Seattle social media stars
Feb 7, 2010, 9:49 AM | Updated: Mar 28, 2011, 3:46 pm
How many Seattle celebrities can you name? Quincy Jones, Eddie Vedder, Bill Gates. Who else?
Seattle isn’t exactly superstar central. Still, we have influenced pop culture – from Nordstrom fashions to lattes from Starbucks and Jimi Hendrix’s unmistakable raw, rock guitar sound.
Seattle also has an active social media community of interesting, innovative people who aren’t household names, but are having an impact that goes beyond the Northwest. They interact with passion and personality through Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube and more.
Four fab Seattle social media stars:
Chris Pirillo is up to around 76,000 Twitter followers. The CNN.com tech expert describes himself as “media-friendly geek who produces content and catalyzes communities.” Trivia: we both went to the same college, the University of Northern Iowa. The Gnomedex host says, “Seattle is the epitome of intelligence and socialite confluence” even though our city doesn’t get the buzz of NYC or LA. Pirillo adds, “I don’t think we really want it, either.”
Monica Guzman is a reporter for Seattlepi.com. Even when the newspaper was in print, she was an online-only journalist, writing The Big Blog. Last week she launched Hot Topics. She remembers a time when journalism wasn’t interactive – way back in 2003. She prefers getting instant feedback from readers, though admits that takes “a thick skin for all those trolls.”
Kevin Urie describes himself as an advertising/marketing geek. He’s also the founder of Social Media Club Seattle. Their monthly meetings are the place to mix with and learn from learn the Seattle social scene’s best. He says Seattle interactive types are “amazingly giving.” Urie says people here are “less focused on ourselves, and more focused on adding to the community.”
The most followed Seattle media personality on Twitter is Jenni Hogan. I’ve written about the KIRO 7 television traffic and Twitter hottie before. She is fearless with sharing information about herself and has even started a Twitter page for her baby. “With the Internet and Twitter I can learn more about people who watch and I love that,” she says. “I never look at them as viewers. They’re my friends.”
These are four people I enjoy following; there are many more who are shaking up Seattle through social media and you’ll read about them in the months ahead.