New Netbook Contest Category: Twilio for the News Media

New Netbook Contest Category: Twilio for the News Media

We will also promote your applications on our website, LinkedIn Network, Facebook, Twitter, Programmable Web and even make YouTube videos about some of them.  To learn more, visit our contest page.

What are Netbook Mondays?

Each week, Twilio announces a new category of applications we would like to see developers build, and the following week we award a shiny little Dell Netbook mini to the creator of the best one – and the cycle begins again.  Submissions are due by 11:59pm each Sunday night.

This Week: Twilio for the News Media

This week, we challenge you to use Twilio to build something related to the news.

The way we receive news information is changing, as is the way the press gathers facts as citizens become more involved than ever before in informing us about current events.  Newspapers and media companies are failing due to a lack of revenues from advertising, and the entire shift towards the internet seems to have come to a head around “social media” in the past year or so. Arguments rage on about who should be paying for content, and how much, and all the while our obsession with having the most current realtime information about the world around grows more insatiable.

Ideas For Twilio for the News Media Projects

• * app allowing sources to anonymously contact newspapers without revealing their caller ID
• * voice comment hotline for newspaper stories, recordings and/or transcriptions could be posted in the comments section online — or could be harvested by the TV/radio news
• * radio call-in lines for specific discussion topics with a questionnaire callers must answer before they are patched through (instead of a person screening them)
• * phone number you can call into to listen to most recent headlines and excerpts from your favorite new publications
• * phone alerts that call you when news meeting certain criteria takes place

What else can you dream up?  Check out these News Mashups on Programmable Web for additional inspiration.  The deadline for submitting for this category will 11:59pm on Sunday, January 10th.  Submit your app today!

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Twilio contests are a great way to promote your development skills, new applications, and explore our technology.  If you have suggestions for how we can make these contests more fun, or have suggestions for an application category, please email us at help@twilio.com.  Categories are announced on Monday each week, and submissions are due by 11:59pm on the following Sunday.  Please visit our contest page for all details, past winner and categories, terms and conditions.