SM HELPING SM HELPING SM
One of the most wonderful aspects of social media’s proliferation is its propensity to create cycles of social media help. Social media is helping social media to help social media (if you can follow my logic on that one!). The cycle just keeps going and everyone involved in social media benefits.
A neat example of this is a four-year-old San Francisco-based startup by Naval Ravikant. Ravikant recognizes the challenges entrepreneurs face when seeking funding while simultaneously juggling all the stresses of day-to-day business management. Therefore, he created AngelList. The company’s purpose is to facilitate connections among startups, angel investors, and independent investors. Brad Stone describes how effectively it works (“The Social Network For Startups” Bloomberg Businessweek , 1/20/14–1/26/14, pp. 31–33):
“ AngelList handles the regulatory paperwork (so startups have to fill out the relevant forms only once) and offers resources for those that are navigating the funding labyrinth for the first time. A feature on the site called syndicates . . . lets users pool their money alongside a single well-connected angel. When that investor backs a company, so do they. ” (p. 31)
Not only are the investors helped by having these services, but entrepreneurs are helped by removing much of their administrative paperwork. Again, this is just another example of how the Internet expedites progress in so many ways. I never cease to be gratefully amazed at these kinds of developments and the opportunities they bring. To me, it is a simple question of why just stand on your local soapbox in the town square when you can stand on an electronic soapbox in a targeted worldwide town square?
Social media helping social media helping social media. That sounds like a win-win-win solution!
