AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - Feb 25, 2014) - One of the best parts of living in Austin is the plethora of events and shows, but keeping track of it all can be daunting. Likter, a new app for Android, iPhone, and desktop, allows users to post news and information as they see it, directly onto a map for other users to see and read about. Marketing-based design firm Rock Candy Media (RCM) was chosen to introduce the app to the nation during SXSW.

Rock Candy Media was selected over Silicon Valley agencies to launch the app to the community, before it becomes available worldwide. "It became clear over the course of a year to launch in Austin due to the kind of news we saw users here posting during beta," says Rock Candy Media CEO Annie Liao Jones. "We're extremely curious to see the range of news topics covered at an event as large in both size in and influence as SXSW. With Julian Assange confirming his speaking engagement at SXSW on March 8, the zeitgeist will set the tone for the Likter app launch."

Especially relevant with SXSW coming up, the app lets users report news items attached to a specific location. The app makes it even easier for users to sort through posts geographically, chronologically, or by popularity. These notes can come with a photo or audio attachment to fill out these first-hand accounts. "The timing of the Likter launch is not an accident. You have an educated crowd, speakers talking about how information is consumed and shared, and an app launching which addresses these issues and is democratic in it's mission," says Jones.

Other social apps are susceptible to misinformation that can go viral before the facts are in. Likter solves this problem by letting its users rate other notes as false or true. "The goal of the app is not only to empower users to be their own journalists and have the ability to post the news, but to also let them confirm the veracity of other people's posts," says Likter founder Oscar Garcia Chavez. "That eliminates the need for editors, who have the power to assert their own biases. At the end of the day we're aiming for a society that regulates itself. We are up for the challenge."

The app was launched November 2013, and is currently accessible to Austin residents only. The software will open up to users nation-wide in March 2014 at the start of the SXSW festival.