Social networking sites and microblogs are used not only to build company brands, but to foster productivity; social media tools help build communities around the question, "What are you working on?" Companies also use social networking sites in the hiring process, and increasingly, to do innovative advertising (such as the recent Jack in the Box campaign). This Panel will Just a quick note that I'll be moderating a Technology Council Event : Social Networking as a Business Strategy May 19, 2009 - Culver City Social networking media are used on a daily basis to grow businesses and expand career opportunities.

When I drill down on that term, you can see why with posts like: Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Lops A Third Of Company THQ Lays Off 100 Employees, Closes San Diego Office Citrix Cuts 10 Percent; Santa Barbara Hit And it's also interesting to see what geographies are being associated with "Layoffs" more often than others: Layoffs Woodland Hills Layoffs San Diego Layoffs Santa Monica Layoffs Los Angeles I guess this is a sign of the times. The Scott Sanfilippo Interview Media Optimization Firms Are Red Hot In Southern California in 2009 Proliferate

This morning, Knowledge Genie (www.myknowledgegenie.com) launched a new web site that helps experts and authors publish online information to the web. What is the idea behind Knowledge Genie? Milo Milo Sindell: Knowledge Genie is a software platform that anybody can use to capture, package, and publish what they know into an interactive online software application. We sat down and spoke with Milo Sindell, one of the founders of the firm, to learn more about how the firm came about and what it's trying to accomplish. What Essentially, it guides the author through

Our interview this morning is with David Sacks, CEO of Geni.com, an online family tree and social networking site, as well as Yammer, the instant messaging startup spun out of Geni.com at TechCrunch50. We sat down with David to catch up on what Geni and Yammer are doing, plus got his insights into entrepreneurship and the Paypal mystique. Thanks David Sacks: As David has a unique perspective on the Southern California technology environment, having been the COO of PayPal before its acquisition by EBay, and having had the full Silicon Valley experience. Thanks for sitting

According to Sacks, the entire firm--including its engineering team and executive staff--is moving to the Bay Area, to be closer to the startup scene in Silicon Valley. Sacks said that Geni, which spun out Yammer, remains in West Hollywood. Sacks revealed the move at the Twiistup conference Friday, explained the move by saying that "what I miss are all the technology companies are out of there, and I miss tapping West Hollywood-based Yammer , the corporate microblogging site inspired by Twitter, is moving from the Los Angeles area to Silicon Valley, according to founder David Sacks.

We’ve put an email into the production company for more information. The genie is back, except this time, he reads the fan tweets live (sponsored by Coca-Cola!). Now that his  startup Mahalo has gone user-gen, Jason has A LOT more time on his hands. He has already started to produce his own online weekly As reported by Variety ,  a Twitter-themed television show is now under development. It’s being described as “putting ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format.”

Last week, one of those never-ending topics of discussion came up at Twiistup on a panel about whether or not Southern California was a good place to put your startup. and David Sacks of Geni/Yammer , who were saying “maybe/no”. flights) than there are open slots of executives at local startups in Southern California. On one side, you had Mark Suster of GRP Partners and Mike Jones of MySpace who were saying “yes”, and on the other side, you had Jamie Montgomery of Montgomery and Co. , It was, at least for me, somewhat of a downer way

Southern California's top startups showed up in force Friday at the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, for the Technology Council of Southern California's annual VentureNet conference. (socalTECH The conference, held at the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, featured pitches by eight different companies vying for the attention--and pocketbooks--of venture capitalists. socalTECH was a media sponsor of the conference). The day started with a keynote by John Suh of Legalzoom.com, and topped off with a pitch from David Sacks -- CEO of Geni.com, and also CEO of Geni spinoff

There are now a second generation of entrepreneurs and companies that have learned from their last successes and are producing great new companies like TopSpin Media , Sometrics and GumGum . Twiistup 6 featured 12 showoff companies as the opening act of a 2-day conference.  From this crowd of 12 I believe you’ll see 4-5 companies with the potential to rise to ExpenseBay Wins Showoff Twiistup 6 has come to an end. 

Santa Monica-based GumGum , the online startup headed by Ophir Tanz which licenses photos on a CPM basis to online publishers, confirmed it had raised $2.6M Advisors to the firm include David Sacks of Geni (formerly of PayPal) and Vince Thompson (formerly of AOL and Facebook). "Publishers We were happy to find GRP, and we are huge fans of the company, and of Mark Suster specifically," Tanz noted, specifically in a venture round Wednesday, telling socalTECH that the Series A-1 round was led by GRP Partners , with participation by First Round Capital . Tanz said that