Event Planning Site founded by Microsoft and Yahoo Execs Gets Funding

Combining local search, event planning and social networking elements, this new site founded by former MS and Yahoo execs. has landed $6.5 Million in funding for its event management service.

clipped from www.dmwmedia.com Center'd Lands $6.5 Million, Debuts Event Planning Social Net Menlo Park, Calif. - Center'd on Wednesday announced the launch of a public beta of its event invitation site, and said it has raised a total of $6.5 million in funding, from investors including Norwest Venture Partners and Keynote Ventures. The company was founded by a team of former Microsoft and Yahoo executives, including CEO Jennifer Dulski, formerly Yahoo's VP and GM of local markets and commerce, and CTO Chandu Thota, who was previously the lead developer for Virtual Earth at Microsoft.

Viral Social Marketing with House Party

The next time you want to promote an event using Social Marketing, you may want to consider House Party.

Depending on your budget (which will have to be sizable given the cost of their services), you can potential reach MILLIONS of customers the next time you are launching a new product or looking to build brand awareness.

Read the full article for more info...

clipped from www.lipsticking.com House Party Combines Social Events with Social Media A House Party™ is a viral marketing platform that develops and launches a thousand parties on one day, in homes nationwide, with an exclusive brand experience at the center of the action. These specially designed parties take place across the country in the homes of carefully selected consumer Hosts who can invite their friends, family, neighbors, classmates , co-workers, whoever they wish, into their homes to experience these uniquely fun parties and the products they feature. What a really cool business model House Party has developed. They integrate actual social events that happen in the real world with social media in the online world. A pretty progressive approach, don't you think? Also it appears that most of their hosts are women. Who better to plan events such as these and then follow through by uploading videos, photos and blog entries online to share their experiences.

High Tech Event Tickets for Olympics

If you are planning on purchasing event tickets for the Olympic games in Beijing, you need to be aware of the high-tech tickets be employed

These tickets will have your personal information, including photo, address, email and telephone numbers. Something to think about...

clipped from blog.foreignpolicy.com Attention Olympics fans: Beijing wants your data The last thing Beijing wants to see at the Olympic opening ceremonies on August 8 is Tibetan flags, "Stop genocide in Darfur" signs, or similar such provocations from "troublemakers." And given Beijing's paranoia, it's hardly surprising that this year's opening and closing ceremonies are going to have some of the tightest security of any event, ever. Each ticket for the ceremonies will have a microchip embedded with the user's photograph, passport details, addresses, emails, and telephone numbers. All event tickets also have microchips to prevent counterfeiting, but only the ceremony tickets will contain the personal data. Some have raised fears of data theft, and others question whether activists known to the Chinese authorities could even attempt to attend, since many of them are being detained or at least closely watched ahead of the games.