Chris Pirillo » ijustine

Do People Lie on the Internet?

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:46:43 +0000

iJustine has an excellent video where she asks if you have ever met anyone in “real life” who was completely different than they were online. This is something I have run into many MANY times, actually. It seems as though everyone online creates a separate persona for themselves.

Justine notes that a person like this is called a Catfish. A Catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they are not using Facebook and other social media outlets to create false identities. This is usually done to create and pursue a deceptive online romance.

HOWEVER!

It’s not only romance people feel they have to create a persona for. Many business people tend to do this. Young people wanting to break in to the online world (such as on YouTube or blogs) feel they have to be something they are not. The problem is, no one wants to follow you or listen to a damn thing you say if you aren’t being YOU.

You are unique. Being yourself is the best thing you can do. So what if you aren’t the most handsome guy or gorgeous girl on the ‘net? Who cares if you aren’t the best… the smartest… the funniest? You are you… and that is pretty damn cool.

Have you ever met someone in person who was completely different than what you thought they would be after knowing them online?

Do People Lie on the Internet?

Why is iJustine Crying?

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:16:30 +0000

Why is iJustine Crying?

iJustine loves her Apple products. She’s famous (or is that infamous?) for her Apple store dance videos. She had a tshirt made for herself to wear while in line for her iPhone 4. I don’t think the girl slept for several days prior to launch day today.

So why did she cry when she left the Apple store today? Could it be that she was THAT happy and excited to have the hottest new gadget on the market in her own two hands?

Why is iJustine Crying?

Who is iJustine?

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 07:18:28 +0000

Who is iJustine?

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Traci was in Las Vegas last week to cover the CES conference for us. While there, she was able to catch up with none other than iJustine while attending Robert Scoble’s Blogger Party. Justine was, as always, fun and insightful. It ws the first time that Traci and Justine had met in person, which was apparently icing on the cake for Traci! Thanks so much to Daynah for working the Vado 3 that Creative provided to Traci for this conference.

Justine feels that this year, CES was ramped up quite a lot from what it was last year, and was having a great time. When she attends conferences, she doesn’t normally have an agenda of any kind. She just prefers to keep her options open, meet people she’s only ever talked to online, and reconnect with old friends!

Traci was asked to find out what Justine’s favorite snack is. When you guessed the answer, were you even close? I know I wasn’t!

Thanks again, Traci, for handling things so well for us during the conference!

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Who is iJustine?

Instant Internet Celebrities

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:57:56 +0000

Instant Internet Celebrities

I’ve talked before about Internet fame. During my many years online, I’ve seen people gain instant fame online… and seen them fade to nothing just as quickly. It’s interesting to me to try and figure out what makes a certain person or video “famous”. What causes it to go viral? I spend a lot of time reading things on the ‘net. I spend a lot of time pondering what it is that makes people tick. However, I’ve yet to put my finger on exactly what it is about some people that just seem to make them be a star of sorts seemingly overnight.

What do you think? What causes you to suddenly become a “fan” of someone? What is it about them that jumps out at you and draws you in?

Did you know that we are grooming future celebrities in our very own community? Hey – you never know! The next iJustine or Numa Numa kid could be on Geeks! You wouldn’t want to miss that, now would you?

If you’re looking for hot downloads at an excellent price, be sure to check out what we have available today!

Instant Internet Celebrities

Internet Famous

Chris Pirillo — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:11:11 +0000

Internet Famous

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I am not Internet famous. However, that hasn’t stopped Ron from wanting to ask me a series of questions relating to Internet fame. He’s talked to several other celebrities, and asked the same questions of them. I can only hope my humble video response helps him in some way with his research!

