Best of 2014 #10 (Interactive/Integrated): Miranda July's App Lets You Send Messages Via a Stranger

Beginning today, December 24, and through next week, we'll be counting down the best work of the year in TV/Film, Print/Outdoor/Design and Interactive/Integrated/Social.

At #10 in Interactive, artist/filmmaker Miranda July and Miu Miu bring the "personal" touch back to the digital age with an unusual app that turns strangers into real-time deliverers of digital messages.

Original Story:
Somebody, an app launched by artist and filmmaker Miranda July in conjunction with fashion brand Miu Miu, is a messaging service with a difference.

The idea is that a stranger in the vicinity of your friend will deliver the message in person. The app, developed by Stinkdigital, lets users type a message, then choose a delivery person based on other users' photos and ratings from other users.The delivery person and recipient are given one another's picture and GPS-based location, so they can meet and the message can be delivered. (If this sounds totally unrealistic for real-life, it helps that app has several designated "hotspots," all arts-related such as San Francisco's Yerba Buena arts center and the Venice Film Festival, which makes it easier for people to find each other).

July released the app yesterday at the Venice Film Festival with a branded film by Prada-owned Miu Miu, in which various scenarios featuring "Somebody" are played out. Some are hilarious (the plant named Anthony which manages to deliver a message declaring "Water me now") and some are both comedic and moving (a waitress reading out a marriage proposal to a woman-played by July-- at a table). All are superbly acted.

July -- who says in the press release that "'Somebody' twists our love of avatars and outsourcing"-- both wrote and directed.