updates

December 28th, 2011 — Fashionistas, socialites, philanthropists, magazine editors, politicians and business moguls are among the overall top searched content on FameGame, but it was the wife of Dr. Mehmet Oz, Lisa Oz, who grabbed the top spot.

“The names that people are searching for on Google, and landing on their Fame Game profiles, are always an interesting barometer of what is on people’s minds,” said Tatiana Platt, a founder of Fame Game. “There was a wide range of industries reflected in this year’s results, but yet another member of the cast of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of New York City“ made it on the Top 10 list: Aviva Drescher.”

Fame Game is able to measure and analyze the overall attention of people, organizations, and parties in three different ways: through the use of its proprietary algorithm which takes into account public media, news and editorial mentions, user generated content, and attention on Fame Game (”Attention score”), through the internal search queries users are making on the site (”Search trends”), and through the individual profiles receiving the largest volume of web traffic on Fame Game (”Most Visited Profiles.”) Learn more about the algorithm and ranking system by visiting the about page.

Fame Game also announced a new list of Top 10 Palm Beach Movers and Shakers in light of its recent partnership with Lucien Capehart Photography, the premier society photographer of Palm Beach.

Highlights from this year’s top content include:

Fame Game’s Top Search Profiles of 2011

#1 Lisa Oz

#2 Carin Besser

#3 Jorn Weisbrodt

#4 Alejandro Santo Domingo

#5 Laurie Durning

#6 Kimberly Guilfoyle

#7 Lizzie Tisch

#8 Paige Bluhdorn

#9 Shala Monroque

#10 Aviva Drescher

Fame Game’s Top 10 Palm Beach Movers and Shakers 2011

#1 Petra Levin

#2 David Koch

#3 Carol Mack

#4 Thomas Quick

#5 Annie Falk

#6 Karin Luter

#7 Lois Pope

#8 Michele Kessler

#9 Talbott Maxey

#10 Mary Freitas

Fame Game’s Top 10 Best Dressed Movers and Shakers 2011

#1 Alexandra Lebenthal
#2 Bonnie Pfeifer Evans
#3 Yaz Hernandez
#4 Euan Rellie
#5 Jason Binn
#6 Julie Macklowe
#7 Derek Blasberg
#8 Stacey Bendet
#9 Zani Gugelmann
#10 Nacho Figueras

Fame Game (www.famegame.com) is an entertainment network that tracks the most visible members of the cultural landscape; currently the site maintains 200,000 public-facing ’social network’ profiles for influential individuals and organizations based on event photography, news mentions, user generated content, and other offline and online data. Fame Game leverages the content, cultural data, and attention of these individuals and organizations to make high premium PR campaigns thrive online.  

Fame Game, Search Trends, Celebrity, famegame.com, 2011 Trends, Movers and Shakers, New York City, Palm Beach, Social Media, Influence, Reality TV, Best Dressed
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We’re taking this winter/spring to improve the data aggregation points for the underlying technology at Fame Game. First and foremost that means increasing the breadth and depth of our news collection. Just a few weeks ago we went from 8 functioning feeds to 42 - from over 17 different publications - as a first and giant leap in the right direction. And yesterday, we started to incorporate these aggregated items into the People Connections section of all our profiles. (see newspaper icons on right, which represent ‘news connections’)

What does this mean you ask? Well firstly it means that we’re increasing the scope of what we consider to be “a connection.” Photos in which two people appear are the obvious first step, but establishing connections between people and organizations based on connections that a curated stable of news organizations make is an entirely different ballgame. It begs so many questions that its not worth confronting all of them here… suffice to say: we’re taking every step to make sure that the inclusion of this type of connection, and others soon to come, remains accountable and appropriate as it informs the Fame Game algorithm.

The common thread between all “connections” here is that they’re established by means of the 3rd party data sources to we collect. While we like to promote interesting and creative individuals/organizations/events - the sources we collect are the ones that determine how things are represented in Fame Game.

Ryan

February 6th, 2009 (New York, NY):  Fame Theory (creators of www.famegame.com), in partnership with BBH New York, announces the launch of Trust Art, a new project to reinvent the model of the contemporary art world.  The project, an innovative stock market for artistic and cultural renewal, is being launched on Friday during the TED Conference in Palm Springs.

In the spirit of the renewal that art brings to our lives, we ask not for a bailout, but simply for people to ponder a more playful question: Can financial and social capital elevate the art projects that are designed to elevate society?

Introducing Trust Art, a stock market for cultural renewal.

