Google Ventures and Hearst Interactive Media make whoopie to @gomiso

Looky looky what just popped up in my twitter feed ...

Per Miso Blog: We’re thrilled to announce some amazing developments here at Miso.

• Google and Hearst Invest in Miso.  We are excited to announce that right at the end of 2010, we closed our Series A round, raising an additional $1.5M. The round was led by Google Ventures with Hearst Interactive Media also participating.  With this money, we plan to hire more engineers which will allow us to continue to innovate, build Miso, and improve our second screen platform.  While the last year was focused on building a ‘check-in’ foundation, in 2011, we will create more ways for people to engage around the second screen, secure more partnerships, and lead innovation around the intersection of social, TV, and the second screen.  We are 100% focused on making TV watching better by making it more social, more useful, and more fun.  In addition to the financing, Joe Kraus from Google Ventures and Scott Wolfgang from Hearst Interactive Media will be joining our board.  Joe, a Silicon Valley veteran, has been with us since our seed round and has been paramount in helping us to where we are today.  We’re excited to welcome Scott and Hearst Interactive Media to the Miso family.  Hearst, with its extensive media holdings, including ESPN, Lifetime Television, A&E Network, History and 29 local television stations, is certain to be a valuable partner for Miso to gain a deeper understanding of how we can provide more value to TV networks and TV content creators in addition to building a world-class second screen platform.

• Approaching 100K registered users & over 2M engagements. 2010 has been an exciting year for us.  In nine months, we have built presences on the iPhone, Android, iPad, and web and are quickly approaching 100K registered users with over 2M engagements to date.  In the last thirty days, we have seen over 400K engagements averaging about an engagement (including check-ins, comments, and ‘likes’) every 4 to 5 seconds.   We have a lot more to do to make Miso simpler, more social, and more fun, so look out for more in the coming months.  We are not even 1% of where we want to be.

• Introduction of Miso API. We have received hundreds of requests to create a Miso API, and it’s finally here!  With the the API, TV sites, TV manufacturers, set top boxes, or any developer can access Miso in the same way our applications work today.  Developers can develop new apps, integrate ‘check-in’ functionality into their own apps, and much more.  Widgets and RSS feeds will be coming soon as well!

• First partnership of 2011 with OWN. In 2010, we have delivered over a dozen network partnerships, and we are extremely excited to start 2011 by teaming up with OWN: the new Oprah Winfrey Network for a new reality series where ten contestants compete to get their very own show. Watch the premiere of Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star on Friday at 9/8c on OWN to earn exclusive badges from Miso!

With CES starting tomorrow, new tablets being introduced, and new innovations on top of the TV, the opportunity to build an amazing second screen is now.  TVs are becoming internet enabled.  New guides, new remotes, more tablets – 2011 is the year we’ll see an incredible amount of innovation in the living room, and we are excited to be part of that revolution.

I wanted to personally thank the Miso community for being with us since day one and continuing to push us to think outside the box.  We have a lot more coming — some ideas might take off and some might fail — but we are maniacally focused on building something that will make TV watching better.  Stay tuned – no pun intended!

Somrat Niyogi
CEO
@sniyogi



DUDE! So awesomeeeeeee!! I'm SO fascinated by the social TV components of social media. Clearly, since TNTML is totally like got a pilot thang goin on! It's just SUCH an open market since no loyalties in the nerdy community have been established. TV's days as a one way medium are numbered. For really reals reals. Don't get me wrong, you're still going to want to zone out and watch regular TV to fall asleep and such ... there is still DEFINITELY a market for that type of entertainment. What I am talking about is a completely separate need because of Facebook that has created this want and desire to interact, engage, and comment on things that we are experiencing. Think about it - when was the last time you watched TV and didn't have either your laptop on your lap, or your smartphone in your hand. It's nutty buddy!! Super super suppperrrr stoked! Congrats on your steps in the right direction Miso!

#nerdsunite

Ring in the New Year with @foursquare and Bravo (and be on TV)!

Looky looky what @FourSquare just posted on their blog ... 

Bravo and MTV raced to 100k followers on foursquare, which showed how much you guys love your TV brands. After hitting that milestone, we worked with Bravo on ways to get their fans even closer to the TV experience. So this New Year’s, you can be on TV, showing up on Andy Cohen’s Live New Year’s Eve Special!

Bravo has already chosen two lucky Andy Cohen badge recipients to party in the studio with the Top Chefs and Real Housewives. And throughout the televised special, a ticker at the bottom of the screen will broadcast Bravo followers celebrating on New Year’s Eve. If you follow Bravo and check in on New Year’s Eve, your profile photo, first name and last initial, and hometown may appear on TV — don’t worry, no last names or check-in details are shared!

