A Real-Time Publishing Platform

A Snapcast is an "on demand community" formed around a live event. Snapcasts contain real-time, community commentary including play-by-play text updates, photos, and video snippets that can be viewed on G-Snap! or easily embedded into your website or blog.

From the homepage, there are multiple ways to create a Snapcast. Follow one of them and you'll be off and running. OK, you can also start one here. :)

Well, while you're creating your Snapcast, you'll notice that there's a neat option for "Snapcast Start: at a specific date/time". Simply tell us the date and the time and your Snapcast won't go "live" until then. You can of course still view it and add comments but going "live" won't happen until your start time passes.

First things first, go ahead and select the "Snapcast is: over" button. That'll put it in a state where existing or future viewers will be able to read your Snapcast but no longer comment. Or, you can put it into Standby if you think you might want to restart it shortly. It's your Snapcast and the choice is yours to make! Just know that once it's over, it's over. :)

This depends on a variety of factors that have to do with your specific Snapcast.

First things first. If you want to host an "open chat" you should set viewer comments to "auto-approved". Becareful here as you might get some folks coming through that want to do nothing more than add a few colorful comments. Of course, you can always hide a specific comment or ban someone but that's up to you.

If on the other hand, you want to prevent folks from commenting or perhaps you're using this on a popular perhaps corporate or conference website, we recommend setting viewer comments to "Snapcaster approval required". With this setting, viewer comments are not approved until you approve them (by selecting the "show comment" icon). You can also, under "additional settings" in the Snapcast Settings module, "trust" a user allowing all their future comments to be auto-approved. "Trusting" users is a great feature to use during a Q&A session where you want your guest's comments to appear automatically without the same being true for your viewers.

Yes, Snapcasting from your phone is just as easy as from your desktop. Go to http://gsnap.com on your mobile phone to get started. You can also attend any Snapcast you wish.

Currently, logging in is only required to add a comment.

Great question! The benefit lies in the fact that you'll be notified if they create a Snapcast. You'll also notice on your profile page that their Snapcasts appear in your Snapcast Activity Stream. It's just a great way of being in the know as to what's happening with those you care about on G-Snap!.

Simply go to your profile, select "See all" your fans, find that user and "block" them. They'll no longer have access to the Snapcasts you've created in their Snapcast Activity and you'll no longer be able to follow them. Becareful though, blocking someone is a permanent action.

RSVP'ing for an event is a handy tool we've developed just for you! If you RSVP, you'll receive an email alert (or SMS if you enable, look below in mobile for more info) 15 minutes before the start of the Snapcast. FYI, if you RSVP "no", no one will know. "No" simply removes it from your Snapcast Activity list.

You can view the archive of your Snapcasts by selecting "My Profile" at the top of each G-Snap! page. On this page, you'll notice a section called "Snapcast Activity" that shows the Snapcasts you've created as well as the Snapcasts that have been created by people that you're following. It also shows which Snapcasts your friends have RSVP'ed for. Of course, you'll also notice that you can filter this list so it contains just your information.

It's easy! Simply create the Snapcast as you usually would and select the embed button on the bottom left of the page. From there, just copy and paste the code into your website or blog!

Yes, Snapcasts are permanently archived on G-Snap! so they're there as long as you need them.

No extra capacity or bandwidth is needed to run a Snapcast on your site. We take the load off your shoulders so you can focus on having a great Snapcast.

Option 1: as the Snapcaster you can hide individual comments as they come in.

Option 2: set viewer comments to "auto-approved" or "Snapcaster approval required" via the Snapcasting settings page.
     - If set to "hidden", you can either make a specific comment visible or promote a viewer to be a "trusted contributor".
     - As a Trusted Contributor, a viewer's comments are automatically visible (they will not gain any Snapcaster permissions by doing this).

Option 3: if someone is being a nuisance and does not heed any of your warnings, you can ban them from your Snapcast. To do so, go to the "Settings" page and enter their username and select the "ban user" radio button. You'll then notice their username in the banned user list.

Yes, it's simple to add another Snapcaster. Simply click on the "Additional Settings" link while you're Snapcasting and then add your fellow Snapcaster's G-Snap! username to the list.

If for some reason a fellow Snapcaster is out of line, you can easily remove him or her from the Snapcast by the same method you used to add them. Click on the "Additional Settings" link in the "Snapcast Settings" module and remove the Snapcaster in question.

