Got More Rhymes Than Chris Brogan’s Got Questions
April 12, 2008
Now that is saying something !
Well its the new rage today out on the ol “series of tubes” as Senator Stevens would say. I got word form the artist himself this afternoon about his new feature nerd rap.
Scott Stead has released he entry into the Ze Frank Nerd Rap Contest. It is really quite good and you should head over and give it a listen.
The great line of it though “Got more rhymes than Chris Brogan’s got questions” is quite funny, even picked up by Mr. Brogan himself
Great work Scott.
Local Focus: Jeremy Epstein
April 3, 2008
One thing I wanted to use Local Focus for was to shine some light on the various people that come togther to make up such a great community. Of course I will focus on the "Rock Stars" that many of you know, but I also want to show a sampling that many of you do not know in the hopes that you will then know them and what they are all about.
My focus this week is on Jeremy Epstein of Microsoft. I met Jeremy at Jeff Pulver's breakfast several weeks back. We had a great conversation and hit it off and have been in touch ever since. My tag line at that breakfast was Passionate Technology, it could have been the same for Jeremy.
Read on to learn more about Jeremy and his take on all things.
jeremy epstein, senior partner community manager, Microsoft public sector
2. Are you working on any startup venture ideas ?
No. To test my skill and theories about social networking (think of it as ‘sharpening the saw’ work outside of my day job), I am consulting New York Times bestselling author, Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, to prepare and execute his online strategy for his upcoming book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need. We’re using GraffitiCMS for this, a truly great product. His holding page site is at www.johnnybunko.com
3. Tell us a bit about your company or what you do ?
Don’t think I need to introduce Microsoft. As a partner community manager, I am responsible for recruiting Microsoft partners into a relationship with the Public Sector team, providing value so that the relationship holds, creating and executing scalable marketing engines to drive the sale of Microsoft products. There are over 2000 partners US wide.
4. How are you using social media tools for your job and/or business
I have had a personal blog for over 7 years (jer979.blogspot.com) since before Blogger was purchased by Google and that experience persuaded me of the value of the medium. As a result, I started a blog at Microsoft “Igniting the Revolution: Change the Way Microsoft and Our Partners Do Marketing…or Get Fired Tryin’” (http://blogs.msdn.com/maamktg) to help build the relationship with our partners and put a human face on MSFT. I have enough anecdotes to show that it is working.
It gets over 100k views/month. It also *may* be the most highly ranked marketing blog at MS (preliminary research verifies that, but need to validate) Plus, I’m encouraging my extended team to have links to their LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo, Twitter, Tumblr or whatever to build that relationship level. On a grander scale, we’ve partnered with PartnerPoint as a community center for our partners and have a Facebook group for our partners.
We’re looking at leveraging Ning as well, but that’s early stage. We’ve also got plans for using Dopplr to help facilitate contact between MS field people and partners around the country to encourage the meet-ups. We find that the face to face touches go a LONG way to building the relationship. The social networking technologies have to result in a face to face at some point. That “keeps it real.” And we do that w/some of our larger partner conferences throughout the year.
I will be the first to admit that these social networking sites for MS parnters haven’t “taken off” yet, but we’re trying. Have no choice, really. Part is momentum. Partly is internal to Microsoft. The understanding of the power of these tools hasn’t permeated the organization yet. It’s growing, but Microsoft a big ship and not so easy to turn.
5. Are you from the DC area ? Why did you stay and/or move here ?
Yes, born at Georgetown hospital. Grew up in Chevy Chase. Graduate of the Jewish Day School in Rockville. After living around the world (Frankfurt, Germany; Tokyo, Japan, and NYC), my wife and I decided that being close to family was a high priority for us (she’s from Albany, NY and aside from Eliot Spitzer’s latest stuff, there’s not much excitement for us there!) Plus, being at the center of world politics is rush and, I’ve found, a lot of people from around the world come through here, so you can more easily maintain relationships than if you lived in Omaha.
