Girls In Tech

For all of you who came out, you know that the GIT Silicon Valley launch on iPhone Apps was a huge success!  Beginning with an introduction to iPhone Apps by Dhana Pawar — the Silicon Valley chapter founder — the forum was then opened up to presentations from various other notable experts in the mobile apps space.  These included Mike Fyall of AdMob, Suzanne Ginsburg, and Joseph Mow, just to name a few.   Each gave their advice and pointers on how to build the best iPhone apps.

Some key take aways included:

• “Study the SDK to see what you would like to build in an app. first,” suggests Dhana.
• Pricing is very, very key:  Should your app be free vs. charging a nominal price?  (70-80% are free)
• Design & Development:  Pick a good partner & keep it simple!
• Pick the right ads to augment your app
• Optimize your landing page
• Promote to an existing client base

For the final portion of the program – that is, just before the group was opened up for networking – several app builders were invited to take the stage to give live demos of their own iPhone apps.  These included a music-sharing application called My Music Messenger, as well as Word Magic (an educational app for kids), and What’s App (a new blackberry messenger-like app).
In all, a tremendous night of education and networking!  After the success of this event, we’ll all be looking for future Silicon Valley Girls in Tech events to be just as enthralling.

Posted in All Chapters, Silicon Valley | No Comments »

Good news GIT’ers! For those of you following the progress of Girls in Tech University, you may have noticed that we’ve officially launched the Facebook Fan Page for GIT U. From our recent presence at UC Berkeley’s Caltopia to growing momentum and interest in the overall program from female university students passionate about technology, we knew the timing was ripe to create a community for those of you interested in GIT U.

Join the group to keep up to date with our upcoming campus events, check out photos and blog posts, and engage in conversations you care about.

So what are you waiting for? Join our Facebook Fan Page here. Thanks again for your support of GIT U!

Tags: Girls in Tech University
Posted in All Chapters, Girls In Tech | 1 Comment »

I am sincerely apologetic and embarrassed that my posting on Saturday was found offensive by the readers. The first line was meant to invoke funny imaginary and to be a little preposterous. I realize now it was ignorant and insensitive, and it hurts me to think that it may have caused harm.

I was hoping to the leave the readers with a positive message that I believe that the industry is very malleable and benefits greatly from diversity. The fact is that when telling people of the organization, I have received comments and reactions from people insinuating that the organization had some radical agenda, and my reactions to these kinds of comments is to just laugh and explain what Girls in Tech really means to me and what it was really about. My attempt was to convey this kind of reaction to the readers, but the language that was used was tactless and inappropriate.

My experiences in the technology industry has been only positive, but it is unfeeling for me to assume that this is true for everyone and I know if you have been singled out for gender, culture or any reason it can be very painful and Girls In Tech should be a place that you feel like you can talk about these experiences and receive support and not be perceived as weak.
I hope the readers will find it in their hearts to forgive me, and perhaps even reach out to me to share their thoughts and feelings so that I may grow from this experience.

Posted in Girls In Tech | 6 Comments »

TechCrunch50, quite notably the best tech start-up showcase in Silicon Valley, and quite possibly the world (well, don’t quote me on that), but based on the attendance and social media buzz in and around the event, I think that’s a good bet.

So far the products, companies that have been launched include: StorySomething, Sealtale, ToonsTunes, Clasemovil, iMo, Clicker, Spawn, ToyBots, Udorse, rackup, SeatGeek, and 5to1 (we’ll, of course be adding more later this afternoon). You can watch the presentations live at the following link:

Also, we’d like to thank TechCrunch for inviting Girls in Tech to participate in the conference. We are selling cupcakes in the lunch table area for $3. A portion of the profits will be donated to Girls, Inc. – Picture the world through the eyes of a Girls Inc. girl. She belongs to a community that empowers her to pursue the biggest dreams she can dream. She is uplifted by the strength of a national organization that is committed to inspiring the leaders of tomorrow.

Tags: Girls, girls in tech, Inc., TechCrunch50
Posted in San Francisco | 1 Comment »

With the rise of e-commerce, shopping has lost most of its social charms. But a new website called FriendShopper.com is combating the lonely shopper blues by connecting friends in a real-time, centralized environment, featuring easy ways to share content and interact similar to in-person shopping.

