Emerson Spartz
| Emerson Spartz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | February 17, 1987 Laporte, Indiana, U.S.A. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | CEO of Spartz Media |
| Known for | Mugglenet, GivesMeHope |
| Website | |
| spartzmedia.com | |
Emerson Spartz (born February 17, 1987) is the founder of the #1 Harry Potter fansite, Mugglenet.com, and currently serves as CEO of Chicago-based Spartz Media.[1] "Spartz Media’s network of sites receives 8.5 million monthly visitors, has 5 million followers on Facebook and Twitter, and an audience comparable to that of the Chicago Tribune." [2]
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] MuggleNet
Spartz founded the MuggleNet website in 1999 as a homeschooled twelve-year-old.[3] As CEO, he oversees 120 volunteers and a paid staff. [4] [5]
In 2007, Emerson co-authored a book - "MuggleNet.com's What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7 - Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Falls in Love, and How the Series Finally Ends."[6] As of July 21, 2007, 'What Will Happen' sold 335,000 copies and reached #2 on the New York Times Children's Bestseller List. It spent 6 months on the list. Emerson went on a tour with Ben Schoen, another Mugglenet.com staff member, in June 2007 to promote their work. [7]
In 2009, Emerson Spartz and Ben Schoen penned another book, "MuggleNet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died: Controversial Views From The #1 Fan Site". [8]
[edit] Spartz Media
In 2007, Spartz incorporated Spartz Inc. to serve as the legal entity representing his MuggleNet e-business. [1] Spartz now has 24 people working for him. [9]
In May 2009, GivesMeHope (GMH) was founded by Spartz and his then-future wife, Gaby Montero, in response to the popular site, FMyLife (FML), itself a spin-off of popular French website Viedemerde.fr.[10] Exhausted by the negativity of the media, they created GivesMeHope.[11] The two refer to the site as "Chicken Soup for the Soul – the 21st Century, Twitter-style version."[12] On the site, people share with the world their most hopeful, uplifting moments while answering the question, "what gives you hope?"[12] On GivesMeHope, users share true stories of kindness and generosity. They are usually inspiring, sentimental and "heartbreakingly sweet." [13]
On December 30, 2009, the two launched a GivesMeHope spin-off site LoveGivesMeHope.com (LGMH). The site aimed at those who "can't get enough of the love stories on GivesMeHope".[14] As of August 5, 2010, LoveGivesMeHope has over 160,000 fans on Facebook.[15] The stories are shared widely on platforms such as Facebook. Since February 1, 2010, the site has produced some stories that have been shared over 565,000 times on Facebook.[16]
In January 2010 Emerson and Gaby collaborated with Adorian Deck to create OMG-Facts.com a site similar to GMH, in which visitors can view interesting facts, and vote on upcoming facts.[17] As of September 28, 2011, the OMGFacts Twitter account has over 2.5 million followers. [18] The site's YouTube account, as of September 2011, has half a million subscribers. [19]
Spartz Media later created another site called SixBillionSecrets.com "where people share hopes, fears dreams and are treated in a non-judgmental way by a supportive community" [20]
In November 2010, GivesMeHope released a book of the top 127 stories from GivesMeHope. In the book, each story is accompanied by an illustration. [21]
In early September 2010, Spartz Media launched a new site, called Kids Give Me Hope, in which people submit stories in which they have been inspired by something a child has done or said. [22]
Another addition to the Spartz Network is Taste of Awesome - a brand new site launched in late October 2010, described as " Boring Photos + Epic Captions". [23]
In late 2010/early 2011, two new sites were launched onto the network: Unfriendable ('fails' from Facebook, Yahoo! Answers, Cleverbot etc.), and SmartphOWNED, a site which includes mistakes written in texts.[24]
The Spartz Network is still adding websites, 1 per month. [19]
[edit] Personal Life
Emerson was a self-taught home-schooler through high school, and graduated in May 2009 with a degree in management concentration from the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. In 2007, Spartz incorporated Spartz Inc. to serve as the legal entity representing his MuggleNet e-business. [1]
Spartz and Gaby Montero were married on September 3, 2011.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Emerson 2.0". http://bizmagazine.nd.edu/article/?id=3.
- ^ "No Ordinary Muggle". http://nd.edu/aboutnd/spotlight/spartz/.
- ^ "Wild About Harry". http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2007/db20070622_592856.htm.
- ^ "The Planet Provides Web Hosting for Harry Potter Site". http://www.tophosts.com/articles/005630.html.
- ^ "The Official Website of Emerson Spartz". http://www.nd.edu/~espartz/skills.html. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
- ^ "Children’s Books". http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/books/review/Siegel.t.html?ex=1173330000&en=e9991ddbf4ca0d3f&ei=5070.
- ^ "The Planet Provides Web Hosting for Harry Potter Site". http://www.tophosts.com/articles/005630.html.
- ^ "Creator of Most Popular Harry Potter Fan Site Speaks at Fordham Univeristy". http://www.theramonline.com/news/creator-of-most-popular-harry-potter-fan-site-speaks-at-fordham-univeristy-1.2462132.
- ^ "Chicago Man Inspired By Harry Potter Conjures Up Career". http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/14/chicago-man-inspired-by-harry-potter-conjures-up-career/.
- ^ Matt Sullivan. Esquire: "GivesMeHope.com: When Bankruptcy, Plane Crashes, and Mondays Get You Down" June 1, 2009.
- ^ WSBT Evening News (CBS 22): "Need some good news?" Jul 16, 2009.
- ^ a b Emerson Spartz, Gaby Montero. GivesMeHope: "About GMH"
- ^ "8 feel-good websites to brighten your day". http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/08/02/8.sites.brighten.day/index.html.
- ^ Emerson Spartz, Gaby Montero. LoveGivesMeHope: "About LGMH"
- ^ Emerson Spartz, Gaby Montero. LoveGivesMeHope: "LoveGivesMeHope Official Fanpage"
- ^ Nick O' Neil. All Facebook: "LoveGivesMeHope Goes Massively Viral Thanks To Facebook" May 25, 2010.
- ^ "From Interviewing JK Rowling To Inspiring Millions Every Month – with Emerson Spartz". http://www.entrepreneursunpluggd.com/blog/emerson-spartz-interview.
- ^ "The Twitaholic.com Top 100 Twitterholics based on Followers". http://twitaholic.com/.
- ^ a b "MuggleNet Founder and '09 ND Alum Spartz Creates Online Media Corporation". http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/scene/mugglenet-founder-and-09-nd-alum-spartz-creates-online-media-corporation-1.2591232.
- ^ "That girl in Rebecca Black video? She's cool". http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-09-15/news/30170382_1_ark-music-factory-online-chatter-youtube.
- ^ "GMH Book". http://www.givesmehope.com/gmhbook.
- ^ "KGMH Spartz Media Brands". http://www.spartzmedia.com/our-brands/.
- ^ "Taste Of Awesome-Spartz Media Brands". http://www.spartzmedia.com/our-brands/.
- ^ "Spartz Media Brands". http://www.spartzmedia.com/our-brands/.
