by Brian Solis

Zappos boasts one of the most loyal and enthusiastic communities of customers on the Web. Prior to SXSW Interactive, Steve Rosenbaum of Magnify.net, Stephanie Agresta, and I brianstormed ways for ecstatic customers to capture and share the happiness that Tony Hsieh and the Zappos team have worked so hard to package in every box.

The idea debuted at SXSW. To kick things off, we invited several of our friends to help mark the occasion by ordering something special from Zappos. We shipped the boxes to Austin Texas where they allowed us to capture their BoxBreak on camera. Guy Kawasaki, Tara Hunt, Kevin Rose, Erica O’Grady, Frank Gruber, Erin Kotecki Vest @queenofspain, Chris Brogan, Cathy Brooks, Shira Lazar, and others shared their happiness with us and now we’re hoping you’ll do the same.

The video from the event is currently hosted on Zappos.tv

Introducing Zappos BoxBreaks…

BoxBreaks are an emerging phenomenon on the Web that features video of someone opening a box using a simple Web or Flip cam and sharing what’s inside the box with everyone on the Social Web.

In honor of the successful debut at SXSW, Magnify.net and Zappos partnered to host a BoxBreak contest for ALL Zappos customers. Just shoot a video of you opening your Zappos box and share it at Zappos.tv. The contest is already underway and ends on April 30, 2009. Results will post on May 1st.

Enter here.

Rules here.

Long live Zappos and the Zappos BoxBreak! Share your happiness with the world!

Pictures from the live BoxBreaks at SXSW in the TechSet Windws Mobile Blogger Lounge…

Chris Brogan

Guy Kawasaki

Tara Hunt

Erica O’Grady

Tony Hsieh

Additional pictures are on Flickr.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook

by Michelle Lentz

Everyone’s favorite online shoe shoppe, Zappos.com, has partnered with social video site Magnify.net for a “Box Break” campaign, accessible from Zappos.tv.  Zappos wants its consumers (hey, that’s me!) to engage by creating a video community around their brand. They are encouraging consumers to film the experience of opening a Zappos box upon arrival, and then upload the video to the Magnify.net channel. Customers can then interact by voting for the best video. The most popular video each month wins a $100 gift certificate to Zappos.

Magnify.net offers social features on each of its video channels, including integration with other video sites, Flickr, and Twitter. Users can create their own profiles, friend other people with similar interests, and subscribe to the feeds of their friends.

Considering the sheer number of unboxing videos on the net, I see no reason why shoes should be any different.

According to TechCrunch, Zappos and Magnify.net are officially launching “Box Break” at a SXSW party on Friday (although the site is already live). The party features a variety of the biggest names on the web, including Guy Kawasaki, Kevin Rose, Chris Brogan, and more – all of whom will have their own Box Break videos. I hope they get some good shoes.

__

Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net