FriendShopper.com isn’t so much a social network as it is a web-based social platform; it is the first site to offer the social perks of shopping in real-time on the web. With FriendShopper, users can manipulate integrated social tools like instant messaging and content sharing in a highly targeted, custom-built environment meant to simulate the live shopping experience.

“The goal of FriendShopper is to bring back the fun and interactivity that was always part of the shopping experience, before e-commerce was born,” said FriendShopper founder and CEO Josh Bochner. “While some call themselves ‘social shopping’ websites by aspiring to create a mash-up of social networking and shopping, we believe that shopping is, at its essence, a social experience. We’ve targeted that experience and re-created it for the web.”

A web-based chat function, docked on the right side of the page, simulates the interaction friends might have in real life while checking out products. Friends can offer opinions and enjoy the shopping experience together, just as they would at a mall or department store. The dialogue feature allows users to converse and share with multiple friends simultaneously.

To get started using the tool, shoppers simply drag-and-drop the FriendShopper bookmarklet into the browser toolbar, surf any online storefront and click the bookmarklet button whenever they find an item they would like to save or share with friends. FriendShopper will add the item to the user’s “My Items” page, and clicking on the “Add to Chat” button allows him or her to instantaneously share that item with a friend. Notifications and thumbnail images appear anytime a friend shares an item with the user.

FriendShopper’s search functionality empowers shoppers with the option to search retailers or specific products by keyword without leaving the website. Just as items can be bookmarked and shared, shoppers can add their favorite stores to their FriendShopper profile using the bookmarklet.

Create folders and move items into them with a simple-to-navigate folder explorer view. Shoppers can customize item names and pictures to find them easily later. To sign up for a free account with FriendShopper and start shopping, visit www.FriendShopper.com.

Tags: e-commerce, FriendShopper.com, girls in tech, Shopping Online, Social Network for Shopping, women in tech
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Back in December of 2008, we were excited to be an affiliate organization for the Digital Family Reunion. It was the first event to bring together the people, companies, and brands of Web 1.0 and 2.0. It was about celebrating the trailblazers who first adopted the Internet and helped paved the way for the rest of us who now make up Web 2.0. Building upon the success of DFR ’08 comes Digital Family Summit.

DFS will bring together leading community builders, social media experts, application developers, marketers and digital media business leaders to explore the very timely topic of “Managing Online Communities.” In association with USC’s Annenberg Program on Online Communities and E-Poll Market Research, they are conducting the Digital Family Survey which will survey professionals from across the U.S. technology and business communities.

So, if you are a developer of communities, or someone within a company who is responsible for community outreach, take the survey (see link below). If not, you can forward this to anyone who answers this description. They are looking to capture the most valuable best practices of these professionals who are designing, managing and marketing Online Communities. The survey may be accessed at: http://surveys.epoll.com/epoll/surveys/askSurvey.htm?sid=20248

The results will be presented at the Digital Family Summit on Wednesday, September 23 at Wokano Restaurant, 1413 Fifth Street in Santa Monica. Jason Calacanis will broadcast “This Week In Start-Ups” (http://thisweekinstartups.com) live from the event to thousands of technology professionals and will interview two major executives in the “online community” sector, Peter Hirshberg, CEO of The Conversation Group, and Mike Jones, COO of MySpace.

Girls in Tech is part of the affiliate/host committee for this event. Please use code DFRGIT20 and get $20 off registration.

Tags: digital family summit, online communities, WITI
Posted in Los Angeles | No Comments »

We all know someone who shares too much — that girl who tells the whole office about her bad breakup or the guy who insists on going into gory detail about his latest extreme exploits. But most of us know when to draw the line when it comes to lunchtime discussions at the office, chats around the water cooler or meetings with management. It’s a lesson most people learned way back in the days of bologna and bag lunches: different people merit different kinds of discussions. You wouldn’t tell the playground bully the same deep dark secrets you’d spill to your best friend, and you definitely wouldn’t let the teacher in on the stuff you were passing notes about during class. From our first experiences with socialization, we’ve been conditioned to understand the unspoken societal rules that dictate what’s appropriate to share, when it’s appropriate to share it and who it’s appropriate to share it with.

