WhoSay

WhoSay
Founded March 2010
Headquarters Silicon Beach, Los Angeles, California, US
Area served United States
Key people Steve Ellis (CEO)[1]
Industry Internet
Employees 18[2]
Website www.whosay.com
Type of site Social networking service
Current status Active

WhoSay is an American magazine and social media service for celebrities. Founded in Los Angeles in 2010, and owned by the talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), it is notable for allowing its users to retain ownership rights over the content that they post to their accounts,[1][3] and for enabling users to post content to other social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr simultaneously.[3] WhoSay describes itself as a "social celebrity magazine" whose editorial team keeps its users informed about the latest celebrity and entertainment news.[4]

Clients such as Dylan McDermott[5] and Chris Rock have lauded the service for its ability to add content to multiple social network sites easily. Rock in particular has commented on its ease of use for those who are not part of a tech-savvy demographic, commenting, "It's perfect for someone that's not 25."[3]

WhoSay's competitors include theAudience, which is operated by the William Morris Endeavor.[5]

History

WhoSay was founded in March 2010.[2] It is owned by the Los Angeles-based talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Amazon.com (who both hold minority stakes in the company) and other investors such as Comcast. The company, which is operated from CAA's office building in the Silicon Beach area of Los Angeles,[1][5] as well as from offices in New York City and London,[2] was founded to protect celebrities' intellectual property[1] and enable the celebrities themselves to profit themselves from their own content.[5] Its chief executive is co-founder Steve Ellis, who, after leaving Getty Images, was contacted by CAA, who were looking to resolve the issue of celebrities losing the rights to their own photos and videos when uploading them to social network sites.[2] Ellis explained WhoSay's mission thus: "We work with people who are constantly being utilized by third parties for the wrong reasons. [The company was formed] to give celebrities and other influential people a set of tools to allow them to manage and control their presence in the digital world."[1] In this way, WhoSay is likened by Ellis to "a People magazine by the people themselves who are in it."[5]

The company started slowly, until CAA client Tom Hanks signed onto WhoSay three months after the service's launch. The company continued to maintain a low profile for the first three years of operation, during which it accumulated a client list of 1,500 actors, musicians and artists. Clients are accepted by the service on an invitation-only basis, although they are not restricted to Creative Artists clients. Among them are Kelly Clarkson, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Paula Patton,[5] Kevin Spacey, Jim Carrey, John Cusack, Bill Maher, Johnny Knoxville, Chelsea Handler, Eva Longoria, Spike Lee, Enrique Iglesias and Katie Couric.[1] Clients are not charged for the service, and are given a share of any revenue that is generated by advertisements. They are also given the ability share in the database of e-mail addresses that come with registration, in order to communicate directly with fans.[5] Actor Dylan McDermott was introduced to WhoSay by his agent, as a way of easily posting content to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and even China's Tencent social network with relative ease. McDermott comments, "When you put something out there, you can hit everything at one time. It makes it easy for me."[5] Comedian Chris Rock has commented that WhoSay is ideal for people like him have developed difficulty in keeping track of different websites as they get older, saying, "It's perfect for someone that's not 25."[3]

In April 2013 WhoSay introduced a mobile application for consumers.[5]

WhoSay does not allow consumers to create accounts, nor does it include search features, making it difficult to access a celebrity's account unless a user is directed there from one of their other social pages. According to Ellis, consumers have enough social media choices, saying, "Frankly they don't really need the services that we provide, and there are a lot of very specific features built into our service that really only benefit someone who is of a high profile."[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Beiler, Jeremy (May 8, 2011). "Stars Gain Control of Online Images". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Maloy, Sarah (July 1, 2011). "WhoSay Returns Social Media Copyright Back to Celebrities". Billboard.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Rich, Frank (November 30, 2014). "In Conversation: Chris Rock". New York.
  4. ↑ "About WhoSay". WhoSay. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Graham, Jefferson (April 17, 2013). "WhoSay helps celebrities connect to fans". USA Today.

External links