6. How have you found the local area with regards to support and technology adoption ?
This is all my opinion, of course. There are a ton of super-intellectuals in this area. I’m particularly excited about the folks I meet in the political consulting arena who are trying to tap into tech to drive their agendas. There’s a robust commercial sector that is as innovative as anywhere. However, the 800 lb gorilla is the Fed Gov’t and that makes it tough because this is such a government-town and the desire for innovation (outside of defense, of course) is driven by that. The gov’t isn’t an early adopter and the incentive for greater productivity wouldn’t be as high as a Silicon Valley, for example, to its challenging.
7. What are your thoughts and ideas to help grow and support the local tech community ?
I think the recent uptick in DC networking events is going a long way to doing that. And anything else you want to add. I LOVE meeting up with others who are smart and passionate about technology (remember your tag at Pulver, eh?). connect via any one of the platforms.
Anyone else have any good questions to focus on ? Or someone for us to showcase, let us know.
Local Focus: Loladex
March 26, 2008
Today was the launch of DC startup Loladex, a Facebook application to leverage your Fabebook network for local reviews.
Trying to find the perfect spot for a first date? Need a good mechanic to check out that noisy rattle? When you're searching for a local business, what you really want is a thumbs up from someone you trust – Loladex helps you get recommendations from people you know and sources you trust.
I got a chance to sit down with the founders Dan Goodman and Laurence Hooper out near their headquarters in Leesburg, VA the other day to chat about their creation over a nice cup of coffee.
Both guys were great explaining their vision and what Loladex is all about now, and where they see it going in the future. Nick O'Neill of Social Times and Eric Schonfeld of Techcrunch had the first reviews on the street of the product. In a nutshell, you install the Loladex Facebook application into your FB profile. Then search away to find that local … well whatever. It could be a doctor, sports shop, basically anything. And best yet, it tells you who your Facebook friends have recommended. I like this idea in that on sites like Yelp, you are at the mercy of the crowds recommendation. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but with Loladex you are getting a review from most likely a trusted friend. They also have featured third party input from sources like The Washingtonian Magazine as well.
Laurence told me that initially they looked at building it as a web application, but when Facebook launched it API and platform, they decided to take advantage of that. However, in the future they would look to branching out from the Facebook application to a web presence.
Like Erick said on his review, building the user base is going to be critical for them. I think leveraging people's friends for the reviews brings a little more of a personal touch, but I think it may be hard to get people to review things in some cases. But I hope they do for Loladex.
I did find a point Nick made very interesting, that I had not noticed, but they have limited their reviews to 140 characters … sound familiar ? Exactly the number Twitter allows… Hmmm… Maybe we can look for the review to be shot over to Twitter as well here soon reaching a much wider audience and pulling them back in to the application to check it out.
Obviously being a DC startup I am totally rooting for the guys to do well. Another success story will garner the area some well deserved good press.
Local Focus: Ryan Spahn - Sleep.FM
March 16, 2008
One of the great things about the meetups we have are the new people that continue to join us and hearing about the new things they are working on.
Last week at our CXCC, I met with Ryan Spahn of Sleep.FM. Ryan is a Baltimore resident who is working on pursuing bringing Sleep.FM to the masses. Check out the featured video on the Home page here to see a bit about his project. Ryan reminded me a bit of myself, in the fact that we both had an idea and went about desiging it and finding people to help him build it. We have talked here previously about one person startups and as I continue to meet people, I find that it is not as rare as one may think.
I thought Ryan would be a great addition to our Local Focus feature here at East Coast Blogging. Here is his take on our questions.
1. Whats is your name and line of business ?
Internet entrepreneur
2. Are you working on any startup venture ideas ?
Sleep.FM - The Social Alarm Clock
Sleep.FM - The Social Alarm Clock is a sleep and wake social network, where you send and receive wake up messages, save your wake up times and detail your sleeping habits with your inner circle.
In regards to how wake up messages are heard. Wake up messages can either be the sound of your alarm clock or heard after a chosen buzzer, like one that announces the day & date!
Practical uses of social waking include reminders, motivation and sharing pertinent information (check your email ASAP/traffic is bad/meeting is canceled). Other uses would be on a personal manner - your kids waking you, wife, friends saying Happy Birthday, b/f or g/f Happy Valentines day, etc… The possibilities are endless and unknown and we are excited to see how our users apply Sleep.FM into their lives!