But, social media is a whole different ballgame – especially now. At first, it was easy to know when to share what on the web. Your facebook friends often mirrored your real world friends, and it was easy to insure that the things you shared with those friends didn’t also get broadcast to your boss, your parents and your future potential employers. Now, with cracks beginning to show in the walls around Facebook’s garden, and the burgeoning open web movement connecting your tweets with your status updates, your blips with your blog, it’s become a lot harder to ensure that what you say on the web stays between friends.

So, how do you protect your professional brand while still staying true to your personal identity? How do you maintain a presence on the social web that complements your career goals instead of impeding them? How do you balance a personal web brand with a professional one? These are just a few of the questions we’re just beginning to grapple with as girls in tech — and as the tech industry as a whole. Lately, it seems like every blogger and big name pundit is issuing their own treatise on the topic, and a google search for “tech etiquette” returns over 6 million results, with articles from big names like CNN and Forbes just to name a few.

Clearly, this is one discussion where everyone has an opinion. So, how do you synthesize all of those opinions into a strategy – not just for your company but for yourself? How do you balance the demands of constant connectivity and personal and professional courtesy? And how do you figure out what the right answer is for you? Those are tricky questions, but they are quickly proving to be key components in determining the best social media strategy for yourself and for your brand.

Fortunately, you don’t have to grapple with these issues alone. Since this is a topic on everyone’s minds at the moment, Girls in Tech LA is hosting a discussion about all of these issues and more on September 28th. The event, called “Tech Etiquette – How Much Can you Say Online and Not Tarnish Your Brand” will feature a discussion by the following guest speakers:

*Marsha Collier – Author of 15 “For Dummies” books on ebay/commerce, Host: KTRB Computer & Technology Radio

*Lynn Langit – West Coast Developer Evangelist, Microsoft

*Brette Borow – Founder, GirlsGuideTo.com

Event Details

When: September 28th 7 – 9:30PM

Where: Fox Audience Network

2500 Broadway, 2^nd Floor

Learn More & RSVP

Hope to see everyone there!

Tags: facebook, girls in tech, Los Angeles, marketing, networking, public relations, social media, social network, social networking, tech, twitter
Posted in Events, Los Angeles | No Comments »

A LOT has been said about mommy bloggers lately. A recent headline from Mediapost read, “Facebook and MySpace: Beware of the Mommy Bloggers”. Another article from the same publication simply stated, “Mommy Blogger Backlash”. And at the recent BlogHer conference in Chicago, over 1000 attendees gathered, whereby the #1 topic of discussion was whether or not the FTC needed to step in and monitor the behavior of mommy bloggers.

So what’s really going on? Does the powerful word of mouth from mommy bloggers translate to actual advocacy and adoption? Or are they alienating people because their recommendations seem to be contrived pay offs?

Personally, my experience with mommy bloggers has been nothing short of positive. My company’s product (Whrrl) became a hit with mommy bloggers upon launch, so I started to reach out to different leaders in the space- Jessica Gottlieb, Ciaran Blumenfeld and Lolita Carrico- among others. What did I find? Whether they decided to blog purely to stay in contact with fellow moms, or hoped to have a business on the side, each of them had a passion for being a part of this close-knit community. And when they speak, whether it’s a blog post, tweet or Facebook update, other moms listen.

According to Lolita Carrico, mommy blogger and founder of MyGloss.com, “The controversy surrounding mom bloggers will pass. Moms are influential. Period. We control our household’s spending. We’re valuable to marketers. Mom bloggers have a strong voice and following, and communicate to a broader group of moms. No amount governing will change that. Moms online will continue to do what we do best: share our experiences with other moms in insightful and relevant ways.”

My advice? Embrace the mommy blogger community. Don’t be afraid to approach influential moms and ask if they use your product or service. If they don’t, offer to have them try it out with no expectation in return. If they like it, I guarantee they will tell other moms about it. And, be sure to reach out to moms already using your product or service and find out if they’re interested to become evangelists. If so, I can guarantee their recommendation will hold more weight that any advertisement.

So regardless of the headlines, just remember – word of mouth of mommy bloggers is powerful. And word of mouth is better than any paid advertisement.

