Aug
19
Tonight we’re holding the draft for Fantasy Football 2.0, the initiative I launched a few weeks ago in hopes of finding a league to play in despite working out of my desolate lone office in the middle of nowhere. I’m pleased to say we were not only able to find 10 great players who work in the social media space, but also get all of our money pooled so we can make a donation to the charity of the winner’s choice at the end of the season. Aaron has the full roster and charities we’re playing for over on his blog.
We’ve also got 6 additional people who would like to play - so, if this idea appeals to you and you haven’t spoken up yet, just leave a comment. I’m happy to organize a second league if there are enough people.
This was definitely a bit outside the box for me, as I’m not known to be the organizational type and tend to just go with the flow, at least when it comes to extracurricular activities. But hey, I really wanted to play fantasy football this year, so I did something about it :) Can’t wait for the season to get started …
Aug
13
This story is the definition of things coming full circle. I was first introduced to Louis Gray in not the friendliest of ways, when he blasted Mashable’s (the blog I edit) attribution policies. Ironically, the story that sparked that post was one about ReadBurner, a company where I’m now part owner!
While I won’t re-visit all the back and forth, Louis’ post actually became the impetus for what has become a great (and now official … keep reading) relationship. In the days that followed his post, we (at Mashable) updated our attribution policies, and in the months since, I think have generally moved in a very positive direction editorially, both in terms of how we source our stories and our overall quality, reader engagement, and relationships with other bloggers. I discussed these “lessons learned” in a post a couple weeks ago.
Moving onto the news of the day, I’m super excited to announce that Louis is joining ReadBurner in an official role as an advisor. Louis has followed the emerging RSS/aggregation space as close as anyone, and his daily insight into the products and innovations taking place there have been invaluable to us. Having him in our pocket now as we craft our product and test our ideas over the coming months will be a huge asset.
Louis has posted more details about the new relationship on his blog, and you can tune in live tonight to our weekly podcast @ 10pm ET/7pm PT to chat about the news with both us and Louis.
Aug
5
Just a quick update about my whereabouts in case I happen to be crossing paths with anyone to whom I owe a drink (or an email) … I’m at two Mashable events this week … tonight in Boston and Thursday night in New York. Drop me a line if you’re going to be at either so I can be sure to find you 
Jul
30
Our weekly live podcast is on tonight @ 10pm ET/7pm PT, with guest host Jeffisageek. We’ll also be announcing an exciting upcoming feature for bloggers, so be sure to tune in if you’d like to find out about it. We’ll also be talking about Google Knol and an interesting article about how link blogs are becoming amongst the most read for some people. We’ll also have our usual opportunity for listeners to call in and ask their questions. You can tune in live on Talkshoe.
Jul
22
One of the things I miss about working in a physical office is the camaraderie and competition that forms around gambling predicting the outcome of sporting events like the Super Bowl, The Masters, and of course the NCAA Tournament. Then there are the fantasy football leagues that introduce a whole new level of weekly banter and trash talking in the office.
This year, I’ve decided to do something for us virtual workers (or, really for anyone that wants to play, but this should guarantee I get to field a team!) that want to play fantasy football. I’m starting at least one league (and however many more are required based on demand) for people to join. The only (very loose) requirements are that you be in some way connected to the Web/social media space, ideally with a Twitter account (mine is here) so everyone can publicly talk trash on Sundays and Mondays when the week’s games are done.
Since I’m not going to go on the record for organizing gambling, but do want everyone to have some skin in the game so they’ll actively participate, the entry fee will be $20. The winner of the league will donate the pot to the charity of their choice at the end of the season.
If you’re interested in playing, please drop me an email at ostrow [at] gmail [dot] com and let me know what you do, your Twitter URL, and what charity you would like to play for. It will be first come, first serve (up to 10 teams), and I’ll open up additional leagues if there is demand.
Meanwhile, some imagery to get you ready for the football season:
Adam Ostrow is a new media entrepreneur, consultant, and commentator. As Editor in Chief at Mashable, Adam is responsible for the editorial management and direction of one of the most widely read blogs in the space, with more than 175,000 RSS subscribers and several million monthly viewers. Mashable is at the forefront of covering the latest technologies, trends, and individuals that are driving the current evolution of the Web.
In addition to his work at Mashable, in March, 2008, Adam acquired and became CEO of ReadBurner, a news aggregator that analyzes what people are sharing with their social networks on a variety of services to determine the best content across the Web. The site has been covered on leading industry publications including VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb, Webware, and many more.
Previously, Adam was co-founder of one of the earliest and most successful online blogging communities: MindSay. Since launching in 2003, MindSay has registered nearly 200,000 users who maintain blogs, upload photos and videos, and interact with friends by utilizing the site's social networking features.
Adam is a graduate of The University of Maryland, from which he holds a B.A. in Journalism and was awarded Most Outstanding Senior in the school's prestigious Hinman CEOs program. Adam has been frequently quoted by mainstream media, including mentions in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, and ComputerWorld.