WEbook, a whole new game.

Good news, there are lots of people out there who enjoy writing.  Lots.  Some enjoy writing so much that they decided to back WEbook financially.  The ranks have grown as have the coffers.  Our newest investors have added greatly to our company and I bid them welcome.  

I don't feel like going into great detail so...For more info check these out: Techcrunch and Marketwatch.

In other news.  There are a ton of great projects floating around the site.  They need some quality reviewers.  Do you know how to read?  Do you know what you like?  Can you play well with others?  I bet you're perfect for us and don't even know it yet.

"WEbook Takes on the Big Book Boys"

We've been silent for a while, but we've been busy. WEbook had its first ever voting cycle at the end of July and the users narrowed the selection down to a final 10%. I can't wait to see who gets chosen, can you?
Personally, I'd like to see the top 10% compete in a literary decathlon.
The EVENTS:
1) the 100 word hurdles
2) the 6 Word sprint
3) Plot vs. Detail tug-of-war
4) the Plot-twist discus
5) the Flashback long jump
6) the Clean Story Arc javelin
7) the Drive the Point home shot put
8) the 400 meter Poem
9) the Bestseller pole vault
10) the Path to Publishing marathon
I wanted to throw in something like mud wrestling, but was convinced to preserve the Olympic spirit and stick to "real" events (though I did manage to push the line at a few points).

Hey, did I mention that our CEO, Itai Kohavi was recently interviewed by Jemima Kiss of the UK's Guardian about WEbook AND his MUNI-riding ability? Itai's pretty awesome by the way, I can't imagine a more in-touch CEO. Do you know anyone who rides a mountain unicycle?
Not only will this article convince you of Itai's fantastic sense of balance, it will also help you know how to explain WEbook to your mother. Did you know that (insert statistic)% of mothers don't yet know about WEbook!? Isn't it about time that they did? Let's get out there and make a difference, one mother at a time. Need some WEbook projects for mothers to help with the explaining? Here are a few: A Mother's Love, Motherhood, and My First Year with Mommy.

Did I also mention that we now have over 10,000 book projects for your reading pleasure? And while you go browse through those, we here at WEbook are going to go back to disrupting "a notoriously elitist industry". :~)

Goodbye To You

There comes a time in every intern's internship when the summer must end. The job is done. Certain people have to, you know, pack for college. I've had an awesome time getting to know both the WEbook staff and the WEbook site members, and I hope to keep in contact with quite a few of you. You know what my penname is; message me sometime.

Enjoy what's left of summer, and keep writing!

~sara

Publishing is MINE!

I really wanted to say that. I found this blog: http://koreaismine.blogspot.com/ and decided I find it funny. Not as funny as this one: http://users.livejournal.com/kim_jong_il__/ , but the livejournal one is no longer active.
It's getting close to the voting period here at WEbook and you should come read the projects that have been submitted. It's like a hunt for buried treasure. We all enjoy treasure hunts, don't we? I mean, we all secretly want to be pirates, right? The official WEbook blog went pirate-y recently.
I had a classmate in an English class show up in full pirate garb refusing to speak in any lingo but pirate for the entirety of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Until that day, he was so reserved that I honestly wondered if he actually liked anyone else in the class or merely tolerated us. Now I know that he, like all the other people in the class, was simply a freshman afraid to interact with others and show personality lest a demonstration of individuality go over badly. Isn't it ironic that at the beginning of college so many people are afraid to stand out and by the end it seems like most people have personalities so bloated that no one else can fit in the room with them? Please excuse the tangent.
I'm in a very random state of mind today. I'm trying to brainstorm for writing as the creativity well has been particularly dry of late. Will return later with more. Later may be tomorrow. Or next week...

Intern Olympics

No need to wait until August- WEbook's interns have a little olympics of our own. Starting today, Andi, Sam and I each created (or will be creating, I suppose- Sam's project isn't up yet) a writing project. We're actively campaigning these, trying to make them as well-known and popular as possible. There's a complex point system involved, and an unannounced prize for the winner.

Andy's taking her chances on a universal emotion. Her project, FEAR, asks for "Any genre, any fear." It's got 4 submissions, and 4 comments- the highest so far.

