| Sarah Austin | |
|---|---|
Sarah Austin at South By Southwest 2010. |
|
| Born | Sarah Marie Austin c. 1986 (age 25–26) |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Sarah Meyers |
| Years active | 2006-Present |
| Known for | Lifecasting, Video journalism |
| Notable works | Party Crashers Pop17 |
| Internet information | |
| Web alias(es) | Pop17 |
| Web hosting service(s) | mevio, YouTube, Justin.tv |
| Meme | "Optimus Prime Refused Service" |
| Signature phrase | "Be nice!" |
| Website | |
| http://www.sarahaustin.com/ | |
Sarah Marie Austin (born c. 1986) is an American Internet personality, known for her video blog, Pop17, and online lifecasting.[1] She produced the web series Party Crashers, crashing tech parties,[2][3][4] and Pop17, a web series about Internet culture.[5] She was formerly known by her stage name Sarah Meyers.
Contents |
As a young child, Austin moved with parents from Rogers, Arkansas to Tiburon in Marin County, California.[6] She is a graduate of Tamalpais High School (Mill Valley, California), Class of 2004.[7] She studied New Media at Stanford University and also attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.[6][8]
Back in California, she attended film and broadcast classes at San Francisco State University.[9] She started lifecasting in San Francisco during the spring of 2007, and when she moved to New York in August 2007 she continued to lifecast. As a video journalist, she began attending a variety of events, including the Halo 3 launch, the Ground Zero Memorial service, New York Fashion Week and Comic Book Club meetings. She sometimes would chat with her viewers while having breakfast, and more often, left the camera on as she studied her college textbooks.[10] She amplified her video journalism with reports in her blog.[11] Starting in September 2008 she studied at Parsons The New School for Design in New York.[12] In 2010, she was a Dominican University of California business management student.[6][8]
Austin began her career as a tech news producer and DJ for three years at UC Berkeley’s radio station, KALX 90.7 FM.[13][14] She moved into video with news segments for D7TV's Story Today and created her own D7TV series, Party Crashers, in which she crashed Silicon Valley parties.[15]
In the tradition of Paul Krassner,[16] she combined legitimate news coverage with personal journalism and prankster activities. During the summer of 2007, she collaborated with Gizmodo videographer Richard Blakeley on a short video, "Optimus Prime Refused Service". Wearing an Optimus Prime helmet, she pulled into a McDonald's drive-through and placed an order but got no service. Her video found a sizable audience on YouTube and other sites, and was featured in an ABC News report in July 2007.
During the spring of 2007, she was chosen as a participant in the closed beta test of Justin.tv and began lifecasted for them.[13][17]
After extensive tests through the winter of 2007-08 under the name PopSnap,[2] Austin launched a web series and blog called Pop17 in March 2008.[5] Pop17 features interviews with tech-oriented business owners and Internet personalities at tech-related events and parties.[18] It also includes commentary and news on technology and business topics; Rocketboom and Mekanism contributed to the production of the show in 2008 and 2010.[19][20][5] Contributors to Pop17 include Jesse Draper and Caitlin Hill.[21][22]
Ignite Social Media included her in their ranking of five women covering New Media on the Internet, stating, "Sarah's entertaining posts are both thought-provoking and relevant while still being charming. Think the girl you sat next to in art class meets a successful online presence".[23][24] In 2008, she was named one of the 50 most influential female bloggers by North X East,[25] and that same month she was selected by Playboy as one of the five "Hottest Female Bloggers".[26] Also in 2008, she appeared on Donny Deutsch's The Big Idea.[27] Austin has been a correspondent for the Better television series,[1][28] where she explained topics and trends regarding social media. In late 2010, Austin contributed articles to Forbes magazine.[29]
In Dan Schawbel's' book Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, Austin was profiled in a chapter of "success stories".[24] She was featured on the front cover of the May 2009 issue of Personal Branding magazine.[30] In 2010, she was selected as one of Vanity Fair's "America's Tweethearts".[31]
In late 2011, Austin became a correspondent for TV networks. such as Fox and Logo. She worked as an online personality for The X Factor and The X Factor Pepsi Live Preshow, as well as casting the unscripted home-viewing parties via Skype.[32] She hosted and co-produced the San Francisco edition of VidBlogger Nation; a Comcast OnDemand TV network with each host sharing stories of people, places and events in their city.[33] She also produces tech reports for NewNowNext.[34]