How it works - Trust Art consists of 10 emerging artists who have created fantastic blueprints for projects that can be realized within one year or less. The artists – Jason Eppink, Propel-her Dance Collective, Facundo Newberry, Justin Tellian, Anne McClain, Dave Olsen, Skewville, Cassie Thornton, Josh Powell, and Michael Rothschild – have each created proposals ranging from a documentary starring everyone in the world to the unearthing of giant pre-historic artifacts from the ocean floor.  The projects on the table are steeped in social, environmental, cultural, and economic value.

Investors will take a share in a Trust Art project, while also sharing word of Trust Art with their social circle. At the end of the year, when each art piece is auctioned, investors will split the proceeds hwith the artist – thereby potentially getting back their initial financial investment, a profit, increased social capital and a whole lot more in return.

Trust Art is an on-line experiment that BBH and Fame Theory hope will help define what is the actual impact of networking on an artists’ market value. At the same time, the project will provide artists the financial and social capital to fund their projects. The project asks whether the hardest to fund art projects can get off the ground with the help of a strong and connected social network?

Jose Serrano-Reyes and Seth Aylmer, two of the founders of Fame Theory, will unveil Trust Art at this week’s TED Conference in Palm Springs. Fame Theory investigates and affects the ways in which cultural innovation is funded, grown, and subsequently proliferated throughout society. The company partners with progressive organizations to help them attract the most connected, trusted, and fastest-rising social networks and cultural movements in any given city at any given time.  Fame Theory operates www.famegame.com, a website that maps and analyzes social connections and media attention.  This information gathered from www.famegame.com will power the Trust Art project.

Fame Theory approached BBH because of their expertise in creating interesting and new ideas and their skill in translating those visions into actual brands.  BBH New York then tapped Squarespace, a web publishing company known for powering tens of thousands of sophisticated websites for businesses, bloggers, and professionals worldwide, as the ultimate solution to build the Trust Art website using their incredible platform.

Phase 1 of the website launches Friday February 6th at TED Palm Springs

You can explore Trust Art on www.trustart.org.

About  Fame Theory
Fame Theory LLC is an ensemble of artists, economists, technologists, and business individuals whose work fundamentally consists of investigating and affecting the ways in which cultural innovation is funded, grown, and subsequently proliferated throughout culture. Fame Theory operates Fame Game (famegame.com), a rapidly-growing website that maps and analyzes social connections and media attention to help  promote meaningful ideas, people, and organizations in culture.

About BBH New York
BBH New York is a full-service advertising agency with clients that include ALL, Axe, Becel, British Airways, Johnnie Walker, GMAC, Levi’s, LG, Mentos, Miller Lite, NYC & Company, Promise, Vaseline, Virgin Mobile and vitaminwater. Further information is available at our website, www.bartleboglehegarty.com

About Squarespace
Squarespace, Inc. is a privately held publishing software company. Since its inception in 2003, has blossomed into a product that powers tens of thousands of sophisticated websites for businesses, bloggers, and professionals worldwide. Squarespace is defined by their insistence on software that provides an unparalleled user experience - every pixel is engineered and animated to be flawless. Squarespace was conceived to be — and will remain — a departure from the sea of free products and services that clutter today’s web marketplace. Learn more at www.squarespace.com

Mayor Bloomberg, Anna Wintour, and Marc Jacobs Among the Highest Ranked on the New York Scene in 2008. Fashion and Local Scandals Dominate as Largest Drivers of Web Traffic and Online trends on FameGame.com.

NEW YORK, N.Y. – December 29th, 2008:  Politicians, magazine editors, and fashion moguls were among the overall top ranked movers and shakers in New York City according to Fame Game’s annual lists of top content across more than 10 categories for 2008. Fashionistas and socialites continued to be hot topics for searchers as well, and they dominated many of the top content categories.

Fame Game is able to measure and analyze the overall attention of people, organizations, and parties in three different ways: through the use of its proprietary algorithm which takes into account public media, news and editorial mentions, user generated content, and attention on Fame Game (“Attention score”), through the internal search queries users are making on the site (“Search trends”), and through the individual profiles receiving the largest volume of web traffic on Fame Game (“Most Visited Profiles.”) Learn more about the algorithm and ranking system by visiting the about page.

“The profiles that people are visiting on Fame Game are a strong reflection of what is happening in the offline world, breaking news stories, and even fashion trends,” said Jen Novak, Chief Executive Officer of Fame Game. “People were clearly focused on the election this year, but even with sour economic news in the latter part of the year, we still saw a growing fascination with philanthropy, luxury and fashion.”

