Tuesday, July 29, 2008
No Blinking: Jessica Alba is in Staring Contest with 824 IBeatYou Users
At the two-month-old start-up IBeatYou, "celebrities and average consumers alike" can "roll up their sleeves, get dirty, and have fun competing," cofounder Cash Warren says.
Users challenge each other to contests, from "Best 60 second rant" to "Best 'While You Were Sleeping' Photo," and vote for the winner based on the video, photo and text submissions.
Cofounders and competitive childhood friends Abdul Khan, NBA star Baron Davis, and Cash Warren have harnessed the star power of Steve Nash, Will Farrel, Adam Sandler, and Warren's wife Jessica Alba to draw users to the site. I posted Jessica Alba's staring contest entry below.
Liz Gannes at NewTeeVee pointed out that Paparazzi-harassed celebrities could use the site to exert control over their public images--just as politicians do on YouTube. But for the site to succeed, people need to come for more than celebrity sitings, Khan tells her.
Earlier this month another contest platform, Amuso, opened to the public, providing IBeatYou some fresh competition.
Andy interviewed Khan, Davis and Warren at the AlwaysOn conference at Stanford last week.
--Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer