digiday:NETWORK Pics & Vids
Board At digiday showcasing questions being texted in
From left to right: Steven Kaufman, Omar Tawakol, Matthew Greitzer, and Nick Johnson.
Spotlight Presentation Speaker Frank Addante of the Rubicon Project
Digiday: Networks hosted by The W Hotel was a way for leading executives from brands, media companies, agencies, and advertising networks to come together and discuss the best approaches. Expert panelist covered a wide array of topics, from advances in ad serving to how brands can improve their communication among today’s consumers. After a discussion on stage, the experts took questions from the crowd. And if you were too shy to raise your hand, you could text your question and it would show up on a projection screen. Check out two clips from the discussion. The first of panelist Steven Kaufman, Omar Tawakol, Matthew Greitzer, and Nick Johnson and the second with Frank Addante, explaining “Key Pains for Publishers.”
Internet Profile: Brooke Hogan
Brooke Hogan has been going through her family drama (Papa Hulk Hogan is divorcing her mom and his wife, Linda, after 23 years of marriage.) in the public eye this year. She debuted the second season of her VH1 show, Brooke Knows Best, last night, and just finished recording a new album, The Redemption, to be released on July 21st. Brooke dates Miami rapper, Stack$ and still manages to be one bigtime Daddy’s girl while constantly communicating with fans online. During Internet Week, Brooke is criss-crossing New York City to promote her TV show and her new album.
Kelly Will: You have a huge online/viral fan base, how do you make sure you stay in touch with them constantly?
Brooke Hogan: I’m on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. I love all the social networking in my line of work because it makes me tangible to the fans. Everyone can find me and I can actually answer fan questions.
KW: You manage to communicate one on one with your fans. You take their phone calls – what are you using to do that?
BH: My favorite thing is SayNow.com – I love hearing from my fans and I really do talk to them and take their phone calls live whenever I have time. It is great to hear from people one on one. I have all my messages forwarded to my phone. It’s inspiring.
Call Brooke or leave her a message! http://www.saynow.com/brookehogan
KW: Have you run into any problems with loony fans online?
BH: Right now I have a Twitter imposter that I’m trying to get rid of so that my fans are not misled. I’m newest to Twitter so it’s taking time.
KW: Perez Hilton covers a lot of your family drama - do you actually read his site?
BH: I don’t read Perez. He is really funny, but I try to avoid it because I can have a crying jag if I read it. I try to have a light heart, but it’s hard to read some of the things my mother is saying.
The Twiffleball World Series
Sundays are a perfect day to gather with friends - or in this case, some people you’ve never met before - and play the Twitter version of Wiffleball…Twiffleball!!! More than 60 people gathered at Adolph Ochs Playground in Manhattan, yesterday, for a wild and funny version of America’s favorite passtime.
There were 8 teams of gorgeous and athletic young men and women who played round after round of championship ball. Cynthia Hellen, helped organize the event, which raised money for www.angelwish.org , an amazing organization that helps children with HIV/AIDS cope with their disease by finding ways to put happiness, support and even food and toys into their daily lives.Â
Change a life now and grant a child’s wish, here. http://www.angelwish.org/wish/index.php
As the teams battled it out all day long (battle may be a loose term when referencing Twiffleball..since there really is no catcher/running bases) one superstar team stood out. New York’s Apple Bomber’s (originally Apple Bottoms- Nelly the rapper reference) took home the big win on the 2009 Twiffleball World Series.Â
The Winning Team’s Roster - Apple Bombers
Captain - Cynthia Hellen www.twitter.com/cynthiahellen
Jonathan Crowley www.twitter.com/JonathanCrowley
Christian Bovine
Manuel Rodriguez
Suan Lam
Lizbeth Lorena www.twitter.com/Lizbeth_Lorena
Stephanie Aguilar www.twitter.com/StephL0ver
Players on every team deserve a pat on the back for supporting Angel Wish and trucking through the series in the very warm sun and putting up some great competition for the Apple Bombers.Â
Team 2 - Your Mom’s Favorite Team
Team 3 - NY Striped Sox
Team 4 - Team Skins
Team 5 - The New York Keyboard Cats
Team 6 - Team TEAIM
Team 7 - NY Matts
It was a Sunday of great sportmanship and many 7th inning stretches!