Tags: Moms Bloggers Advocates Evangelists
Posted in Girls In Tech | 7 Comments »

WMC, New York NY

Always on the lookout to support women in all aspects, here’s an organization that does quite the job.  The Women’s Media Center (WMC) is a national non-partisan, non-profit, progressive women’s media organization based in New York City. It was founded in 2005 and its mission is to make women visible and powerful in all areas of the media. Its concerns are local, national, and international. The WMC is active in three main ways:   by advocating for representation of women in media, by training women to be spokespeople in the media, and by teaching women to create their own media.  Browse their feature-rich website to see if there’s something for you.

You can find them at:
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/

Posted in All Chapters | 1 Comment »

***Update!  You didn’t miss this event – it’s been moved to Monday, October 19th and is being hosted at the lovely E&O Trading Co., near Union Square in downtown San Francisco.  We’ve also just added Zoosk Co-founder and Co-CEO, Alex Mehr, to our panel of experts.  Zoosk boasts being the largest social dating community and allows it’s users to connect to all members regardless of which social network one uses, meaning Facebookers can meet MySpacers, Hi5ers and others from their own Facebook page, and vice versa.***

 

Since 1995, when the first major online dating site began offering the ability to meet dates over the internet by way of user generated profiles, the online dating industry has grown and changed by leaps and bounds.  Starting as a service people rarely admitted to using yet becoming part of everyday conversation, “We met online”, is a common phrase many of us have uttered – or at least know someone who’s uttered it.  How did this industry overcome such stigma to become one of the most competitive online businesses? 

One online dating provider claims that from their service alone there were 33,000 marriages that occurred in a one year period.  The same article in Online Dating Magazineestimates that the inclusive number for marriages resulting from all online dating sites is over 100,000 annually!  Daters are flocking to online providers; Match and eHarmony saw 16% and 20% growth when compared to the same time frame the previous year with Match boasting over 15 million current members.

At Girls in Tech: Virtual Dating 101, we’ll explore the evolution on the online dating industry guided by our expert panelist from Perfect Search, Thread (formerly Frintro), Single Mom Seeking and SpeedDate.  We’ll consider how as a society on the whole the ways we work, live and love have all changed in ways to allow the online medium to overcome major stigma and become the dating norm in a short 14 year span.  This event will also be discussing the different approaches to fee structures (paid/free/SNS) used by providers and looking ahead to see what’s next to keep us engaged and anxiously awaiting that You’ve got mail! alert.

Alternatives to the classic user-created profile model are being offered by both Thread and SpeedDate.  Thread has created an alternative to the classic online dating model by allowing friends to introduce their friends to one another online, to see if sparks fly.  No more meeting complete strangers!  SpeedDate on the other hand believes that two people know if there’s a connection within the first 3 minutes of meeting one another – and havecreated a platform to give you that 3 minutes instantly.  In less time than it takes you to get ready for a coffee date, SpeedDate allows you to test that spark factor!

Leading our discussion as moderating panelist is Melinda Maximova, Relationship Expert and Founder and Matchmaker at Perfect Search, a VIP matchmaking service which combines old-world, face-to-face matchmaking consultations with the added convenience and speed of the internet.  Melinda holds a higher degree in Sociology and Human Sexuality and has authored an e-book, Power Shift: Rescue Dating For Women.  Additionally, she is a writer for Examiner.com, offers classes on how to become a matchmaker and teaches with the Learning Annex.  We are excited to have such an expert in the field of relationships and matchmaking to guide Virtual Dating 101.

We’re not ones for all work and no play, so once we’ve covered the business side of the industry we’ll move toward user tips from Rachel Sarah, online dating expert, author of Single Mom Seeking and founder of one the largest blogs for single parents, who will address the most common missteps people make when dating online.  Also a contributor for Match.com, Rachel claims there is a science to successful online dating and she’ll be on hand to share with us what she’s garnered first hand from her experiences in the field.

Online dating services have come a long way since inception and there’s certainly something for everyone.  Even if you’re not looking to find a match, you’ll gain valuable insight into the profitable online business from Virtual Dating 101 and you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t to share with your friends who are navigating the world of online amour!

Visit Eventbrite to reserve your space: http://girlsintechvirtualdating101.eventbrite.com/

Tags: Dating, Frintro, girls in tech, GIT, online dating, SingleMomSeeking, SpeedDate, technology, Thread, virtual dating
Posted in All Chapters, Events, San Francisco | No Comments »