Bravo is super psyched to give our users the chance to get their face on TV. It’s the first time anything like this has been done, and we’re excited to make you all a part of it.

For those of you who want to be involved, just head over to Bravo’s page, follow them, and then remember to check in on New Year’s Eve. If you already follow Bravo but don’t want to show up on TV, you can just check in off the grid, or unfollow Bravo for a day (don’t worry, you won’t lose any of your Bravo badges).

Happy New Year, and we’ll see you on TV!

Dude, FourSquare is totally going to enter into the entertainment based checkin game! About time!!! There are no loyalties established within Clicker, Miso, or Get Glue. Netflix would serve as just the most convenient - or even hulu could enter and offer checkins. But good job FourSquare! They have, what, 5 million active users now? The nerds LOVE LOVE LOVE foursquare - but it only serves to those who putz about a lot. What about the nerds that don't leave the house for one reason or another? You've just opened yourself up to an entirely new market. KUDOS!!

Click here to be BFFs forever and ever on Foursquare. Me gusta muchooooo!

#nerdsunite

2011: The rise of the entertainment based checkin

If 2010 was the year of location based social media, 2011 will be the year of entertainment based checkins.

Let's face it, TV as we know it, is in for a major facelift. The recession caused a lot of people to reassess their finances, and one of the greatest casualties has been cable TV subscriptions. The rise of online streaming entertainment via Hulu and Netflix created an unparalleled demand for multimedia consumption, at an otherwise perfect time with social media in and of itself becoming something that cannot be ignored. MONNEEYYYYY is behind social media, as the engagement brands can have is priceless; that is powerful. When was the last time we actually sat through commercials anyway? Hello, Tivo!! It's all a numbers game, and they're just no longer adding up.

1/12th of humanity has a Facebook page - its undeniable. Google may have brought us the access to the information, but Facebook made the web a destination point for social interaction. Kudos, Marky Mark and your Facebook bunch!

We're willing to share the most mundane details of our lives and find value in it when our friends comment, and interact with us about it. It enhances the experience for those that actually lived it, and allows our network to be a part of the story telling in an incredibly passive but still meaningful way. We're literally taking all of the elements that make up life, and digitizing it. Talk about the greatest time to be alive for a nerd ... #sigh ...

Foursquare, the coolest kid in the location based social media game, had an incredible year. They've recently just passed 5 million users with a growth rate of 25,000 new accounts everyday. Dude, they're killing it. The World Economic Forum announced the company as a Technology Pioneer for 2011; they've had an incredible year, and recently claimed office space in San Fran.*golfclap*

I love love love me some Foursquare. I love going someplace new, checking in, and reading tweets from you all about what I should check out while I am there. Hence why I also enjoy the tips section as well. Think of all the times someone tells you that you should check something out, and it just goes in one ear and out the other. Foursquare allows that information to be stored and utilized only when you need it. Amazeballs!

Let's face facts here though, how many of us actually get out and about? We're creatures of habit, and being reminded of your 12,000,000 checkin at the same coffee shop everyday I'm sure can get a bit old. Rather than change our habits, we'd just end up losing value in the service in general, and subsequently just stop using it all together. 

Foursquare has relationships with MTV, Vh1, Logo, and the History Channel just to name a few, why not offer entertainment based checkins as well? For reals!

Entertainment based checkins are relatively new on the social media scene, but have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much value!! The current heavyweights are Miso, Get Glue, and Clicker. Miso is cool, I met with their CEO earlier this year ... not mad at it, but not excited about it either. They offer badges for certain checkins, which are cool and all, but I don't necessarily want to be reminded of how many times I've watched Weeds. I don't have the same sense of pride in their badges as I do my FourSquare badges since TV is the leading cause of couch potato syndrome. FourSquare badges are like stamps in your passport. We wear them proudly.

Get Glue offers stickers. I'm not mad at it ... but I'm still just kinda meh. Clicker prides itself on being the TV guide for web watching. Awesome concept, but dudes were totally behind their branding. It has no personality. Foursquare is fun, and flirty ... the verbiage is cheeky, and the badges are just a riot. That works! We want to have FUNNNNNNN using this stuff, because it is FUN!!!

