Tag: Huffington Post

The Third Metric: Beyond the Self

Posted on by Allison Heaps

In preparation for The Third Metric’s upcoming event Thrive in New York, D.C. and Los Angeles, industry leaders attended a special session at NYC Social Media Week. A diverse selection of startups, including GitaSutra, BRB, Casper, Greatest, Headspace, DonorsChoose.org, and Fueled, discussed the opportunities and challenges that exist for emerging technologies to improve individual growth.

Juice bars and gym memberships saturated the self-improvement movement of the past. The Third Metric’s mission to “redefine success beyond money and power” is rapidly rising in our culture. This month’s TIME magazine cover story even features The Mindful Revolution. Francis Pedraza, co-founder and CEO of Everest, observed in a Huffington Post article that human’s “social need” for connection, as described by psychologist Abraham Maslow in the 1940’s, has been satisfied by our hyper-connected lifestyles. Indeed, Facebook, Twitter, and texting, have created instantaneous human connections. Pedraza asserted, “with less of our time taken up by basic survival, our need to improve ourselves will move from the back-burner to the front.”

Self-actualization is at the top of Maslow’s needs hierarchy pyramid. Today, basic self-actualized peak experiences appear in many forms, whether it’s running marathons, pursuing advanced degrees, or achieving a “personal best” in a hobby. This intense focus on the self sometimes manifests as ego validation, so it is crucial to understand the distinction between the two. Whatever the case may be, the CEO’s from wellness startups who attended Social Media Week New York last week offered solutions to get you there.

While some are compelled to disconnect from their electronic devices, others prefer to remain firmly connected. CEO of HeadSpace, Rich Pierson, cleverly coined the phrase, “plugging in to unplug.”  

HeadSpace is a free guided-meditation app that contains bite-sited pieces to foster meditation, starting with 10-minute sessions. Derrick Flanzaich, CEO of Greatist.com, a fitness, health and happiness start-up commented, “I firmly believe that never has wellness been more important- I think there is a reason HeadSpace is catching on and picking up steam; we are truly changing in the way we prioritize how we spend our day and how we value success.”

Still can’t bear the thought of cutting the cord? BRB (Be Right Back) was conceived when the founders went to dinner and realized everyone was looking at their phones. BRB is a virtual secretary that will inform others that you are not available — but will Be Right Back, of course. “There is a constant social pressure to be on the devices all the time,” co-owner, Noah Levy added.

The expansion of Maslow’s self-actualization concept in 1971 emphasized a move beyond the self to achieve the highest level of self-actualization. For those who are “just too busy,” social media now facilitates such a pursuit. For example, Donorschoose.org is a non-profit organization that helps teachers acquire materials for their classrooms. By utilizing technology, we can create a culture of service and gratitude. Margie Cadet shared, “technology has made it easier for people to give and engage… 1.3 million people have given to the site Donerschoose.org, and “50% have given to schools in a 20-mile radius from their homes.”

For those who choose to “unplug,” Rasanath Das, an ex-Wall Street executive turned full-time Yogi, practices an in-person approach to wellness at GitaSutra using the Bhagvad-Gita and Enneagram as psycho-spritual development tools for executives. Classes are personalized and include, “Excavating your Ego Type” among others. Das very humbly prescribes an actionable daily program of service and gratitude, “At the end of the day, if you can spare fifteen minutes, and take of stock of one act of kindness that you did or one lesson that you learned, even by observing someone, and see how it has affected your life and store it inwards, keep it with you, and carry it with you for the next day. It’s those small things that make a big difference.”

Today, I challenge you live the mission of The Third Metric by redefining your success beyond money and power by embracing its mantras of Well-Being, Wonder, Wisdom and Giving.

Allison Heaps is corporate wellness advocate living in New York. In her spare time, she practices yoga, runs marathons, and sings jazz. She is a master’s candidate at NYU with a concentration is organizational effectiveness. Contact her here.

A Student’s Perspective: Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed CEO, discusses the state and future of our social world

Posted on by smwnyc

Donovan X. Ramsey is a student at Columbia’s School of Journalism and one of ten students providing on the ground coverage of SMWNYC.

Jonah Peretti, Founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, took to the stage at Social Media Week NYC recently to discuss online trends and the future of content sharing. With Facebook going public and the relative success of new sites like Pinterest, it’s an important, big question and one that Peretti might be qualified to answer. In a packed auditorium at the Hearst building in Manhattan, he rolled out his vision.

“There’s a big shift happening and we’re at the beginning of it,” he said. “There are still industries to be disrupted. You need to think from the perspective of a user that wants to share something…The real key to a lot this stuff is emotional intelligence.”

Peretti cofounded the Huffington Post, a site that has revolutionized blogging and news online by mixing the two. Now he runs BuzzFeed, a hub for headlines like “Goat Massage” and “40 Things That Make Corgis Happy,” based on a type of emotional intelligence. In his address, Peretti referred to BuzzFeed as a “giant content site for the social world.” He described this world as one identified typically through social networking sites Facebook and Twitter but getting more social by the minute.

The socialization, so to speak, of content online happened in stages, according to Peretti. The first stage was that of portals like Yahoo, which catered to a general audience. They were the sites, with big home pages and categories, through which users had to go for content. The next step was the search stage. Think Ask Jeeves and About.com. Users began finding content by requesting it. The Internet was opening up and users were starting to have an influence on the creation and promotion of content. That led to the social stage.

He said one of the most interesting trends he’s spotted in the social stage is the tide of users who go to BuzzFeed looking for something to share on their Facebook pages. He said it represents a shift from how content was consumed before. It’s a sign that the audience sees themselves less as just that. They’re aware that they’re more than an audience. They’re participants.

Peretti’s big prediction was the streamlining of content online. “Facebook is the best example of content expanding from friend updates,” he said. “As Facebook matures, there’s news now and people are getting comfortable with a social world where everything their friends care about is mixing together.” In preparation for this, BuzzFeed has made changes like the addition of ex-Politico writer, Ben Smith as editor-in-chief. Their first scoop with Smith was Sen. John McCain’s endorsement of Mitt Romney. According to Peretti, BuzzFeed beat CNN by 30 minutes.

His strongest case study seemed to be his own company. BuzzFeed, with its simple headlines and variable content, is mostly directed by the interests of its users and their reactions to content all over the World Wide Web. In fact, the site goes as far as to organize content into categories based on users’ reactions. With one click, you could vote something as a “fail” and with another, browse a lists of “wins.”

During the presentation, Peretti brought up a slide of basset hounds running, their droopy folds flapping in the wind. He said such content is decidedly shareable because of its common appeal. It can go onto your best friend’s Facebook wall or be sent to your grandmother in an email. The key to creating sharable content in the social age is finding material that defines a moment, said Peretti. “Let the user become invested in the story…People are the gatekeepers in the social media world, not Google’s algorithm.”