Tuesday, November 09, 1999

Ankur's Trip to China for the Digerati of Web sites

I finally left the New York Club and traveled across the world (or a couple of blocks) to China-– I mean the China Club. Here the company P.O.V. magazine was hosting its 4th annual Top 100 Websites of the Year party.

As I entered the main hall area, I was met by the Online Director of Creative Development for P.O.V., Ms. Allison Hemming. She is helping with the creation of a web endeavor by P.O.V called LiveLarge.com. Also greeting people in the main hallway and throughout the club were beans. Actually Beenz.com, one of the sponsors of the event, promoted themselves by having people dressed as beans and handing out little bean tattoo stickers. I was able to track down Mr. Glenn Jasper, who is the Director of Corporate Communications for Beenz. My first question to him was, "What is Beenz, and what does it do?" Luckily for me, that didn'­t lead to any interesting side comments, but Mr. Jasper did explain that beenz are Internet currency. Instead of having dollars or coins, people using the Internet can use beenz as money. Consumers can earn beenz at one site and use them to buy things at another site. When one registers at Beenz.com, it is like opening up a virtual bank. Created 7 months ago, the company now has a quarter of a million users and have had twelve and a half million transactions done over 200 Web sites. These beenz can be used anywhere. The sites are found in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, just to name a few places. Beenz.com is partners with Oracle, Exodus, and Sun Microsystems.

After talking with Mr. Jasper, I waded into the crowd. The music was good and many people were kicking up their heels. I decided to join in. While dancing, I literally ran into Mr. Adam Gervin. He is the Business Development Manager for Onebox.com, which was rated #9 out of the top 100 Web sites. At this site, a person can sign up to have all their communication sources routed to one location. Instead of having messages sent to a cell phone, an e-mail address, a fax number, or a voice number, a person can have all their messages routed to one location for easy access. The best part is that this service is free.

Needing help finding a job? Well, get your feet wet at Wetfeet.com, the #44 rated website. I got to talk to Ms. Joanna Pomykala, the Web Project Manager for Wetfeet. A very nice lady, she informed me that Wetfeet provides information on companies for people searching for a job. They work with the company to find out their processes in terms of hiring and then relays this information to jobseekers.
As I mingled with the masses I ran into the Senior Account Executive of Broadcast.com, Mr. Aaron Davidson. Broadcast.com was the #1 rated website of this year. It deals mainly with audio and visual streaming of various types of information. From broadcasting Indiana Hoosiers basketball games in 1995 to now being heard over 420 radio and television stations, the company continues to grow. Mr. Lee Glenn was emphatic on how hard all the people in the company work. Broadcast.com was recently bought out by Yahoo!

My night came to an end after meeting with representatives from ESPN.com, the #5 rated website. I got to meet Mr. Craig Sender, who is the Public Relations Coordinator for ESPN.com. The website is the leader among Web sites devoted to sports news in many categories such as traffic and content. It is affiliated with many partners, such as Disney and ABCsports.