Twiistuptwiistup 4

Have you ever wondered what those nifty little thing like this are? It’s called a Snap Shot, it’s accessed by 100 people around the world, every second, and it’s brought to you by the folks at Pasadenca based Snap – sponsors of Twiistup 4. Named as the #1 Niche Ad Network by Comscore, Snap Shots products can be found on over 2 million websites worldwide. Snap’s network reaches over 9% of the U.S. audience and 35 million unique global viewers each month.

Snap Shots are contextual – meaning that the ads they serve complement inline content. This enables publishers to monetize their content with value-added, non-disruptive, advertising.

Word on the street is that Snap is looking for a Marketing Director – and they’ll be making information available about their Gold Publisher Program tonight at Twiistup. See you all in a couple of hours!

Going Ape for Chi.mp

Brady Brim-DeForest — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:57:40 +0000

What do a former world-champion paddler, a round-the-world yachtsman and polar adventurer, a CTO trained in classical music, and a guy who was formerly one of the top ten surfers in the world have in common? They all happen to be co-founers of Chi.mp, a Twiistup sponsor, and one of the most exciting new players in the social web space. They’re also guys I wouldn’t mind hanging ten with out at Hanalei Bay – I hear they even hold ‘Board’ meetings while still wet-suited up.

So, what is Chi.mp? In the purest sense, it will empower us to organize, centralize, and aggregate our online identities, all through our own unique domain that we both own and control. Initially, each Chim.mp user will receive their own .mp domain name – like brady.mp – which comes with a robust identity management platform, and will eventually include tools to search, manage, merge, import, export, and publish their contacts, content and communications from across the web with granular privacy controls from their own domain. Sounds exciting, right? Well, it is – gone will be the days of distributed, scatterred networking. Welcome to the a web where you are at the center of your own network – not a node on someone else’s graph.

Chi.mp will, by all accounts, turn the way we manage our online identities upside down. With an impending September launch date, Chi.mp is already opening up their service to a limited number of early adopters – like you. Tonight, they will handing out special promo tickets to lukcy Twiistup attendees who will have the chance to be among the first in the world to reserve their very own .mp domain and companion Chi.mp site. How will you find these promo tickets? Just look for the guys/gals doing headstands on the glass covered pool tonight.

Heavybag Media: Connecting the Dots on the Social Web

Brady Brim-DeForest — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:25:02 +0000

Santa Monica based Heavybag Media is all about communities – building them, understanding them, and leveraging them for the success of their client’s brands on the social web. If you care about your brand, you won’t want to pass up the opportunity to sit down with them and have a heart to heart about the conversations consumers are having that are shaping the future of your space.

Founded by Jackie Peters and Dennis Peters in 2002, Heavybag is a well known name in the Southern California technology community. Their unique blend of thought leadership, and creative acumen has allowed them to establish an exclusive stable of client brands including Sun Microsystems, Fender, eHarmony, Yale University, Newell Rubbermaid, Getty Images, New England Brewing, AARP, and Guitar Center among others.

The horizontal structure of their organization means that creative contributions are sourced team-wide, not just from the top down. Heavybag is all about connecting the dots between brands and communities, and nowhere is their leadership more apparent than in their extensive portfolio of work, and in their engagement in community driven organizations like Social Media Club. We are proud to welcome them as Gold sponsors of Twiistup 4.

Make sure to stop by and visit the Heavybag team on Thursday – they’ve got something special (but secret) planned. From what I know of them – I’m sure it’s not something you would want to miss.

Likes Bees to Honey: Mzinga Knows How to Make Social Media Stick

Brady Brim-DeForest — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:08:09 +0000

With 27 million users in 160 countries worldwide, Massachusetts based Mzinga truly lives up to its name – which just so happens to stand for ‘beehive’ in Swahili. As the leading provider of business social media solutions, and Twiistup’s Diamond sponsor, Mzinga needs no introduction – their list of customers speaks for itself. Global brands such as ABC, AOL, CBS.com, Chevron Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Prudential Financial, and the Unidted Nations Development Programme, all turn to Mzinga to provide its unique combination of highly scaleable technology, rich domain expertise, and moderation services that enable businesses to harness the collective intelligence of employees, customers, and partners.

Mzinga doesn’t just cater to bigcos either – they provide a treasure trove of informative and educational white papers and webinars that are more than just buzz. And it doesn’t stop there: Today, Mzinga announced the sponsorship of two key Aberdeen Group benchmark reports: “Workforce Collaboration and Web 2.0: Improving Productivity by Facilitating Knowledge Transfer” and “Customer 2.0: The Business Implications of Social Media.” You can download both of these reports for free at Mzinga’s website.

On Thursday, make sure to visit the Mzinga team at the Cabana, and drop off your business card for a chance to win a Ninentdo Wii! They’ll also have a limited number of copies of Mzinga Chairman Barry Leibert’s groundbreaking new book “We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business” written by a community of more than 3,000 collaborators on the We Are Smarter community wiki, and in association with MIT, the Wharton School, and Pearson Publishing.

Obviously, Mzinga understands the power of crowd sourcing inside and out – and better yet, they practice what they preach. This is one hive that knows the value of a good bee.

Live the California Dream with Neohire

Brady Brim-DeForest — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:55:27 +0000

Let’s admit it: the right team can make or break your idea, and no matter how big or small your startup might be, finding good people to fill the holes in your lineup is never as simple or as easy as it sounds. That’s why a smart CEO brings in the professionals. Enter Neohire, a recruiting company that is turning the recruitment industry upside down, from the inside out. Gone are the days of working with recruiters who don’t know your space, or the nitty gritty details of the positions they are trying to fill – Neohire’s intelligent, agile approach to finding talent is all about results.

Neohire’s recruiters specialize in filling jobs in a specific discipline, and whether it be Business Development or Marketing, they embed themselves in their respective communities, developing deep networks of contacts, and more importantly, complete knowledge and inside information on their respective talent.

With two offices in the southland, one in Encino, and the other with spectacular beachfront views only steps away from the Santa Monica Pier, Neohire focuses exclusively on the Southern California market, and like their clients, and the talent they recruit, the team at Neohire live, work, and play the California Dream.

As a sponsor of Twiistup, Neohire will be on the ground, interfacing with attendees, answering questions and offering creative growth strategies for individuals and companies alike. These days, you’re chances of hiring the right people is only as good as the quality of your network – so let Neohire go to work for you, because trust me, your want their network on your team.