Website Duo Want to Know: What’s in Your Head?

Not a lot of natural light gets into the office of social networking website SodaHead.com and the electric light is minimal at best. A visitor to the second floor of an Encino office building waits for their eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness and then makes their way to where Jason Feffer waits outside his office, walking past the SodaHead employees who barely look up from their computers. In the 14 months since Feffer and business partner and childhood friend Michael Glazer launched the website, 1 million users have registered to take part in an around-the-clock online dialogue on any topic of their choosing. With backing of $12.7 million from California investors Feffer and Glazer blended an online discussion forum with a social networking site and added what they claimed was missing from most Web 2.0 sites interaction and dialogue between users; a validation that an opinion isn’t too way out there. If Web 2.0 sites are too one-way and have a “don’t judge me” attitude then Feffer knows what he’s talking about. As one of the original employees at MySpace he helped launch the online social network revolution and takes it in another direction with this new venture. “I’ve changed my mind on issues because of what people have said on SodaHead,” Feffer said. <!– –> At the center of SodaHead are the questions from both staffers and users. The responses in turn create the dialogue, an opportunity for the users to defend their stances in a moderated forum. In an election year, political topics are popular. So are entertainment, pop culture and sports. The first question posed at the site when it went active in September 2007 was “What is the meaning of life?” and the most answered queries are ones on topical issues. Even with that simple concept Feffer finds there are still first-time visitors who are confused about the function of Sodahead and what the site asks of them They want my opinion? Other people are interested in what I have to say? Those visitors may recognize pieces making up the site the profiles, for instance, that are at any social networking site but not in the way that SodaHead uses them. “We are putting this is in an environment that has not been seen on the Internet,” Glazer said. Another online avenue The simple way to describe the two childhood friends is to say that Feffer is the creative guy and Glazer is the finance guy. Feffer worked in the indy film world and video gaming before turning to online startups. Feffer had been at MySpace at the time of its 2005 sale to Rupert Murdoch and Fox for $580 million but left because it was no longer a place for an entrepreneur. Glazer was an investment banker, handling mergers and acquisitions. While other chances to get involved with Feffer’s start up ideas had been available it wasn’t until SodaHead that Glazer said yes. “Both of them have seen what success looks like,” said Dave Newmark, owner of an advertising firm in the same Encino office building as Sodahead. “Knowing that script helps a lot.” The conference room at Newmark’s ad agency served as the first location for SodaHead, Feffer, Glazer and their original hires sitting around a large table in front of their computers. From there they staked out their small corner of the online world. If people wanted to make virtual connections, then here was another avenue open to them. Except the site as originally conceived as a means to segment the visitor responses to the questions into certain demographics, male vs. female, for instance or old vs. young wasn’t accepted. Nobody cared about the statistics, Glazer and Feffer came to realize. What users cared about were the thoughts and opinion each other shared. The pair consider SodaHead as a “real” site used by real people who make their profiles (and photos) more honest and descriptive than others found online. While there is a function where registered users can see how alike they are with other users, a “look up and hook up” site SodaHead is not. Still another difference pointed out by the pair is that SodaHead users do not bring a network of friends with them unlike at MySpace and Facebook. These users create a new network. What’s in a name Feffer and Glazer look at each other and laugh when explaining the origin of the name SodaHead. It came out of a brainstorming session at a bar. BeerHead wouldn’t work but what other drinks are there? Well, soda has bubbles in it and what is it that bubbles up in someone’s head? Questions. And answers to questions. SoadHead was easy to spell and easy to remember; a word that doubles as a collective name for the community coming to the site. SodaHeads! Registering the domain name cost $8. In explaining their website to potential investors, Glazer and Feffer had an easier time of it in Northern California than in other parts of the state. Venture capitalists in the Silicon Valley “got” what the duo was doing. Getting the ball rolling in Southern California was harder. That’s not to say that SoCal investors weren’t interested – Tech Coast Angels and Mission Ventures in San Diego are investors – just that the Silicon Valley is decades ahead when it comes to supplying venture capital for start-ups. When giving their PowerPoint presentation, Feffer and Glazer walked across parking lots with an open laptop, the investment firms were that close together. Feffer struggles to come up with the right word to describe that environment where everyone knows each other and a chance meeting at a coffee place could provide a strong lead to someone with money. Then Glazer pipes up that it is not six degrees of separation in the Silicon Valley but two degrees of separation. “The culture is built for it up there,” Glazer added. With two rounds of funding and 1 million registered users, the pair are in a good position to make changes at SodaHead. A redesigned website becomes active on Jan. 1; one that will have links to the most discussed stories at partner news websites. That ability is a move forward for the site although Glazer said that it was something that users were doing anyway. It is not the same as what sites such as Digg and social bookmarking service Delicious provide to their users as those sites are about most popular and most viewed stories and not the ones readers are discussing. “We are not trying to replace Digg,” Feffer said. “It is a way to move stories up that people think should be discussed.” Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected] .