Internet Geek Girl

During my visit to Orlando, Florida last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Ted Murphy at Izea headquarters. As Ted’s shirt insinuates, he likes “creating chaos.” His business ventures have a tendency to do just that. PayPerPost caused quite a stir in the last year, and his new company is getting loads of attention – for different reasons.

SocialSpark is Izea’s newest attempt at creating a marketplace between bloggers and advertisers. This time around, Ted has gotten it “right” (according to many – including Jason Calacanis) with policies that include: 100% disclosure, 100% transparency, 100% real opinion, 100% no follow. If you’ve got content, creativity and influence – check out SocialSpark and jump into the marketplace.

I have to give a quick shout out to Ted’s web2.0 reality TV show, RockStartUp. Ted and the team share their start-up journey with the world. As someone who has worked at quite a few start-ups, I’d have to say the show is spot on!

Don’t forget to check out my interview with Ted back at @sxswbloghaus in March.

Rock on Ted!

I’m just about to check out of the Hotel Roosevelt and head to the airport for a flight to SFO. It has been an eventful week here in LA. The TechSet Hollywood event and the TechCrunch/PopSugar party were both successful gatherings of the best and brightest in the industry.

I was so impressed with all the fine individuals I met here. There are too many to name, but you can see the story via my pictures on Flickr. LA is a new scene for me. But not for my partner in crime Brian Solis. He wrote an great re-cap of the growth of the tech community here in LA.

Content is King – especially here in LA. I predict that internet content developers will continue to gravitate to this town and explore the synergies that explode when technology meets the entertainment industry. I for one am excited to plan my next trip here. Stay tuned for more about Digital Hollywood (coming up in May)!

Big thanks to everyone who attended. We look forward to our next gathering in Silicon Valley on 4/20. Hope to see you there.

(photo credit, Brian Solis)

Lisa Nova and Danny Diamond blew thru the SXSW BlogHaus. Her YouTube Channel is one of the hottest out there. As I write this, the stats on the site are as follows:

Style: Variety

Joined: June 05, 2006

Last Login: 3 minutes ago

Videos Watched: 10,173

Subscribers: 87,705

Channel Views: 6,232,103

These two are quite the YouTube Team! I grooved on their energy and expertise. I also liked it when Danny grabbed the mike out of my hands. Thank goodness, he improved the shot.

It was an absolute pleasure and honor to interview Cathy Brooks, Executive Producer at Seesmic in the SXSW Bloghaus, sponsored by AMD and b5 media. Cathy served on the steering committee for the conference. In this video she talks about how she maximized the show – personally and professionally.

Cathy is full of amazing energy, and an inspiration to entrepreneurs and artists in the Valley and beyond. Plus – as one of the leading female experts in social media and content, we give her huge props. Seesmic is still in closed beta, so go to the site and request an invite – or email Cathy directly (if you’re an instant gratification kind of guy or gal): cathy (at) seesmic (dot) com.

Watch the video until the end you’ll get to see the fab shirt she’s wearing. We love ya Cath!

Chris Brogan is a prolific writer, thinker, blogger and a generally amazing guy. He gets the BPP. He loves his family, he inspires the social media world, and he works really hard. Check out his insights from SXSW 2008. To use Chris’ words – it was a kick as time!