Mr.Gadget Selected As A Telstra Exchange Social Reviewer of HTC Desire!

Remember how we shared how you could get a HTC Desire for free? Well on  Wednesday afternoon (this week) I received a call from Kristen Boschma from Telstra congratulating me for making it as one of the 25 Telstra Exchange Social Reviewers for the HTC Desire. I was surprised and honored to be one of the chosen.

Thank you Telstra.

I’m glad to finally be able to share this awesome news today and very excited to get a chance to put the HTC Desire through its paces.

This is the second phone I have been given this year. The first of course was from LG Electronics : LG GW620 aka Eve where I was sent to Korea with 20 or so other international tech bloggers to talk Google Android and more.

My Social Media Friends Who’ll Get HTC Desires Too

I was  also super happy for other awesome Aussie social media friends that made the cut:

- Mark Pesce (@mpesce) : Famous for being on ABC New Inventors
- Stilgherrian (@stilgherrian): Twittaholic and all around funny man
- Elly Hart (@ellyhart): Lovely Korean/Aussie Night Editor for Gizmodo Australia
- Wolf Cocklin(@wolfcat): Gadget lover and upcoming photographer

According to the Telstra Exchange Social Reviewers post, there were over 2,000 entries from all walks of life in Australia. Interesting tidbit from the applications:

When asked why they should be a Telstra HTC Desire Social Reviewer, about 15 unsuccessful applicants  responded with “Coz I’m sexy”.

I’m glad I didn’t use that line…again…this time…

Kudos To Telstra For Their HTC Desire Social Media Strategy

I’m very impressed with Telstra’s strategy of engaging the Aussie social media network to help spread the news about how good the HTC Desire is. I can tell you personally that in terms of popularity on our own website, the HTC Desire is the most popular gadget of 2010. The term “HTC Desire” accounts for 5% of our total traffic alone! Another indication of its popularity is our sales of HTC Desire Accessories – it’s going nuts!

HTC Desire To Keep!

I’ve been meaning to get my hands on one to review from HTC Australia PR for many weeks – I was put on the list in March but nothing happened. It’s a sweet victory to not only finally get one to review but to also keep! Also makes sense since we’re ranking so high for the term “HTC Desire Australia” in Google (last time I looked was second to HTC themselves).

What’s Ahead? Gadget Reviewing As Usual!

For the next two weeks, as part of the program, we’ve been commissioned to share our day-to-day experience with the HTC Desire through our various social media networks. For those who already follow my blog, Twitter, FourSquare and Facebook, you won’t see anything different from what I do everyday

For those who are new here, welcome!

So here we go – first activity on the program is to attend a lunchtime conference call to kick off the Telstra Exchange Social Reviewer Program for the HTC Desire. I’ll keep you posted as per normal.