Posts Tagged ‘facebook’
What’s Your Six Degrees of Separation to Start-Ups?
My Personal Six Degrees of Separation From The Social Networks
I started singing at 13 and was working with local producers in Massachusetts that later went on with their career to discover many of the boy bands and teen artists of the late 1990′s and early 2000′s. At the time NSYNC was popular, I had interviewed Justin Timberlake at the Billboard Music Awards while I worked for an internet start-up called Teen.com. Little did I know Justin would later portray Sean Parker in the movie, The Social Network, who developed Napster, Plaxo, and partnered with Facebook making millions at early age. However, it was Mark Zuckerberg that was lured by Sean to move to Silicon Valley after he was crafting something down the street close to my home on the Harvard campus that impacted people across the world.
Keri Singer's Six Degrees of Separation to Social Networks
A couple years go by where I had an opportunity to meet Ben Mezrich at a Boston bar and I had overheard from others his success writing Bringing Down the House. Last year, I came to find out about his follow up book called the Accidental Billionaires. This book is what The Social Network was used to create the screenplay for the movie. A few weeks ago on the Friday after the film’s premiere, I just happen to sit next to Ben and his friends at the Loews theatre in Boston to share the experience with him in the same aisle as my friends!
There were many parallels in the movie The Social Network that hit home between my personal experiences working at an internet start-up in my early twenties to my ability to grow the popularity of the site that was later sold to Alloy Media + Marketing. In the past, I’ve been fortunate to meet and interview many celebrities, as well as be the leader to help develop new creative ways to attract audiences and promote some of the top artists in the music business at that time. It was through my hard efforts socializing with entertainment and consumer good companies to creatively partner with Teen.com that helped the site to stand out to eventually be sold.
In 2006, I had reached out personally to Facebook in hopes to learn of a future position that fit my background. I received a personal response via email below from their early product developer Matt Cohler, who had been instrumental at LinkedIN. Sounds familiar 
Keri,
Thanks for your note. Your experience is great but unfortunately we don’t have any openings for anyone with your background. But we’ll definitely keep your information on file for the future.
Best wishes and happy new year,
Matt
SCVNGR: The Rise of Social Location Base Services
About a year ago in 2009, I met Seth Priebatsch, the founder of SCVNGR and his partner Michael Hagan when I learned about their new business in Boston. Seth had just participated in an organization where my friend is one of the managing partners at DreamIt Ventures. Seth had impressed them with a new concept in mobile gaming and later received funding from another local venture capitalist firm at Highland Capital. Shortly thereafter, I was invited to pitch some of my marketing ideas (ironically which included Justin Timberlake in my marketing proposal with his involvement producing the MTV scavenger hunt series The Phone and working with college campuses) in a cattle call interview session in their South End offices. It was a mixture of marketing professionals and students to “audition” with our proposals in hopes to earn the position. I knew the idea to create-your-own and/or participate in a scavenger hunt using your mobile phone would gain popularity as more people adopted the technology. Needless to say this past summer, SCVNGR was proud to partner with Facebook Places and is growing with their collaboration.
The New American Idols
I’ve been fortunate to come into contact with others early on in their careers to have a chance to meet, greet, and interview. Early on, I’ve learned of new technology, a new entertainer, or business idea on the horizon that coincidently becomes a success story. I’ve also blogged about things a year or two ago that are coming to fruition today. It’s been happening quite a bit in my life to discover talent, notice trends and make connections with those that I’ve crossed paths. Some others that I’ve met before they were STARS include Jessica Simpson, Beyonce, Mark Wahlberg, NKOTB, Christina Aguilera and numerous others in show business. Whether it was the teen musical artists of ‘NSYNC, the people involved with Facebook early on, to now the days of SCVNGR making the headlines. I feel fortunate to have had those encounters and build quite a network of my own over the years. Hopefully, they will continue to be favorable when putting my own talents and innovation into action.
The new American idols aren’t just the celebrities as we’ve come to known, but as with the story of The Social Network, the new rock stars are the young people down the street with their talented programming skills, the neighbor developing an app, the social maven who is gaining a following, or the software developer that sells his/her ideas to become a success.