What were some of the factors in your early years or education that prompted your involvement in social media? – I’d have to say the Speak ‘n’ Math. I used to love punching numbers into that thing, and trying to solve math problems. I sucked at Math – I’ll admit it. I was always bad at showing my work on paper. Instead, I would create formulas with a calculator to solve the problems for me.
No longer associated with TechTV, how have you been reaching out to your audience? – You have to understand that I already had an online audience of over 100,000 people before TechTV ever happened. In fact, that is WHY I was asked to be on TechTV. I’ve been online since 1992. TechTV came about for me in 2001. I’m still doing the same things I have always done. It’s just easier to do now with the advent of new tools such as Facebook and Twitter.
What services do you provide your sponsors or clientele? – I do get paid to consult with companies about how to have a bigger and better presence online. I also do various speaking engagements throughout the year. As far as the sponsors, we produce the videos each week, as well as the Gnomedex conference.
While you may not consider yourself Internet famous, how has it led to your success online? How has it furthered your career? – It’s led to my success because I’m doing it. You have to work at it, constantly. You have to stay in touch with the people in your community. I don’t know how this has led to Internet fame. I have a very dynamic personality, for sure. I get paid to be myself. I don’t think I could achieve any more happiness than that.
How have you branded yourself? – Well, I am myself. The old Lockergnome classic cartoon-y looking logo has been around for many years. The Chris Pirillo brand is technology – information, help, advice. I’m a conduit for many thousands of people who share information and ideas, which is pretty cool.
What advice can you give others who are looking to make an impact online? – If you want to do it, dedicate yourself. Don’t expect success to come overnight. If you’re happy with what you’re doing – then you’re successful. When it comes to the way others will measure success, it’s hard won, and takes a lot of time and work to come by. Do something different. Be yourself – be genuine – but stand out!
Who do you consider to be Internet famous, and why? How do you think Internet fame differs from other types of fame? – I don’t consider it to be any different, actually. I think it’s a cult of personality, and it’s easier to connect with celebrity (and easier to become one) via the Internet. The main difference I’d say is connections between a person and their community. We used to have a distance between celebrities and their followers. This isn’t so prevalent now, with the advent of social media outlets. As for who I would consider to be Internet famous… iJustine. She’s genuine and has a good heart. I think she’s going to be moving on to bigger and better things in the near future.
What are you involved in today that differs from your previous work? – I’m doing a lot more local outreach here in Seattle. I’m doing things like meetups and Tweetups – either co hosting or attending. I’m meeting people who are doing the same types of things as I am. I’m much more locally aware than I used to be in the past.
What’s the one thing about you that people don’t know yet? – Hah! I sleep with my Throwboy RSS pillow!
Point me to a couple of URLs on YouTube of videos that you feel best showcase who you are. – I’m going to throw this back to my community. I’d like you guys to leave a comment to this video, and point out the URLs that you feel best show who I am. I’m interested to see your responses!
Are there any future projects you would like to share? – Yes! I’d like to share them all!

I certainly hope these answers helped! The video will soon be encoded, uploaded and posted to my blog by my good friend, assistant and Community Manager Kat. (YAY KAT!) She keeps me on track, and I couldn’t do what I do without her! There are a lot of people who are vital to this company, and I sincerely appreciate them all.

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Internet Famous

Is the Zero G Weightless Experience Worth It? Yes!

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:42:07 +0000

Is the Zero G Weightless Experience Worth It? Yes!

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Was it worth it? You bet your life it was. Ponzi and I were totally psyched to ride on the G-Force One, which is a specially modified aircraft that provides a zero gravity experience. Flying and floating around is just a feeling that is hard to describe, other than to say WOW! Even iJustine loved every second of it.

Your flight begins like any other commercial flight. You taxi out to the runway and await permission to take off. Once granted, the captain flies out for about a half an hour to the airspace that the FAA has designated as our playground for the day. About the time the captain of a commercial flight would be turning off the seatbelt sign, you are given the okay to unbuckle your seatbelt and truly “move about the cabin”. Your team leader will guide you to the floating area and instruct you to lay on the padded floor to prepare for the first parabola.

After a few moments of feeling pressed gently into the floor as you experience 1.8g’s, the Flight Director will call out “Martian 1” and you begin to feel lighter. Okay, so you haven’t done a pushup since Junior High, but suddenly it doesn’t seem that difficult – even if you are only using one finger. Between parabolas you assume the prone position on the floor as you mentally prepare what you want to do on the next parabola. Then you hear “Lunar 1” and jump up excitedly to see what this will feel like.

“ZERO-G.” It’s like nothing on Earth. Fly like Superman; drink a bubble of water floating by you; walk up the side of the plane; let your imagination stretch.

The first time we all floated up into the air, you can hear the screams and exclamations. People couldn’t begin to believe what they were doing, flying around that way. We thought we knew what to expect, but we were so completely wrong. After my first time, I learned not to push off. You’ll go skyrocketing around. I just let myself float up and away after that.

It was so unreal, almost like being on a roller coaster with no harness. By our third time ‘up’, no one was screaming anymore. All you could hear was shouts of how amazing it was, and laughter. By the fourth time, Ponzi was doing flips in mid-air and yelling out “awesome!” over and over. iJustine had a small, stuffed ostrich with her. She proved once and for all that ostriches DO, in fact, fly. My friend Peter Ha of Crunchgear had some sage words: “I can’t even describe it. It’s just amazing!!!”. I have to agree.

Ponzi tried to organize everyone to get together and hold hands. Then we would all go up in the air at the same time, and attempt to look like we were just jumping out of an airplane together. Everyone loved the idea so much, the crew helped us to do something really cool together. I had a water bottle, that had the cap nearly off. With no gravity, the water came out in spurts, and looked like these very cool bubbles.

Towards the end, I did a flip finally. I freaked out. I mean, seriously. I did a complete 360! It was just unreal. At the end, they had us all lay down on our stomachs in one line, and link arms. We pushed off all together, and the crew took some excellent pictures of us. Then next ‘lift off’ was all of us doing the Superman pose! I always knew I was supposed to be a super hero. And of course, someone busted out singing “I believe I can fly”.

What an amazing experience this was. I know I speak for us all when I say that it was life-changing, and something I am not ever going to forget. Thanks, Symantec!

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Is the Zero G Weightless Experience Worth It? Yes!