Highlights from this year’s top content include:

ATTENTION: HIGHEST RANKED 2008

Top Attention Overall: Fashion and Politics Beat Out Society

• In the wake of the economic meltdown, the New York media focused more on politicians and fashion moguls than the socialites and pseudo celebrities of years past. Mayor Bloomberg (1) takes the top spot, followed by Anna Wintour of Vogue (2), Derek Blasberg of Style.com and Women’s Wear Daily, socialite Fabiola Beracasa (4), designer Marc Jacobs (5), publicist Kristian Laliberte (6), Lindsay Lohan (7), Martha Stewart (8), socialite Emma Snowdon-Jones (9), and finally, Paris Hilton (10). Other notables: Tinsley Mortimer (12), Calvin Klein (15), the newest cast member of “Real Housewives of New York City,” Kelly Killoren Bensimon (18).

Top Fashion Designers: Social Designers Lead the Charge

• Marc Jacobs (1) remains in the limelight with his constant party hopping, followed tightly by socialite-turned designer Tory Burch (2) and the original wrap dress innovator Diane von Furstenberg (3).  Zac Posen (5) and Peter Som (10) climb their way into the top 10. New York designers Cynthia Rowley (11) and Nicole Miller (12) just barely miss the top 10.

Top NY Politicos: New York Locals Win the Race, Scandal Propels Spitzer to New High

• Mayor Bloomberg (1) takes the cake with the number one spot, followed closely by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (2), and Senator-Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton (3). Hillary Clinton’s husband Bill takes the number 5 spot, while Eliot Spitzer (6) rises to the top 10 in the wake of scandal.

Top Magazine Editors: Fashion and Home

• Anna Wintour of Vogue keeps her reign as queen bee taking the number one spot, while Martha Stewart (2) takes the number 2 spot and Glenda Bailey (3) of Harpers Bazaar comes in slightly behind. Other notables: David Zinczenko (5) of Men’s Health and the Abs Diet empire and Graydon Carter (6) of Vanity Fair slips out of the top five.

Top NY Patrons of the Arts/Philanthropy: New York Power Scene

• Gillian Miniter (1), Somers Farkas (3), and Beth Rudin de Woody (4) show that art and society are still intertwined as they continue to dominate the New York power scene. Other notables: Highest ranked male “patron” Mark Gilbertson (5) and Valesca Guerrand Hermes (8.)

Top New York Famous Children: Ann Dexter Jones’ Brood Monopolizes at the Top

• Three of the children of Ann Dexter Jones fill out the top 10: Designer Charlotte Ronson (5), DJ and Lindsay Lohan girlfriend Samantha Ronson (9), and music producer Mark Ronson (10). Not surprisingly, the top spot is taken by Ivanka Trump, and 3 Hearsts show up as well: Lydia Hearst (3), Amanda Hearst (7), and Gillian Hearst Simonds (8).

Top Movers and Shakers: High Profile Divorces and Child Custody Spats

• Drama around the divorce between Christie Brinkley (1) and Peter Cook (5) drives them both into the top 10. And the custody fight over Caleigh Perelman puts father Ronald Perelman (2) and mom Patricia Duff (3) prominently in the local news and online.

Top News Anchors/Media Personalities: Evening Anchors Beat Out Morning Co-Hosts

• CBS anchor Katie Couric (1) takes the top spot, followed tightly by Barbara Walters (2) and Anderson Cooper (3). Other Notables: Morning show stars Al Roker (4) and Matt Lauer (7) are not far behind.

Top Business Moguls: Trump vs. Murdoch Reign Supreme

• Donald Trump’s (1) TV promotion propels him slightly ahead of Rupert Murdoch (2), while Harvey Weinstein (3), Barry Diller (4), and Jeff Zucker (5) round out the top five list.

Top New York Newspaper Gossip Columnists/Society Contributors: Niche Media is King, But the Dailies Hold Their Ground.

• Grande dame Debbie Bancroft (1), ranks at the top, with the top 10 heavily weighted by the New York Post and the New York Daily News. Other notables: R. Couri Hay (2) and Jeff Slonim (3), both contributors to Niche Media publications.

Top NY Media Power Brokers (Top 5): Page Six Dominates

• Richard Johnson (1), Editor of Page Six for the New York Post retains his stronghold. Youthful newbie Jared Kushner (2) comes in at number 2 with his New York Observer. Other notables: Two Internet mavens make it to the top 5: Tina Brown with The Daily Beast (3), and Arianna Huffington’s Huffington Post (4).

Top Artists (Top 5): Modern Artists Keep the Media’s Attention

• Abstract artist Hunt Slonem (1) comes in on top followed by well-known extremist Jeff Koons (2).  Julian Schnabel (3) and Ross Bleckner (4) take number 3 and 4, while Damien Hirst (5) closes out the list.

