Now that we have some people on this contraption, I figured I'd write a post about how this all started, and where we're hopefully headed.

A little over a year ago, Mary Crosse and I started a company called Jampacks Media, which targets 'sneezers' through a blend of entertainment and advertising. Our first product, the "Jampack" is a compact disc containing the tracks of fifteen bands, who, with the help of a sponsor, would receive thousands of them for free to hand out at their shows. While bands and advertisers alike loved the concept, it's always difficult to get that first advertiser to take a risk. (Especially when you have the sales experience of a bucket of worms).

So I was looking for ways to still develop the company around the idea of targeting 'sneezers' and otherwise creating more efficient advertising products. I had been friends with Noreen Sullivan for a long time and had even designed a brochure for her company, Netmodular, so I was very familiar with her product line. Originally, the software you're using right now to see this was much more developed and robust, however it was difficult, like with Jampacks, to get corporations to commit large amounts of money without a 'proof of concept.'

So Noreen and her partner Jesse Tayler, the person you should annoy should you find any glitches, came up with a smaller, simpler, scaled back version which you're using now. This allows many different companies and ideas to test the social networking platform on a basic scale to see if a community can be developed out of it, whether it's for the ad industry, or the Pez Dispensor Collector Society. (Originally Noreen had approached me to do this for my punk rock friends but I thought it would be more useful for advertising.)

So finally, after a few false starts--me moving from Massachusetts back to New York, via New Jersey and actually getting freelance work, I finally launched this site a few days ago. To the surprise of everyone, we have had an overwhelming response.

There are still quite a few issues to be resolved. I know that it's difficult to figure out just how you make friends. You can do so by clicking "make connection" under a person's name. And the interface can be glitchy, especially on some browsers. If you have any problems, let me or Jesse Tayler know and let us know what browser/computer you're using.

The long term vision for this site is to, as I've mentioned in email to some of you, have a means of distributing information throughout the industry. We have a tendency of keeping to ourselves once we're locked inside of a job. It can be useful to find out how someone at another agency solves a problem.

As a creative, I often had the following scenarios pop up:

1) I'm busy on a new business pitch. MaryJane, the rep for John Doe calls me. Am I busy? Yes, but I'll talk to you for a minute. (Remembering the top-shelf vodka at their Christmas party last year) "Great! Can I send you his reel?" "Sure!" Then, a week later, the reel has a small, growing film of dust on it. MaryJane calls me back. "Did you look at John Doe's reel yet?" "Hmm, no, not yet." Repeat process. The most obviously annoying part for both parties is the calls--MaryJane is just trying to do her job. I want to accomdate her but have no time.

2) A friend of a friend's cousin's brother wants to be an art director and wants to show me his book. I make appointment after appointment, but keep having to cancel to go on shoots, and testify on my creative director's behalf during one of those pesky sexual harassment lawsuits. The aspiring art director, unable to get my valuable feedback, goes into a life of crime and is shot by a Korean deli owner during a robbery.

With Adholes, both of these people will be able to find me, contact me, and give me a forum to look at their work and critique it. Ultimately, you'll be able to request reels, look at and rate portfolios, and get invited to great parties all through this site.

Not only that, but it's quite difficult to remember who you used to work with, let alone where they might have gone. I must have forgotten 200 people by now, people who, if I had Adholes, would have a profile linked to my page with the agency they're working at listed.

We have a lot of great plans. Hopefully everyone is filling out their profile, making friends and sharing experiences. And if you happen to be a planner or a media buyer and you really want to impress your client, ask me about how you can get one of these nifty social sites for your brand!