Sony Introduces the +U App to Make Volunteering Easier and More Social

Along with the launch of its Made of Imagination Xperia ad campaign, Sony is rolling out a new Android mobile app that helps users to volunteer motivating them socially. With the +U title, the app demonstrates that everybody and you in particular can contribute to the volunteering organizations.


Photo: Sony +U app on a smartphone, from www.sony.co.uk

The app was developed together with the charity YouthNet and has open source code that allows anyone to use or repurpose it for free. Additionally, Sony will arrange a collaborative development event, Make/Time with Good for Nothing on March 29—31 during which the app will be introduced to European charities. The organizations will be explained how to modify the app to fit their needs.

+U is created to make volunteering easier and more social. It features geolocation as well as elements from social networking and gaming. Users are challenged to solve tasks to receive badges, and then they can share their achievements on Facebook.

The idea of creating the +U came up as a result of a joint Sony and WWF crowdsourcing initiative called Open Planet Ideas, which encouraged people to find new ways to repurpose technology to solve social and environmental problems. Sony expert panel chose +U as the optimal idea to develop.

Magdalena Wasowska, General Manager of Technology and Software Centre at Sony said: “The Open Planet Ideas platform provided members of the online community with direct access to Sony and other partners including WWF and IDEO experts. This exciting approach to collaboration meant that a really diverse group of people were able to innovate together in order to address key social and environmental challenges. We hope that the +U application will be of interest to the many hard-working volunteering groups across Europe; we hope that they are able to utilise this back-end solution in order to create further awareness, support and action for their worthwhile causes.”