The Psychology Of Design: John Roa Shares A Look Inside AKTA

“The cruel truth is that I’m not even a designer today,” said John Roa, founder of AKTA design studio. But if he was never a designer, then what made AKTA one of Chicago’s most sought-after design studios, and Roa one of Chicago’s most influential entrepreneurs? Roa’s journey was riddled with successes, failures and a carefully [...]... Read More

Archive for the ‘Social’ Category

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SMCSTL Shared Valuable Business Insight At Its Social Media Workshop
BY: Caryn Tomer
How many times have you heard that social media for business is all about being transparent, empowering individuals, being adaptable, and so on? While these are all nice traits to have in business, it doesn’t begin to tell you how to accomplish those traits. This is just one idea that was discussed last Friday when [...]
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SEO Unplugged: Entrepreneurs Seek Advice From Experts
BY: Sonali Basak
Search-engine optimization (SEO) experts shared tips and technicalities Tuesday evening with a diverse crowd of entrepreneurs at Entrepreneurs Unpluggd at the Chopin Theater in Chicago. Though there was a vast range of tips, there were a few points that resonated amongst the three speakers. (1) Google matters (2) Content matters (3) Socialization matters “Free traffic [...]
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Edison awards highlight innovation across American industry titans
BY: Sonali Basak
Co-authored by: Lauryn Schroeder, Medill News Service It starts with something simple. For 12-year-old Quincy Lyons, it started with the first bite of an orange. An orange that he believed to be ripe, only to discover that it was rotten inside. This one experience led him and a team of middle-schoolers from Tuscon’s Sonoran Science [...]
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Chicago start-up weekend stresses collaboration over competition
BY: Sonali Basak
Instead of spending the weekend relaxing, 96 entrepreneurs gathered at 1871, Chicago’s start-up incubator, to build a company in less than 3 days and compete to win a series of prizes, and the approval of start-up community leaders. “It’s more than just networking and talking, it’s about building,” said Adam Haun, one [...]
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App creates network for traveling professionals
BY: Sonali Basak
Don’t just be social, BTSocial. Chicago entrepreneur Tim Hines launched an app Tuesday for his two-year-old company, BTSocial, making it easier for business travelers everywhere to connect. The app allows users to check-in to specific venues or entire cities and locate events in the area. It helps traveling professionals connect to other travelers [...]
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Plotter Takes Top Prize at SXSW Accelerator Interactive
BY: Annie Zaleski
Imagine you’re visiting an unfamiliar city. Your first order of business is to seek out delicious places to eat and drink, as well as unique sightseeing attractions. To find these local gems, you might check Foursquare and Yelp for tips, browse TripAdvisor or ask friends for suggestions. But how do you organize these recommendations—and find [...]
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A Social Experiment: Free Coffee With Aubrey
BY: Caryn Tomer
Oddly enough, Aubrey doesn’t even like coffee. But, as you can see above, she understands that others do. Here she is in Geneva with her sister and friend enjoying a cup of joe. When I first heard about this project, two things went through my mind. One, what’s the catch? Two, is this even [...]
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St. Louis Social Media Group Hosts Workshop On Social Media Networking
BY: Brianna Smith
The St. Louis Social Media Group has grown to a strong community of professionals who work in marketing or just love social media. Each week the STL Social Media Group hosts the #STLChat on Twitter, where professionals both here in St. Louis and all around the country chat about social media, start-ups, marketing trends, and [...]
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14 Newer Online Marketing Tools Worth a Test Drive
BY: The Young Entrepreneur Council
What newer online platform will you be investing your marketing resources in this year, and why? The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions [...]
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Bonfyre: St. Louis Social Network With A Fresh Focus
BY: Corey Cummings
St. Louis social networking startup Bonfyre made its debut at this year’s DEMO conference in Santa Clara, California, unveiling a new app that’s aiming to change social networking for the better.
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BigMarker Offering Free Lifetime Communities This Holiday
BY: Corey Cummings
This holiday season Chicago virtual conferencing and community startup BigMarker has begun offering free lifetime support for new communities created during the month of December.