I'm looking for a niche in Top Writers Under 20, trying to find WEbook's greatest young writers. I'm in second place with 3 submissions, 1 comment.

Sam, however, may be the wild card here- she's holding off posting right now (for strateigic reasons? what's her secret?), and we'll only know how well she's doing as soon as she gets her project up on the site.

This early, though, anything can change. The projects will run through most of the summer, up to the first intern's last day. And only time will tell whose methods will pay off.

There are no torches, no opening ceremonies, but the message is clear- May the best intern win.

Fun site

Just want to leave you a pretty awesome website: http://www.etsy.com/

The Last of June

We haven't posted in a while...Things have been a little busy here in the office. Things have, in fact, been going pretty great--We've had a ton of New Projects and New Users. (Check out the New Projects and find something you like.) Also: If you're going to be in the DC area for the 4th of July, we'd like to give you FREE Ice Cream. Yes, FREE. Though we will make you write for it.

Posting links here at Blogspot (or Blogger) seems to be a bit of an issue. They don't like to be edited or format correctly during the posting process. We have another blog-like entity for your viewing and reading pleasure: The WEbook Live Journal. Sara keeps it going, and she's pretty great at it.

In the coming days, we Interns are going to have WEbook Intern Olympics . Basically, we will each create a project and see who rocks it the most. I screwed up and used an awesome project idea as a test run and now it doesn't get to count as my entry. Check out My Project, "6 Word Stories" and add yours.

A full office, a full day of work

Two weeks ago, I stepped into the WEbook office for the first time.  Now, when I think back to those first couple of days, I remember (fondly, of course) a quiet environment suitable for the long to-do lists we had, a lovely white wall that had a black speck two inches directly above where my line of sight hit, and empty offices just waiting for a person to fill them.

Needless to say, things have drastically changed (most definitely for the better).  Now, there are 4 loud, outgoing interns who sit at a kitchen table typing away together, group outings to explore Bethesda during lunch, and (the best part of all) a vibrant blue wall with no visible specks.

There's also more work to do, though that seems counterintuitive: with more interns, shouldn't we each have less on our plate?  Not at WEbook, where things are still growing and changing at rapid paces.  But hey, I'm not complaining (much).

Speaking of work, as much fun as reminiscing is, work awaits and I really would hate to be fired (especially now that I've discovered the candy basket).

I'm out.

I feel it's time to write a new post. There are so many things out there (in this internet world), that it seems silly to just focus on one or two things. My job has opened up a lot of places on the web that never popped up in my everyday life before June--despite being a college student desperate for means of procrastination. So I want to devote this post to both things that will help you procrastinate and things that will hopefully inspire. (Also, the period key [.] on my computer is dying--if you notice one or two missing, trust me, I've noticed already).
Sites to help you procrastinate:
twitter.com
www.plurk.com
digg.com
Things to inspire:
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/
stumbleupon.com
www.wikihow.com
Okay, so there are too many things out there. Avoid Plurk. Not worth the trouble.
The people on plurk...let's just say this: Karma is the point of plurking. People don't seem to care about talking--I mean plurking--with people they don't know. Just a lot of bugs. I'd say try it out in about a month--I'm betting things will be better by then.

Watch our Earth

http://www.breathingearth.net/
If you've got a minute, check it out. We know this information. Somewhere in the back of our minds, we know it, but seeing it played out gives it new meaning.

webook + livejournal = love

Hey guys, as if I needed more proof that this job, where I'm told to update facebook groups, post editorial feedback, and eat candy (Well, alright, the last one isn't an assignment. But candy-eating certainly goes on, regardless.), is very cool, my latest project is to start a webook livejournal.

Or rather update it. Webook has had an account since January, but it was basically a default account. Nothing posted, no interests, etc. But now things are looking a little brighter for webook at livejournal. Join me there, friend me, and we can have some social-networking-style fun.

