Salesforce.com Acquires Buddy Media -
Today, salesforce.com acquired the New York-born social media management company Buddy Media for $689 million. Through the past year, Buddy Media’s growth has increased worldwide and locally. They recently moved from NYC midtown to a bigger office in SoHo to better accommodate its growing staff.
At NYC Digital, we often use Buddy Media tools to enhance the Facebook experience through apps and contests like the #loveNYC photo contest.
Congratulations to Michael Lazerow and Buddy Media’s employees on their continued success in NYC tech.
New York City Department of Parks & Recreation just unveiled a new view of our city. The interactive map displays markers for each time a visitor checks in to one of over 1,250 NYC Parks locations using the foursquare mobile app. These visitors can get tips of fun and interesting things to do as they explore the park or recreational facility and view “to-do” lists created by Parks. Parks expects more than a million foursquare check-ins to its properties over the next year. Give it a try at http://bit.ly/IZG5Yl.
From Qwiki and Branch, to TutorSpree, more tech startups are moving their offices to New York City. Why the move?
The New York Times reports:
Many new start-ups benefit from proximity to the media, advertising and fashion industries, New York’s strengths. And as the city’s industry grows, entrepreneurs say, it is offsetting some of the traditional disadvantages of being outside Silicon Valley.
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People who have founded start-ups on the East and West Coasts say there can be an advantage to being in a place like New York where tech is not so all-consuming. Those at start-ups in New York repeatedly mention the intimacy of the relatively small but tight-knit industry here — in fact, they may be the only people who say they moved to New York because they liked its small-town vibe.
Last night, Mayor Bloomberg received the 16th Annual Webby Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. Tumblr CEO, David Karp, introduced the Mayor, who was recognized for his lifelong and continued support of technology, including his leadership in transforming New York City into a true global technology center. In his allotted 5-word speech, Mayor Bloomberg proudly stated, “Make it here, then everywhere”.
Since New York City Council recently enacted Local Law 11 of 2012 — which mandates citywide open data in machine-readable formats through a centralized, publicly accessible website — members of both the public and private sectors have been hard at work developing an implementation plan. Over the weekend, NYC DoITT’s Office of Strategic Technology Development team and the open data/open government community gathered to brainstorm ideas on how to encourage agency adoption of the Open Data platform. The productive Saturday session marks the first of more to come as the City strives to create an easy-to-navigate Open Data portal. Check out a few pictures from the event here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycdoitt/sets/72157629831629840/.
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Earlier this week, Mayor Bloomberg and Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne unveiled the Made in NY Digital Jobs Map, a living resource that reflects the City’s dynamic innovation ecosystem and celebrates the digital companies, emerging and established, that call New York City their home.
Since launch, over 1,100 tech companies from NYC startups to co-working/incubator spaces and investment firms have already joined. What makes the Map a true digital resource is the fact that more than 700 of these companies are hiring, demonstrating the incredible speed at which tech communities are growing in New York City. The Mayor recently stated that employment data today shows that the city’s job gains are the best in 60 years. Looking for a job in the NYC tech sector is now easier than ever with the Digital Jobs Map; the map not only highlights thousands of jobs, but it also links directly to the jobs listings’ pages of tech companies that are hiring.
If your digital company, co-working/incubator space, or investment firm is not yet on the Made In NY Digital Jobs Map, be sure to join the growing community here!
Flashback to when Mayor Bloomberg visited Facebook’s NYC office and wrote on their physical wall.
Join Brooklyn Tech Triangle in an informal setting for an announcement of upcoming summer programs, an update on the Brooklyn Tech Triangle initiative, and an opportunity to get to know each other.
Meet other creative and tech professionals and learn more about the economic impact of Brooklyn’s tech and creative sectors today and the potential for growth in the greater Downtown Brooklyn area
WHEN: Thursday, May 24 2012, 6:00pm-7:30pm
WHERE: NYU-Poly, 5 MetroTech Center, Room LC400
RSVP by Monday, May 21 to Kathleen Wolter, 718.403.1617 or kwolter@dbpartnership.org
Google Geo Developers Blog names Made In NY Digital Map, "Map of the Week" -
Mayor Bloomberg has high hopes for this Google Map. At the conference Bloomberg stated “We expect this map to be another tool that helps propel our tech industry forward.” With a map as beautifully designed as Made in New York, good things are sure to follow.