Sleep.FM will be available through web browsers and mobile Internet devices. Also, in the future we are looking to build Sleep.FM into Internet connected alarm clocks!
It is truly amazing the power of social media and how fast word can spread!
My long time friends in Baltimore and elsewhere are not into tech, so I started up by myself. I hired a programmer from India in November 2006 and we have been working since. I am hopeful to find local support to join me with Sleep.FM's future development. Also, just to have a local community for support and friendship is awesome - running a startup is a rollercoaster ride!
I hope everyone will stop by and check out sleep.FM and welcome Ryan to our little community here.
Anyone you think the Focus should be on ? Let us know.
Local Focus: Chris Parandian
March 11, 2008
Well here is the first installment of the new feature here at East Coast Blogging called "Local Focus".
I am happy that my first focus is going to be on none other than Chris Parandian, Founder of Tin Can Communications™. Tin Can is a public affairs and new media focused communications firm based in Washington D.C. We assist companies with their communications strategy in the legislative and regulatory arena. We also collaborate with corporate communications to develop a social media strategy as well as help them navigate the interactive universe.
Chris is a great guy that I met online via Twitter and was lucky enough to meet him in person at the Jeff Pulver Social Media Breakfast. I look forward to many more meetings with Chris and continuing to grow our relationship.
I asked Chris a few questions about the area and social media and here is what he has to say !
How are you using social media tools for your job / business?
Social technologies and wireless are a perfect marriage. I am a wireless guy and there are so many exciting applications available that it is really hard to keep up. Accordingly, I started mobilediner.com to hear from folks who are passionate about the industry. I wanted to hear their views about products and polices that will have an impact on the success of the industry and potential innovations going forward.
Mobilediner.com provides a place for conversations that were not happening a few years ago and that are critical today. On that note, I have learned so much from the dining community. For instance, Jonny Goldstein has been very helpful teaching us about video-blogging. Using all these different social technologies (such as, twitter, utterz and qik ) have helped me show-off these tools to the corporate executives and opinion leaders (who were not aware of them).
Are you from the DC area? Why did you stay / or move here?
I grew up in Howard County (Maryland) but came to Washington after college because my initial interest was politics. My former boss held a seat on the House Commerce Committee (the Committee that has jurisdiction on telecom and tech matters) and my passion for telecommunications policy developed rather quickly.
How have you found the local area with regards to support and tech adoption?
Social media adoption in DC is growing stronger everyday (with the exception of Capitol Hill). We are seeing many folks in traditional advocacy blogging and many associations have started blogging too. In many instances, the reasons why they are doing it are different.
The 2008 campaigns have been a blessing in this regard. For instance, we are witnessing the success that Obama is having utilizing social technologies for GOTV, events, and fundraising. The Obama campaign is also doing some amazing things in the mobile space and I believe you’ll see mobile becoming a key strategy on its own. Overall, you’ll see more of these tools used in advocacy next cycle and the companies who are building them on the front end will reap the benefits.
What are your thoughts and ideas to help grow and support the local tech community?
Engage the tremendous resources in the Nation’s Capitol. There are tons of social media meet-ups and those are great. However, in many cases, your customers are not there. Most Fortune 500 Companies and Associations have a presence in Washington. Find and reach out to those companies and associations of interest. They may be able to connect you to the right people or events that could help your start-up get some momentum.
On that note, I’m happy to try to help those who are interested in the mobile space and can be reached via email – chris(at)mobilediner.com.
Thanks Chris, and good luck with mobilediner.com and Tin Can Communications™
New Feature: Local Focus
March 10, 2008
One of my goals in writing he blog here is to showcase local companies in the area. However, it recently dawned on me that there are people, individuals out there in our area, using the tools of technology and social media to do their jobs and explore their passions. Some of them are behind the up and coming companies and some are not, but all of them are a key ingredient that will make our community here prosper and grow.
So this is a new feature I am going to start here at East Coast Blogging, it is called Local Focus. I plan to speak with and write about my talks with people I meet in the area while at some of the great events taking place. It may be the CEO of a new company with a great new product or someone who just enjoys technology and the social media revolution we find ourselves in that are using these tools in their everyday jobs.
So stay tuned and let me know of anyone that you think the focus should be on.
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