Digg

Be my friend!
http://digg.com/invitefrom/anwollitz

Mercedes

Another week, another intern. We welcome Mercedes. If I spelled your name wrong, you can make fun of me in your post. To everyone else...check out this week's WEbooker of the WEek post to see more writing from me. I'm filling in for Melissa while she's on vacation.

i have a twitter

in case anyone cared, i have a twitter now! so following "threeara" is another way to learn about the joys of interning.

the newbie posts

so. i finally get to webook.com, and i'm supposed to blog, update facebook, and browse the webook site. which is pretty excellent, by my standards.
let's see. since i'm new to the blog, and the job, i guess i'll do some introduction:

webook.com name- saraelizabeth (come be my friend!)
favorite genre- all of them, but i like short stories especially
favorite authors- stienbeck, kingsolver, neruda, alvarez, fitzgerald
now reading- the namesake
now writing- this blog post. but also feedback on some webook.com nano stories (I can multitask!)
projects- none yet! but these nano stories are looking pretty neat, so maybe i'll join + post one soon.

um, i can't think of any more revelvant stuff for the intro. but if you have questions, relevant or irrelevant, let me know!

Newbie

Welcome Sara! We have back-up! Happy to have you, now get to work! Mostly kidding. We like to talk too. But work is so fun, why the hell not?

Long Week

Wednesday? Is it really only Wednesday? This has been a long week. A very long week. We, the interns, have been out there looking for you; the bloggers, readers, and writers of the world. We want you to know about WEbook. It is very important to us that you know about WEbook. One might even say our jobs depend on you knowing about WEbook. Please excuse the slight edge of desperation--It's 4:00 pm and my lack of sleep is catching up. If you see my landlord, please take away his remote garage-door-opener. Or move my room to a location not directly over the garage door. Or even better yet, tell me if you know of anyone in the DC-MD area renting out two rooms at a reasonable price. All jests aside, I really want to move. I'm enough behind on sleep that my boyfriend is actually becoming more personable than me. I tell you, that's sleep-deprived for me. I would love to sit on the WEbook website all night reading every single project I can get my hands on, but by the time I get home, my eyes are so tired that staring at a computer screen isn't an option. I'm going to start listing some of the new projects I've looked at in this blog. Keep an eye out.

SO MANY NEW PROJECTS! I just need to keep up on them. They are trying to swarm me all at once and I am diligently ticking them off my list one by one by one.

Monday Monday Monday

Monday is a great day here. I can't wait to get back to work. I spent most of my weekend in a car on the New Jersey Turnpike. No offense to New Jersey, but you stink. The state just smells. Instead of New Jersey's version of "fresh" air, we (my boyfriend and I) turned the air to recirculate over and over again without so much as passing breeze allowed in. To be fair, the heat probably didn't help. Heat makes any slight stench overwhelming to the point it can knock you on the ground and roll you up like the Wicked Witch of the East's legs after Dorothy nabs her shoes. We ignored New Jersey by creating six word stories for the project I created at the end of last week. Because we collaborated, I think we may end up arm wrestling for some of the stories. Who should get what? Does the creator get the credit or the most creative collaborator? I have a few that I'm pretty willing to fight over. We should be putting them soon, so keep and eye out for posting by AndiJayne and Jowe. Let me know which you like best...we have a little bet going.

What's in a label?

It's Friday! 

In 6 hours, I will have officially survived my first full week here at WEbook (I started on a Wednesday).  It's been a great 10 days full of assignments, meetings, and controlled chaos... and ok, maybe it felt more like a month than a week and a half, but still, I enjoyed it.

I started as a marketing intern with immediate priorities that included social networks and mass outreach.  As of 2:30 pm today, I will be an "everything" intern who gets to still play around on Twitter and MySpace, but also gets to do math!  Oh, fun!  Analytics much?  I have also decided that Google Analytics will be my new best friend since we will be spending long days and nights together.

Speaking of new friends...

Follow WEbook on Twitter

Add me on MySpace

Last thought of the moment: why do to-do lists never get shorter?

Last, last thought of the moment: after re-reading this entry, I realized that I sound completely out of it.  Sorry.

Oh what a beautiful Morning...

