PASS it on!
Published: ASIA
The industry now has its own dedicated social network on iOS devices, and you’re invited. Introducing PASS – the Pro Audio Social Stream...
For an industry founded on relationships, it can sometimes be surprisingly hard to connect with the right people in the audio world. As the expensive carousel of local, regional and international trade shows continues, meeting the right people is too often a gamble rather than a guarantee. Manufacturers ship new products but rarely hear of the projects in which they are used; systems integrators try to gain recognition for their work but struggle to get noticed; end-users seek education and advice but don’t know who to ask. Everything in professional audio begins with a conversation, but the industry needs somewhere to talk.
As of this month, there is an app for that – PASS, the Pro Audio Social Stream, and you are invited.
‘The thing that excited me at first was that I hadn't seen anything like this,’ enthuses George Hammerton, managing director of Create Digital Media, the influential UK-based app development agency that has built PASS from the ground up. ‘We often have clients come in and ask us to build a clone of something and we reply that we can but we’re not going to because it’s not interesting. But with PASS we have made something that changes the way a whole industry connects. That excites me.’
Brought to you by Blank Canvas Publishing, the company behind Pro Audio Asia, PASS is a new, industry-specific way for you to connect with the right people. Available now for free download on the Apple App Store, it has been designed to bring the business of audio to your iPhone or iPad (with other platforms to follow later), so you can carry it with you during your working day.
PASS comprises three parts. The first allows you to read Pro Audio Asia, Pro Audio Middle East or Worship AVL Asia on an iPad or iPhone, complete with new interactive elements to explore. The second part gives you access to an industry’s worth of educational video content, tying directly into another new online project: www.proaudioeducation.com (find out more on p32). And then there is the third part – the Pro Audio Social Stream itself.
Having been in development since the beginning of 2013, a key part of the creation of PASS was finding the right development company. Create Digital Media – whose in-house rule is to focus on only one project at a time – fit the bill not least because technical manager Justin Erswell knows the industry as well as any PASS user.
‘I used to work in broadcast,’ he explains. ‘And when I heard the idea, I thought it was brilliant because everyone I know in broadcast would use this. They want to talk to each other, to show off the equipment they use and discuss technology, but they don’t want to do it on Facebook or Twitter because no one else will understand. So PASS makes a huge difference. Then you throw manufacturers into the mix and it becomes a much bigger proposition – the ability for a manufacturer to start a conversation about a new product and get instant feedback is amazing.’
Create DM was founded on the principle, explains Mr Hammerton, of ensuring that every detail of an app’s functionality exceeds expectations. ‘We’re not just making an app, but an experience. There are a lot of companies out there who make apps to get a cheque, but for us the cheque allows us to do what we want to do – we want to make great apps.’
Mr Erswell adds: ‘We really sweat the detail and how that impacts on the user. We’ve always said that the proof of quality in everything we build is if when the user opens it up they have no requirement to think about how it’s being run, it just works.’
The same is true of PASS. ‘We’ve built it on core technologies and core functionalities such as the Twitter-style follow and unfollow, and the Facebook-style post, reply and commenting environment,’ explains Mr Erswell. ‘It’s familiar – people will understand it straight away.’
Users need simply to tap on the distinctive glass-styled PASS button and choose to post either a thought, a picture, a video or a link, all without leaving the app. Slide the interface to the right and you will reveal the navigation bar, including notifications and the Search function, where you can find every trending hashtag, locate every PASS user and even call up a list of other users near you. Tap on a user’s picture to open their profile, and follow them to read their posts. To contact them privately, send them a direct message. Add your location to a post and PASS will find exactly where you are, so others can find you too. Unlike Twitter, you can write as much as you like.
Crucially, adds Mr Erswell: ‘The user interface gets out of the way, it’s not intrusive and it lets the content do the work. When you’re connecting people the content becomes king.’
The result is the audio industry’s first ever dedicated, mobile social network – a new way to connect and to do business, not month by month, but minute-by-minute, anywhere in the world, for free.
‘We’re excited about putting our name on PASS,’ smiles Mr Hammerton, ‘and that’s because we’re proud of it. We want to put our name on it as a badge of honour, to say “look what we did”.’ Anyone in the audio industry who wants to celebrate their own work in the same way can now join the PASS conversation and do exactly that.
Join the conversation!
1. Open the Apple App Store
2. Search for PASS by Pro Audio Central
3. Download PASS to your iPhone or iPad
4. Access the entire industry with one tap