The main functions of the clock are Resume and Play. Simply select to play button to get the clock moving. If you need to pause the clock, simply select the pause button. You can also change the time period by selecting the drop down (you can only do this when the clock is not moving).

Tip: it's a good idea to pause the clock when there's a break in the action (to reflect the actual game clock). If for some reason you have to edit the clock, you can drag the button or put your mouse over the time and enter it in directly.

Use the Snapshot! It is a great way to let people know about the latest event. For example, use the Snapshot to show the latest score or tell people what's coming up next.

Tip: think of the Snapshot as a Facebook "status update". Simply tell folks what's going on.

Well, if you're Snapcasting from your desktop, simply click the "Upload Media" link near the big yellow box where you put in comments. From there, select the file, add a caption, and voila, you're done!

Tip: Did you know you can also upload media via your mobile device? Lookbelow in the mobile section for more information on this nifty little feature.

While Snapcasting, click on the "yes" Snapcast Finished radio button under the "Snapcasting Settings" module. When the Snapcast is over, you can no longer enter any comments. Once you have ended the Snapcast, it cannot be resumed.

Tip: you can also pause your Snapcast by putting by putting your Snapcast in Standby (where it will remain for 48 hours and then auto-end).

If you feel the need to "express" yourself in a colorful manner (or for that matter give your viewers the same ability), you can turn off the inappropriate word filter. Please use this with caution as you might have a younger crowd in the audience!

Yes, live statistics are available for Snapcasters only at this point. We currently provide three statistics:
1. Current Viewers: this is the number of current viewers in your Snapcast.
2. # Simultaneous Viewers: this is the largest number of viewers that have been in your Snapcast at any given point in time.
3. Total Unique Viewers: this is the number of total unique viewers that visited your Snapcast.

It's easy! Simply click on "edit profile" from your profile page and select the notifications tab. Once here, you can customize to your heart's content.

There are two ways:

1. You can add a Twitter user's stream into your Snapcast by simply typing in their Twitter user name (no @ sign before their name please). Once you do, their Tweets will start showing up in the Snapcast live stream with their Twitter avatar.
2. You can search for keywords (random words or even hashtags) and add an individual Tweet or if you find a relevant stream, you can auto-approve that user directly from the search results.

Tip: You can move the Twitter search window to the right hand side of your web browser so you can keep one eye on the Snapcast and one eye on the Twitter search (auto-refreshes every 30 seconds).

Currently, this is set to five per Snapcast. We figured any more would cause too much work for the Snapcaster. Let us know if you think more is needed!

This works hopefully just as you expected. In the same way that comments require approval, Tweets will also require approval. This is a great way to moderate Twitter!

Unfortunately, in most cases, this has to do with Twitter and the performance issues they are facing as their service continues to grow. You could try to remove the user and add them back in. One other thing to check...spell their Twitter user name correctly!

It's easy. Simply send an email to x@gsnap.com with your media file attached. We recommend adding a title to any upload by specifing it in the subject line of your email.

If you're a multi-tasking Snapcaster running several Snapcasts at once, add the Snapcast ID to the subject line (prior to the title of the image...ie, 5032 The Sharks just scored!) to ensure it goes to the specific Snapcast you want. We also provide you the flexibility of picking a default Snapcast via Snapcast Settings on web or mobile.

Tip: make sure the email account that you're sending these emails from is registered under the mobile tab of your G-Snap! profile. This helps you and us ensure that you control which email accounts have the rights to upload to your Snapcasts.

Yes, there are a few steps if you haven't already modified certain settings in the past. On your Blackberry, go to your web browser and select the Menu key, select Options, and then select Browser Config. Once there, you'll need to enable JavaScript, Support HTML Tables, and Support Style Sheets.

Of course! Any Snapcast that isn't private can be viewed on a desktop or mobile phone.

Most definitely. With G-Snap!, you can RSVP for an event. And if you do, you can opt-in to receive mobile alerts. To set this up, select the "edit your profile" link on your profile page, adding your mobile phone number on the mobile tab, and select to receive mobile alerts from the notifications tab. It's a neat feature if you're on the go!

If you are logged in, go to your profile, select the "Account Details" tab, and type in a new password. Select "Change" and you're done!

Don't you worry. If you've forgotten your password, click on "Log in" from the G-Snap! homepage and then select the "Forgot Password" link. Enter your G-Snap! username and select "Send Me Email". In a few seconds, you'll receive an email from us with further instructions.

To do this, click on "edit profile" from your profile and select the "Account Details" tab.