Spokane agency 14Four helps develop social media ‘sobriety test’
Social Media Sobriety Test from TDA_Boulder on Vimeo.
Spokane creative agency 14Four has helped put together a social media sobriety test meant to stop Facebook or Twitter users from posting stupid remarks after partying.
The Spokane company developed the free software plug-in for Webroot, a Boulder, Colo.-based web security firm. The project stemmed from past work 14Four has done with Colorado ad agency TDA, the lead agency for Webroot.
The test’s tagline is “Nothing good happens online after 1 a.m.” The test can work on six social sites, including YouTube and MySpace. The tool also allows for adding custom websites.
TDA Account Director Christi Tucay said 14Four was hired to code the sobriety test software and design how it interacts with the user. “14Four took our idea and made it happen; they built all the Flash, HTML and javascript that makes it work,” Tucay said.
The onscreen test can be set manually to force the user to complete a challenge before posting a message at preset times of the day or night. The extension has six challenges, selected at random, that force the person to answer or do something.
One challenge requires a person to keep the mouse cursor inside a moving
circle appearing on the screen. If the person can’t do that, the user
fails the test.
The challenge might also ask you to type the alphabet backwards, or use your mouse to guess how long 30 seconds is.
Jeff Oswalt, 14Four’s president, said his firm jumped at the idea when they were first asked by TDA to collaborate. “We saw it as an awesome idea. Plus we would be getting paid for work, which is also a great idea.”
Molly Enkema was 14Four’s producer for the sobriety test. She said the entire process took four months, from initial discussion to the release.
The test for now only works with web browsers, but Webroot might want to extend the test to mobile devices, Enkema said.
Tucay said she’s sure the test can halt some people’s tendency to post rude or thoughtless comments while under the influence. But she said it’s also uncertain how many people with the problem would consciously use this test to halt those remarks.
“So yes, this test is also a bit of marketing. But it’s also something we've been feeling, as a group, that we’ve seen the mistakes we’ve all made online.’