Right now, there is no loyalty to a single entertainment based checkin service. Facebook and Netflix are apparently in talks which could be a HUGE game changer ... but dude, Foursquare - you're missing out on a HUGGEE market!! If FourSquare came into the entertainment based checkin game, they'd kill it! You have this entire CHUNK of nerds that don't leave their house for one reason or another, so they won't use the service! By creating an avenue for those people to be able to share what they are doing at home, like watching the latest episode of Chuck, you're adding value to their life by them being able to share it. I feel like this is such a no brainer it's not even funny. But again, it has less to do with the actual social service and more to do with the people running it. It's the ultimate variable!!! I learned that from working for Brad Greenspan, one of the founders of MySpace, on LiveVideo back at the end of 2007. The man was sitting on an AMAZING platform, but was solely interested in milking it for as much money as he could, then walking away. He had no long term vision, and was overall one of the hottest messes imaginable.

The most interesting part about all of this too, is that I actually consume WAYYYY more movies and television series on my computer than I ever did when I watched it on the flat screen thing on the wall that doesn't connect to the internet. Think of the potential for advertisers too!! Dude! You login to what you're watching on TV, sync it with your Facebook page, giving marketers access to your likes and dislikes ... this is going to create an UNIMAGINABLE marketing opportunity which can be friggen captured in REAL TIME!! I kid you not when I say that I think about this so much my head actually hurts. Greatest time to be alive!! Ever. Ever. Everrrrrrr!!

Bottom line, I can't tell you who is going to come out on top just yet ... it's way way wayyyyyy too far out. But SUPPERRRR stoked that TV is going social. There's SO much added value in it, its crazy. You guys make my life when I checkin to watching something on Netflix, and you tweet me details about what I'm watching. It's awesome ... and I'm listening, so keep it up!! Whoop whoop!

#nerdsunite

#NowWatching: Casino

I was just watching Casino and I have this like weird thing that when I walk away from movies, I literally feel like I am still in them. For reals, it's pretty intense. I just get so absorbed in the content ... clearly only awesome movies, but yeah! It happens none the less.

There was just a helicopter outside, and I'd totally be lying if I didn't just scream "THE FEDS!!!!" HAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAA such a nerd ...

I think in all fairness, I should explain to you exactly what it is that I do. For instance tomorrow morning I'll get up nice and early, take a walk down over to the bank and... walk in and see and, uh... if you don't have my money for me, I'll... crack your fuckin' head wide-open in front of everybody in the bank. And just about the time that I'm comin' out of jail, hopefully, you'll be coming out of your coma. And guess what? I'll split your fuckin' head open again. 'Cause I'm fuckin' stupid. I don't give a fuck about jail. That's my business. That's what I do.

#Awesome

#Nerdy Thoughts on My Generation

Alrite, so I just got done watching My Generation on hulu. *cue @gomiso checkin*

Now, I have to admit - I do have a personal connection to this show ... which I can't announce yet - but my word and honor are the absolute only thing I have in life, so I just need to lay that card down on the table. All personal whatevs aside, I have to say at the risk of being unpopular, it just wasn't that good.

This is one of those cases where the buzz doesn't do the show justice. I totally dug the concept. This is my kinda show!!! Historical fiction!! DUDE!!! BEST GENRE EVER!!!! Friggen love it - like for real, would donate one of my fallopian tubes to the cause of there needing to be more historical fiction shows in this world.

Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself, the show's concept is this "where are they now" type scenario, where cameras came into the class of 2000, and filmed what their hopes and dreams were. Flash forward a decade, we are caught up on what they are actually doing. OMMMGGGGGGGGGGG the stereotypes were just so effin forced. I just, BAHHHH!!!

For real, I didn't have a clique in high school. I was kinda a floater. I pretty much got a long with people, but was not spared a few moments of humiliation and taunting. I just kinda did my thing, and graduated early. But I can say, that all this show did was highlight all that hollywood does wrong in portraying high school kids. Seriously, the nerd in the class totally thinks they are the coolest kid ever. Nerds don't realize they aren't cool, because we live in our own little world where the sun shines every day. Nerds are very cerebral, duh - and we just march to the beat of our own drummer and don't care about the rest. The dude that played the nerd was the Michael Cera type, socially awkward, longing for the girl blah blah blah. Newsflash: the nerds did get the girl. I get laid more being a nerd than I ever did being a model - haha, very true story ... so yeah, hello Hollywood - this is nerds IRL and um, yeah - you got it wrong.

I am definitely willing to give the show another chance, but comeeeee oonnnnnnn!! I already know what my friends are doing from high school, hello, Facebook!!? Anyone ... anyone!! One of the characters, Brenda, checked her Facebook - but other than that ... its like really?!?! Maybe it's a Texas thing (as the show is set in Austin, TX) - but in Connecticut, we are all up in everybody's business. I KNOWWWW what the kids from my school are up to, I read about it in my newsfeed. So yeah, social media disconnect for sure ... and for real - a nerd longing for love?? Seen it. Been there. Done that. My ADD is no longer interested.

#sigh