Internet Profile: Comedian Doug Benson
Doug Benson is publicly known for his work on Comedy Central and VH1’s Best Week Ever. The comedian was a contestant on Last Comic Standing and is now working on a new show for G4. His focus during Internet Week is to learn how to properly send a link – cutting and pasting does not seem to be his friend. The funnyman uses Twitter to chat with fans, but that’s about the extent of his online skills!
Kelly Will: What’s your preferred method of communication?
Doug Benson: I’m all about the Twitter with my fans and for family and friends it’s a combo of texting and Twitter. Talking on the phone is so 2008.
KW: As a comedian, do you have any favorite funnymen other than yourself that you enjoy following?
DB: I do love Twitter – I can’t get enough of it. I love writing tweets and reading tweets. My favorite celeb Tweeter would have to be Michael Ian Black. His tweets almost always make me laugh, unless I’ve got food in my mouth.
KW: Do you use technology to spread the word and get information to people?
DB: I’m only semi tech savvy. I know how to navigate Twitter and Myspace, but I can’t cut and paste a link to save my life. Every time I try, people write back to me “the link didn’t work.” Then I’m just like, “Try Googling it, dude.”
KW: I hear you have a nickname for Perez Hilton…
DB: I call him Sir Tweets-A-Lot. I don’t go to his site, but I follow him on Twitter. He tweets quite a bit.
KW: What are your latest projects?
DB: I’m working on a special for the G4 network, I will be hosting a few episodes of LIVE AT GOTHAM on Comedy Central and I have a new CD coming out from Comedy Central Records on August 4th. It’s called DOUG BENSON: UNBALANCED LOAD. I don’t know why I called it that. And I have a free audio podcast available on iTunes called I LOVE MOVIES. Damn, I’m busy! I gotta go!
Follow Doug on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DougBenson
IndieGoGo Party: Pics & Interviews
IndieGoGo Party
IndieGoGo at Katra
People networking a little
IndieGoGo hosted a party at Katra in the Lower East Side for those in the film world to mingle. The website allows filmmakers and fans to connect and help raise money for their projects. Drinks were flowing along with phone numbers, the event was a networking mecca. While chatting with fellow social communicator Erin Crumpacker, I came across Ben Kawaller, a writer and producer working on a new web-series “Love Possibly.” Here’s a special promo for the show from the writer himself.
Not only were writers, producers, and directors there, but also actors and actress’. I mean really, where would we be without them? Here’s a clip from an interview with Kathleen Wallace. Just finishing up her Masters in Denver, she’s back in New York and has been scoping out some internet week events. She’s definitely an awesome person and has a couple things lined up, look out for her in the near future, but for now, check her out below.
Tangible Interfaces Hackday: Pushing the boundaries of expression with new technology
Ordinarily, the bulk of a computer’s features are only accessible through its monitor. Tangible Interface developers create technologies that allow them to exist in physical space.
Yesterday Kelly Will and I talked with Create Digital Music and Create Digital Motion founder Peter Kirn about Tangible Interfaces Hackday, a virtual and real-time convergence of artists, coders, and musicians from regions as distant as Canberra, Berlin, and Vienna who work together to develop these interfaces. After sharing information about the group, Kirn described a virtual reality project that was demonstrated earlier in the day, and discussed some of the greater goals of the projects.
Tangible Interfaces Hackday took place at 200 Varick Street in Tribeca from 11:00am to 9:30pm. For more about Tangible Interfaces Hackday, check out Kelly Will’s coverage of the event, or learn more about the community’s activities on its noisepage.
Tangible Interfaces Hackday - Baby Steps and Collaboration
Tangible Interfaces Hackday was a celebration of brilliant minds meeting to create an artistic world only found on the internet. In the next post, you can read Jason Bunyon’s in depth report and see our interviews with the day’s very smart and innovative creator, Peter Kirn.
Take a peak at Peter at www.createdigitalmusic.com and www.createdigitalmotion.com.
Peter dedicated his entire Saturday to “just beginning new projects with tangible interfaces - we are playing with physical objects and movement right now.”
