered generosity.” The company spotlights businesses who are trying to get recognition and sales for their new products, and enables the winners in the weekly “contests” on Shwaag to choose to keep the item or gift it to someone else. It’s a way of bringing the red carpet celebrity swag bag treatment to Everyman.

Of course, I am green with envy. I had to ask Tyler about the Kindle. He had been thinking about getting an e-book reader for six months, after realizing how many books he kept buying, so we’ve been living parallel lives:

What other brands have you considered?

Sony eReader, and I also considered buying an iPad, but neither were what I wanted. The touch part of the Sony eReader scares the hell out of me. I don’t trust it to work and sure as hell don’t want to be using a stylus. The iPad was too expensive to read books only and the backlit screen will strain my eyes just like my iPhone does. I can’t imagine curling up with it.

What’s your initial reaction to the Kindle?  Is it easy to use? How are the graphics?  The battery?  The scrolling?  Is it easy to keep your place?                              

Heavier and thinner than I expected. Not as easy as an iPhone (I say that because that’s the only handheld I interact with on a regular basis), but the contextual menu always makes sense and I’ve never felt lost.   The graphics, while black and white, are excellent. They look like the images you see on plastic screen covers before you take them off.

I’ve never run out of battery while using it. I’d estimate about 2-3 days between charges and it doesn’t deplete much when it’s just sitting there. Very impressed. The scrolling is more of a refresh when you click next page. It’s fast enough that I’m not waiting for it by the time my eyes move back up to the top.  It’s very easy to keep in place and very easy to read one-handed.

What books have you read on it so far?

Great Work, Bringing Nothing to the Party and Zen Unicorn, all PDF ebooks that I’ve owned for a while but never could stomach reading on my laptop.

What do you think will be the biggest advantage to you?

Not having so many damn books, being able to toss my entire library into my laptop bag and having something to read at all times. This is really my iPod for reading.

_________________

I caught up with Eric right before he boarded his plane to SXSW in Austin this weekend.  I was curious to know what percentage of people had kept their prize and what percentage had gifted it to someone else. He told me that all but one have kept their winnings so far, although they did see a tweet a few weeks back about someone who had been “Shwaag’d” and how she wanted to share with colleagues, got another gift from them, and then shared it even more. 

As for me, if I win anything, such as a Kindle, most likely I will keep it. I would have generously donated it to Tyler, but he already has one.

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