I have a new job! Thanks, Twitter!
March 2, 2008
As many 7th Son fans know, I’m a Twitter evangelist. I use the soc.media tool in my everyday life, “tweeting” my moods, my wild ideas for new fiction … and especially, my wily experiments in new media marketing. From my forthcoming “Operation Grid Failure” viral video project to my feel-good pet Stweet Team concept, I try to bend the boundaries of Twitter as a means of self expression, and a way to build communities.
The Twitter karma gods have looked favorably on my constant use of their tool, and have granted me a boon.
In early December, I spotted an intruiging tweet from Twitter follower Jeffery Sass (@sass). It read: “I am hiring. Here’s my ’social media’ recruitment video.” There was a link to the video below. That was it.
Curious, I watched the vid. You should, too.
It’s an effective recruitment video, particularly when the rest of the country is in its December shivers. But for me, it resonated on another level. I recognized that pier. I recognized that beachfront skyline. Turns out Jeff’s company, Myxer, is based minutes away from my South Florida home. I immediately DM’ed Jeff (that’s “direct messaged” in tweetspeak), introduced myself, hinted about my involvement in podcasting and “zero budget” soc.media marketing, and left it at that. I suspected I’d have to later conduct the traditional “brainbreaking” exercise of educating him on podcasting and soc.media marketing.
No need, Jeff said in his reply. He was already a fan of my podcast fiction, and was well aware of my marketing and community-building techniques. That, friends, is a testament to social media, podcasting, and online marketing/networking.
And now, I’m proud to report that as of Tuesday, March 4, I will be working for Myxer as its Social Media Marketing Manager.
Myxer’s slogan is “Go with it,” a brilliant allusion to its service. A less-catchy alternative would be, “Never pay for a cellphone ringtone again.” Myxer is the world’s largest provider of user-generated ringtones and wallpapers … all of which are created by normal folks like you and me. It’s a savvy blend of MySpace-meets-content creation, where everyday people can create their own ringtones, download them to their phones, tell their friends, download others’ ringtones and wallpapers and more. The best part: the service is completely free, the ringtone-creation service is simple to use, and nearly all of the content on the site is free. (Creators can charge for their ringtones, if they wish.)
The site has more than 6 million users. They’ve downloaded nearly 60 million files of content. There are more than 330,000 ringtones and wallpapers in the Myxer catalog — 99 percent of which is free.
Free content, created by normal people. Longtime fans of my work know why this is a perfect philosophical match for me as an creator and Myxer employee. (The shorts-and-T-shirt dress policy doesn’t hurt, either.)
So what will I be doing as the Social Media Marketing Manager for Myxer? (Dig that job title acronym: SMMMM. Gotta love it.) I’ll be podcasting and blogging, and reaching out to content creators such as bands and podcasters — yes, podcasters — to create new, killer content for the Myxer site. I’ll also be creating marketing projects to attract brand new users to the site. In essence, I’ll be getting paid to do what I’ve been doing as a hobby for the past two years. I cannot begin to describe how excited I am to be part of the Myxer team.
Oh, and they’re sending me to South By Southwest next week. Wicked cool.
I owe much of this to Myxer peeps Jeff Sass and Steve Spiro, who saw a great opportunity for Myxer to benefit from my expertise. And I absolutely owe even more to the more than 36,000 worldwide fans of my podcast fiction (who have downloaded nearly 2 million episodes of my content).
But for now, I’ll give all the credit to Twitter … and to the wise Twitter gods, who permitted a wonderful moment of serendipity in which I was online, reading tweets, at the moment that Jeff broadcasted his recruitment video. If Jeff had tweeted five minutes later, I never would have seen his video — and wouldn’t be getting paid to play in the soc.media space.
Tuesday can’t come soon enough.
–J.C.
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26 Responses to “I have a new job! Thanks, Twitter!”
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Congrats! Awesome use of social media!
WOW Hutch! AWESOME news man, congrats!
Congratulations! You’ve already done some amazing things in the social media arena with 7th Son. Best wishes and we look forward to seeing you in Austin.
Glad to hear about your new job. Wicked Cool! Now I know who fixed sigler up with his new ringtones.
When you get to Austin let me know. I owe you at least one beer for 7th Son.
Congrats, J.C.! Sounds like a cool job and a good fit. That’s awesome that you’re going to SXSW! Try to catch Kings Of Leon!
Thanks, guys! I can’t wait to meet some of you in Austin next week!
@Jon: I wish I could take credit for Sigler’s ringtones, but that was Jeff Sass, all the way. However, you’ll be seeing 7th Son ringtones from me, likely next week. Soon, you’ll have Kilroy giggling from your phone!
Congrats, You will Rock at your new job… Best of luck to you…
Rock & Roll!!
Looks like things were meant to work out that way! And seriously - looks like you’ve got some incredible new bosses!
And you know, with the weather here? I’m darned jealous of “Office… beach… office… beach!”
This was this evening in Denver:
http://flickr.com/photos/68036006@N00/2306045300/
Sit back and enjoy your sunshine - and kick some butt in the new job!
p.s. followed @jowyang’s link here - Jeremiah is always great for that sort of thing, he inspires us all with stuff like this.
Hope we can get myxer to work with the iPhone. TIA
Congrats JC, sounds like a hell of a job and I’m looking forward to the Kilroy 2.0 ringtone.
Give a tweet or something if you do a gathering in Austin, I can think of a few fans you have out here. Hope you enjoy the city and SXSW.
Congratulations. You’re living the dream. So nice to see this happen to a fellow tweeter.
Felicitations on your new posting - See how the tool does wonders to our esteem, and pocketbook.
Again, all the best in your endeavors.
How cool is that? Sounds like a perfect fit for you, too. Congrats!
Wow JC! Congratulations! This sounds like the perfect gig for you, I know you’ll be absolutely awesome at it!
JC, How cool. This is great. I can’t say enough how happy i am for you and your new bosses as they are getting a kick ass guy! Awesome stuff JC, intentions + actions = Results. Good for you!
Keith Burtis
Grats, MecaHutch!
Congrats Hutch!!!
You and Sass are going to make a scary good team!
That is an amazing story, and it sounds like an amazing opportunity. Congrats and good luck! I just hope it doesn’t cut into your writing/podcasting time!
This is astonishing–it’s like hearing/feeling this huge subliminal *click* as a wandering piece of the cosmic jigsaw puzzle finally nestles into place.
Bravo, sir, and congrats to Mr. Sass for already grokking this part of the infosphere he’s trying to reach.
JC, as you eloquently indicate in this post, it was all a terrific bit of “Twitter Synchronicity.” I am thrilled that the stars were aligned so, and am glad to welcome you to the Myxer team! (Plus I can’t wait to see you show off your knobby knees when you wear the requisite shorts and t-shirt!). See you at the water cooler!
- Sass
Congrats! Sounds like a really awesome opportunity. Yay for social media!
It couldn’t happen to a better guy!
<3
Congrats!
A hearty Congratulations, J.C.!
Well deserved opportunity for a hard working person! Knock ‘em dead!!
[...] week, J.C. Hutchins wrote a post about how Twitter actually helped find him an amazing sounding job for an interesting sounding company called Myxer that provides a distribution platform for user [...]
This is SO COOL. “Follow your bliss” and “do what you love” and the money will follow. I got a new PT housework offer from a bus driver who has hauled me around for awhile. Life is amazing when you stop trying to run it and just go with the flow. W00T!
Congrats, my new friend. This is great as long as they still want you to keep writing.
It’s amazing how powerful this web stuff is. Pure magic.