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Gremln Opens Door To Regulated Markets With Unique Compliance Toolkit
BY: Corey Cummings
Gremln, a St. Louis social media management startup, has most recently introduced a first of its kind compliance toolkit that will help big companies keep tabs on their efforts across various social networks.
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Skip The Gift Cards: Boomerang Makes Holiday Gifting Fast And Thoughtful
BY: Kathryn Hough
There’s nothing that says, “I don’t know you at all” like a Target gift card given over the holidays. Enter Boomerang, a Chicago-based startup that makes holiday gifting fast AND thoughtful by allowing you to send digital gifts to your Facebook friends.
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Project Fixup: Chicago Dating Startup Does The Dirty Work For You
BY: Corey Cummings
Chicago entrepreneurs Sarah Press and Alan Illing are fed up with the aimlessness of current online dating websites, and have recently launched the new dating service that does the matching and planning footwork work for you.
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How A Startup Can Change The Election
BY: Kathryn Hough
Raising money via Twitter is attractive to a candidate rather than other fundraising options because political fundraising is about convincing your friends, family and like minded people to invest in an idea and a person.
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Elephrame: An Ideas Network Grows In Chicago
BY: Corey Cummings
Originally launched as an “encyclopedia of ideas” in January of last year, Elephrame has since become a space online where users can voice their opinions and delve into the world views of others on any topic.
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Curalate’s ‘Promote’ Quadruples Followers In Pinterest Sweepstakes
BY: Kathryn Hough
Curalate, the first marketing platform for the visual web, is announcing the success of the company’s Promote tool, which recently helped Carnival Cruise Lines quadruple followers during an 11-day promotion on Pinterest.
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6 Ways to Leverage Third-Party Apps on Facebook Timeline
BY: The Young Entrepreneur Council
How specifically should businesses leverage third-party apps to generate leads for Facebook Timeline? What works and what doesn’t? The Young Entrepreneur Council has your answers.
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Bonfyre Unveils Mobile App At DEMO 2012
BY: Corey Cummings
The app is focused around friends sharing experiences in a private mobile network, where photos and memories take precedent over the cluttered feed of social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
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Exclusive: Fliksee Helps Connect Students, Plans For October 8 Launch On DePaul Campus
BY: Corey Cummings
Instead of helping college students maintain the friendships they already have, Fliksee is looking to provide busy students with a new resource for meeting other people on campus.
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CyPOP Draws Inspiration From South Korea By Connecting Users Through Common Interests
BY: Corey Cummings
Unlike Facebook, CyPOP is focusing on connecting individuals online through common interests, instead of the daisy chain of friends and acquaintances that make up most social networking sites today.
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Grubwithus Introduces Meal Topics To Grow User Engagement
BY: Corey Cummings
The addition of topics will allow Grubwithus users to share an idea, question, or trending news story with the community, opening an online discussion between users that can lead to real-life interaction.
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Now You Can Read Every Public Tweet Ever Sent Thanks To Boulder-Based Gnip
BY: Kathryn Hough
If you think this election season is bananas, you should go back in time to 2008 and read what the world was tweeting about back then. Thanks to Boulder-based Gnip, a provider of social data for enterprise, now you can.
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Wideoo Set To Launch Easy-To-Use Animation Platform
BY: Corey Cummings
The South American company is on the verge of launching its easy-to-use platform that helps users create the kind of stylized videos that would take hours in any other animation application today.
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Explore The Global Impact Of Social Media At Chicago Social Media Week
BY: Corey Cummings
Social Media Week, a worldwide event that explores the impact of social media on our personal and professional lives, will once again host an event in Chicago between September 24th and 28th.
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Archive for the ‘Social’ Category

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