The “New Dorks” are today’s rocks stars of tomorrow. Check out this great video and presentation to have a good laugh. Today, I’m more interested to learn about the celebrities in our own backyard. The entrepreneurs and others at start-ups leading the path to making changes in their community and hopefully across the country, as the new stars are changing how we do business in the future.
Are you a future star in the making working on a project or new product of your own? I want to hear from you and help grant your next wish!
Tell me if your friends, family, or the girl or guy in your town is onto to something that will make them the next BIG STAR!
Text Me, Facebook Me, Email Me: He’s Just Not That Into You
My friends and I just saw the movie “He’s Just Not That Into You.” A hilarious flick that pokes fun at how technology is used, or isn’t used, to make a connection with that special someone.
You rush to check your email, you make a point to check your Facebook page, you text, wait for a text, and if you are lucky enough a phone call.
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Admit it, it’s not just gals that are doing this, but men are too. When did this happen that we are at the mercy of technology to influence our lives and for some to feel valuable. It’s the state of this crazy new technological world we live in.
No email…No text…Oh no! Yet, the girl or gal next to me has enough to create a novel. No posts written to your wall on Facebook for at least a week…Does anyone love me?
What is this world coming to? I had actually banned text for many months until people asked me, “Did you get my text?” Of course not, but I caved in to sign-up because I would have lost out on some important messages. Drew Barrymore said it best as the character of Mary explains to her friend the new society we live in. “He emailed me, text me, and My-Spaced me and now you have to check all these different portals of technology…it’s exhausting!”
Why are we taking all this time invested in the virtual world when we should be investing it in the real world to meet the true gentlemen. There is a new kind of chivalry coming out of this digital age when texting is the way of getting the door for someone, emails are the little hand-written notes from a secret valentine, when adding one as a friend on Facebook, is the new, “OK, you’re cool enough to join my crew.”
The little personal niceties are slowing diminishing in this “crack-berry/ iPhone” world. It’s sad. In the movie, Mary shares with her colleagues at the magazine, “Things have changed. People don’t just meet organically anymore. If I want to make myself more attractive to the opposite sex, I don’t go get a new haircut – I update my profile. That’s just how it is.” It’s true for us experimenting in the online dating world. Also, for those connecting with others on Facebook, or who wish to impress his/her former high school classmates. However, too often there are those that feel safe hiding behind their computer, posting messages that are not true, or sharing pictures that are ten years old. That’s just not right and it makes it harder for one to trust the virtual world without first-hand experience, or encounters with others in the real world. Meanwhile in the movie, the guy Mary meets online turns out to be a phony. Later she is pleasantly surprised by turning off the technology. It’s ironic when she uses it first, she doesn’t have much success. However, when she puts down the phone, turns off the computer and meets someone face-to-face, she finds love.
Don’t get me wrong, I find the entertainment through the use of Facebook, the texting between friends can be fun at times too, and online dating has some interesting experiences. Yet, sometimes I just have to sit and laugh not taking things so seriously. I have friends that obsess over the amount of text and what to interpret by each message. OMG, he didn’t text me back, or respond to my Facebook post! What happened to the day of picking up the phone, or meeting someone at a local café to talk face-to-face? We are becoming a fickle society that doesn’t want to invest the effort anymore. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. That is, REAL ACTIONS in the REAL WORLD. In a recent interview about the movie, Drew Barrymore explains, “I’m totally confused by technology in dating. It’s so hard. It’s new; we’re in a new phase of history. It’s uncharted waters and we’re all figuring it out together.”
I’ve learned to value the interpersonal connections so much more with the influx of technology and social media. Today, I seek the sounds of sharing a laugh, the touch of one’s hand, the smells of the environment, the engaged conversations with others have come to have great meaning. It’s scary how quickly this world is changing and a time when the phrase “reach out and touch someone,” maybe becoming a thing of the past.
Honey, if he isn’t taking the time to treat you with respect in person, recall the things important to you in person, invite you out in person just to have someone close by to listen what’s on your mind ….HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU!