Creativity and small steps were the keys of the day leading to collaboration and a team effort with everyone helping each other with programs, solving problems and rallying to move forward, one baby step at a time.
Even the kids got into the programming!
Web Video Producers Talk Creativity and Corporate Sponsorship
It’s rare that a panel held at 8am can make you stay awake without the help of coffee, but the NSFW panel, held at the Time Warner building last Thursday, did just that. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, considering all three of the panelists were in the comedy business: Streeter Seidell of College Humor, Andrew Steele of Funny or Die and Jonathan Rosen, producer of web series “Children’s Hospital” and “Wainy Days.”The panel was moderated by Cyndi Stivers, managing editor of EW.com.
Web-only television is a relatively new phenomenon; technology has only recently allowed viewers to be able to watch online video without having it be an exercise in frustration and the reality is most people would rather watch longer TV on their actual television sets and not tiny laptop screens. Traditional television producers are very hesitant to put their work online because of the difficulty in getting proper residuals paid back to them and was the reason for the Writer’s Strike in 2008.
However, the medium is here and it’s staying and by all accounts, all of the panelists appeared to be doing well. As is usual with independent media, the end goal still appears to “cross over” into the mainstream: College Humor’s MTV show was renewed for a second season and Funny or Die is in development with HBO to produce a series. Rosen was the only one who’d taken the opposite turn and said that Internet Video was a way for his shows to get made after all the networks had passed on it. He stressed on the experimental nature of Internet video, how there was more flexibility in what you could say and do. Both Steele and Rosen said it was far easier to get celebrities and well known actors to guest star in their projects since the stakes were “so low.”
Naturally, the conversation turned to how these projects make money: College Humor is based on ad revenues like most Internet companies and they do partner with sponsors like Mountain Dew. Funny or Die takes a similar approach, also partnering up with Absolut. The conflict between remaining true to their goals as creative comedians and the reality of having to make money was touched upon and all agreed that as purveyors of “NSFW” content, it was harder to find advertisers who may not want to be associated with their sites. At the end of the day, Steele mentioned that they always welcome sponsors, but the sponsors need to let them do their jobs and be funny.
Check out a snippet of the panel below, where the panelists discuss what effectively killed the original intention of both sites as being primarily user generated: YouTube.
CollegeHumor Rules the Kingdom… presenting your Webutante King and Queen
CollegeHumor’s Amir Blumenfield and Sarah Schneider - the king and queen of the ball.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the Webutante Ball will be one of those events that lives year after year each Internet Week. I’ve been to many Web/media parties each with an assortment of camera happy personalities, but this one was different for several reasons.
One, it wasn’t strictly a Tumblr, CollegeHumor or Gawker party, the scene mimicked that of a high school prom with clusters of Web cliques all partying under one roof. The selection of Webutantes, included a quirky mix of funny, artistic, controversial and ridiculous nominees, which I suppose is why so many gathered. It’s quite fascinating actually how connected everyone is to each other in the NY Web scene. Forget six degrees of Kevin Bacon - it’s more like two degrees of David Karp. The party brought everyone together and we all mingled, some more than others.
The party also gave those who normally exist in jeans and tees a chance to dress up. What girl doesn’t like glamming up on occasion?! And what guy wouldn’t put on a tie and blazer to mingle with pretty ladies?! Yes, there was a lot of drunken debauchery, but it was all in good fun.
My compliments to the hosts - Gawker’s Richard Blakeley and Urlesque’s Jessica Amason - for bringing everyone together.
The Thrillist Party - Internet is Out of Control
I love hearing awesome sessions at Internet Week telling you how other people use media and how it works best for them; however, there is something to be said for a good old party! One of my favorite places to go this summer is the M2 Lounge! This is a great place when you’re having a huge party and by the time I ended up at the Thrillist Internet is Out of Control Party (also sponsored by Dos Equis), it was definitely in full swing! I loved seeing the DJ on the stage and the amazing sponsors. It felt like it was the closing party of Internet Week when in fact there will still more days to go!
Due to a few malfunctions, images will be up by Mon! You can see additional images on the Fame Game which has lots of pictures from the night. I took a few; however, the lighting was very erratic and I think my camera did the best that it could do! I think it’s amazing that the events were so diversified between being educated, mingling and just having a great time in general!