Good Morning! I think I had the best commute in to work that I have ever had or will ever have. I got a seat on the metro. I didn't have to touch anything. I didn't have to bump into people or stand there while quite creepy guys "sneakily" take my picture with their phones. I just got my first cell phone with a camera last week and I was beginning to enjoy it (camera snob that I am) until I began to ride the metro during busy times.
But today was a good day. I think the reason I was able to get a seat was that I was late. I ran up the escalator just in time to watch the train I wanted pull away. I'm not very good at counteracting my own momentum, so I just sort of kept running--not at any great speed mind you. I wasn't, after all running with any purpose in mind by that time. My inertia carried me down to the farthest end of the platform, previously unexplored territory for me. By the time I realized I hadn't yet stopped moving, I was about as far as I could go. So I sat down on a bench and waited. The next train pulled up about 5 minutes later and I could see crowds of people swarm into the cars nearest the escalator, most of them making a mad dash for the doors, choosing to risk having their most personal assets divided rather than miss the train. But who am I to comment really?
I ambled onto the first car of the train and lazily glanced at the half-empty car before grabbing an open double-seat. For the first time all week, I didn't get motion sick and even managed to read on the metro.
After all this relaxation, I decided to hike up the monstrously long escalator out of the Bethesda metro instead of my usual "stand and wait for the top to come to me". This decision was influenced in large part by the fact that I have not yet gotten around to joining a gym in the area. Or really even finding one for that matter... All I have to say about this hike is that it became quite obvious exactly how long it's been since my last visit to a fitness center.
My morning commute is always a source of great entertainment for me. I lead a simple life.
I'm riding the metro for 3 main reasons: 1) I don't have a car (perhaps the most influential reason), 2) the most convenient access to the WEbook office is granted by riding the metro, and 3) I've been trying to go slowly green over the last year.
Being Green should be a way of life that becomes so ingrained that people don't even think about it. Unfortunately, it's not at that point yet. My realization of the importance of being Green came in mostly during the last year. Among many other driving reasons, I found out that my adviser at Vassar is the head of the Sustainability committee there, I took an Oceanography course and learned just how doomed our planet is--which also led to meeting Wally Broker, the guy who essentially discovered global warming was happening--and the influence of my boyfriend who wrote his senior thesis on solar cells and now works for a clean energy company. I also watched "Living with Ed", Ed Begley Jr.'s show on how to green your life. I tell you, if you're going to go Green, you want Ed Begley Jr. telling you how to do it.
I've just learned that WEbook has a great project going right now called "My Hybrid Life". It's a great place to tell your story about going Green. Hope to see you there!

Did I mention how much New Users Rock!? We're on track to have one of our best days ever today. We just kick butt, don't we? We're going out tonight as an office to celebrate. We were going out anyway, but now we have something concrete to celebrate! We get to celebrate how much butt we're kicking. Good deal I say.

Thanks for the backup Sam.

Just so that Andrea doesn't feel lonely...

Here's my post for today.

This really displays my creativity and personality.

Later.

Is it healthy to hold a job that actually feeds my internet addiction rather than takes me away from it for 8 hours a day? I've just joined both Twitter and Plurk, started a blog, and spent a large part of today on Facebook. And I'm being encouraged to do these things. Not just encouraged, expected to do these things. I would say my job depends on me doing these things. Note to readers: jealousy is not becoming.

The projects on the site astound me. So many people are so creative. I hope you have time to drop by and read a few. There is literally something for everyone. And if I'm wrong, go fix it...Create a new project. On that note, I think this job is making me even more blunt.

Start in the middle

Let me just say that my commute to work is like a piece of stinky swiss cheese. The DC metro system is only about a 1000 times cleaner than the NYC subway, but the humidity tends to make you forget that. Luckily, getting into the office is a much less fragrant and sticky experience. Thank goodness for that. I've only been working at WEbook since Monday and I'm already becoming a devotee. We interns have it pretty good here. My computer is always in front of me and open to new projects from our users or any of a large number of social networks we're trying to reach. The office walls were hand painted by your lovely WEbook staffers (the regulars, not the interns coincidentally) in bright and cheery orange, white, and blue. I imagine if we had a flag, it would be orange, white, and blue...
The tone of the office fits those colors to a T. Orange for cheery but also busy, Light blue for good times and clear skies, and white for "What can we do next?"