Hi Folks,
This was a very useful assignment because it forced me to actually contact people who could give me really useful insight into my business.
For the commenters, my business idea is to provide a support service to survivors of revenge porn that includes an online website with free information on legal options, a community forum, and the paid service that finds the revenge porn online and tries to take it down or attempts to bury it under other layers of info using search engine optimization.
So for the domain expert (1) I contacted Leakserv B.V., a company that is using highly advanced technology to track down revenge porn and issue DMCA takedown notices to owners of the sites where the revenge porn is listed. They also work with law enforcement to provide evidence of the revenge porn so as to prosecute the initial person who posted it. The person I got in contact with is Bart von Leewen, the co-founder of Leakserv and the owner of an Anti-Privacy company called Onsist. I started emailing him and just recently sent him an invite to connect on Linkedin.
The interaction I had with him was really insightful for my business idea. He told me how there is definitely a need for helping survivors of revenge porn and that people are even getting creative by using photoshop to create revenge porn when no content has ever been sent. The "favor" I asked of him was basically if his tactics to take down the revenge porn differed in the US since he's located in the Netherlands. Also if he knew of any other sites doing what I hope to do. Bart said he was glad to advise me so I will hopefully incorporate him into my currently nonexistent board of advisors. He even said that we could work together in the future!
Okay, so next is the expert on the market (2). For this I contacted endrevengeporn.org and was able to talk to Anisha Vora, Victim Outreach Coordinator for the campaign and victim of revenge porn herself. At first I contacted her via her email on the site but later we talked on the phone. Now I follow her on Twitter.
The "favor" I asked of her was basically if there is demand for my business' services out there and what are the current options for survivors of revenge porn. To the first thing she said hell yes and to the second she said that there are very few options, one of which is getting the photos trademarked and paying a yearly fee of 300-400 dollars to keep the trademark. Which is insane! She mentioned that most victims don't want to go through the legal options, they just want the photos taken down.
Lastly, she mentioned that there are a lot of scams out there targeting victims and that a big issue for my business will be building credibility. She said whenever I have my site going that she could possibly recommend my services on her site! So that's cool. I plan to incorporate her into my network by continuing to talk with her as the business progresses and eventually partnering with her campaign.
God this is long. Lastly is the supplier. So I tried to contact Google 3 different ways and am currently still trying to find who I need to talk to. I tried emailing google's customer service. No response. I tried emailing their press email but they said they weren't going to respond... I messaged a friend who interned at Google and they said to use Linkedin to contact someone on the relevant team. So that's where I'm at. I haven't been able to make contact with anyone yet :(
The favor I want to ask google is how their rule for doing search engine optimization will effect the service I want to provide and what are the existing options for taking down revenge porn. I'm going to keep working on this.
Reflection: THIS POST IS SO LONG IM SORRY. I've never networked like this before and while the first two were relatively easy to contact a real person, Google is super hard to talk to. Everything is forms and "if you're not press we aren't going to respond to you." I will definitely incorporate online networking into my networking skills in the future.
Hi Cassandra,
ReplyDeleteI remember watching a segment on a woman who created an organization to help combat revenge porn because she is a victim herself. It may have been the same person you talked to.
Each of the people you talked to gave you great information and support. I think you can start a healthy network through these people. Google is very hard to contact. I imagine a human being probably reads one of every two-hundred emails sent. The more you send, the better the chances. You could also try calling yourself a press-worker to get them to respond.
I enjoyed reading about your experience. Good luck on your future assignments!
You can view my blog here .
Hey Cassandra!
ReplyDeleteI applaud you for reaching out to all these different experts and gaining crucial information. I hope these sources come in handy to you in the future if you do pursue making this venture a reality. I did not complete the assignment myself but if you would like to check out my blog and what I've been up to you can at this link:
http://rmathisonent3003.blogspot.com
Hi Cassandra,
ReplyDeleteIt's awesome that you were able to reach out to these great candidates! I hope contacting these different sources helped you improve your social capital. I enjoyed reading about your experience, and I'm sure if you keep trying, you will be able to reach Google!
Hello Cassandra,
ReplyDeleteWow really great job. You took this assignment very seariously and you are doing a great job providing awareness. I went through your elevator pitch #3 and I read a few of your other posts because I really can't believe it is so difficult for someone to have something like revenge porn removed from the internet. I know once something goes online people can make copies and share it as much as they want but if there is legal and moral issue like one party not giving consent you would think the major search engines like google and yahoo would have the power to filter their networks. I guess i'm just naive for thinking such a thing is possible. Good for you for taking action and making your services affordable. Good luck to you in the future for making this a reality. I did the assignment, but I didn't take it as seariously as you. Check it out if you feel inclined.
http://dcbostwick.blogspot.com/2016/03/growing-my-social-capital-week-10.html
Hey Cassandra! I’m glad you enjoyed this assignment. It seems like you got in contact with a lot of important people in the field. It seems like this is a large issue that I honestly had not really considered. Great job! I unfortunately didn't get a chance to do this assignment so I have no link to share with you.
ReplyDeleteCassandra,
ReplyDeleteThis is an absolutely wonderful idea and really commend you for taking on this challenge. The contacts you meant seemed to be very supportive of you and are going to help you push this opportunity forward. I think your idea is do-able because of sex trafficking and how those people are abused. Check out my blog post at: http://usingmediaforgodsglory.blogspot.com/
Great job tackling this assignment head on and I applaud the persistence of your efforts with Google. Keep at it! It really sounds like you gained some great knowledge, insight, and really some great networking for your business idea. Despite the length of the post, I really enjoyed reading about your journey through this assignment and wish you nothing but continued success in your endeavors. Great job. Take a look at my blog at http://mrufent.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteHi Cassandra,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this assignment all the way around. You can gain some incredible insight from these people that will help you immensely as you move forward. Prior to reading your post, I had never heard of revenge porn or knew that it was a large of a problem as it is. I had a hard time getting contacts to respond for the assignment as well. Great idea to try linkedin to make contact, I wish I had thought to do the same. You can view my blog here if you would like: http://jww3.blogspot.com/ Great job and good luck.
Jim