Top Authors (Top 5): New York Society Chronicles and Cameos

• Candace Bushnell secures the top position with her latest book, “One Fifth Avenue”, and her TV series, “Lipstick Jungle”. Newcomer Anisha Lakhani (2) makes a surprising landing at number 2 with the release of “Schooled”. Jay McInerney (3) proves that being a regular contributor to New York magazines, and even doing a cameo on “Gossip Girl” can help you hold your own.

Top Gossip Girl Cast Members: Serena on top no more, Real-Life Blair and Jenny reign over Serena in media

• New Yorkers continue to show local support for The CW’s “Gossip Girl” cast. The girls win again: Leighton Meester (1) takes the number one spot, followed by Taylor Momsen (2) and then Blake Lively (3). Male co-stars Ed Westwick (4) and Penn Badgley (5) follow, while Chace Crawford fails to make the top 5.

Top Real Housewives of New York City: Newbie steals the scene

• The cast’s newest addition Kelly Killoren Bensimon (1) rises to the top of the pack, followed by Countess Luann de Lesseps (2) and Bethenny Frankel (3).  Jill Zarin (4) and Alex McCord (5) round out the top 5. Ramona Singer fails to make the top 5.

MOST VISITED OVERALL: LARGEST VOLUME OF WEB TRAFFIC 2008

2008 Most Visited People Profiles Overall

• “The Real Housewives of New York City”’s large volumes of web traffic attests to an ongoing fascination with reality TV, especially when it involves New Yorkers. The “Housewives” are followed closely by a smattering of well known New York socialites including Tinsley Mortimer, Amanda Hearst, and Olivia Palermo. Countess Luann de Lesseps (1) and her husband Count Alexandre de Lesseps (2) take the top 2, followed by cast member Jill Zarin (3) and CNN News Anchor Poppy Harlow (4).

2008 Most Visited Party Profiles Overall

• Fame Game’s co-hosted event (with Volkswagen and Z!NK Magazine): This World is Yours (1) takes the number one spot, followed by the Best Buddies Beach Bash (2), and Russell Simmons’ Art for Life (3) event in East Hampton. Other notables: Disney Channel Games (4) and New York After Dark (7), an event held at the Museum of the City of New York.

2008 Most Visited Organization Profiles: TV, Fashion, and Magazines on top

• Longstanding fashion magazine (and Anna Wintour’s prodigy) Vogue (1) comes in at number one, followed by Niche Media’s Gotham Magazine (2) under the leadership of Cristina Greeven Cuomo. Third place goes to luxury brand Louis Vuitton (3). Other notables: Vanity Fair (4) and Bergdorf Goodman (9).

SEARCH TRENDS: TOP SEARCHES ON FAMEGAME.COM 2008

2008 Top Search Terms: Socialites and media personalities most searched for on FameGame.com

• Paris Hilton (1) comes in as the number one most searched for term, followed by socialites Tinsley Mortimer (2) and Olivia Palermo (3), journalist-turned blogging mogul Julia Allison (4), and controversial publicist Kristian Laliberte (5).

More content and the full lists below. (more…)

Just a few updates on the technical end of Fame Game. Our recent event initiative and a few writeups (as well as our automagical SEO) put the infrastructure of Fame Game into overdrive, and it didn’t quite survive. We’ve learned a few lessons (most notably that you can’t hold a website together with bubble gum and scotch tape) and are proud to say we’re well on our way to adulthood. At this point we’re approaching a critical juncture with the growth of Fame Game and wanted to say thanks for playing along with us at home. Parties and Projects has turned out to be a success, all the new photo content seems to be a big hit, and we’re watching more and more of you have claimed your profiles — accepting the invitation to bring this “fame game” online.

In the coming months we’ll be improving the functionality of Fame Game for members as well as providing a few opportunities for those who feel that they should be accounted for in the Fame Game community (but aren’t) to play along. We’re also revising Fame Game’s ANDY algorithm to be more accountable for other New York media sources, and further weighting the user generated content submissions. Because Fame Game can’t track every New York item, we’re hoping this will make the process a bit more democratic.

Until then!

Ryan

ryan [at] famegame

Now that we’ve got the PLAY blog up and running (please go check it out if you haven’t), we’re repurposing this older blog as a platform for news and updates about Fame Game at large. PLAY is our exploration of this culture, the media that surrounds it, and the underpinnings of Fame in New York… this blog, by contrast, is more about the technology of Fame Game and our growth as a tool, reference point, and cultural map.

As such, we might as well get right to it: Fame Game is getting a ton of traffic and it has slowed the site down us down to a crawl!!! This is a bit like the problem we encountered during the winter, except that we’re finally building out the infrastructure that will allow us to grow much much quicker. We’re constantly working to improve the experience and meet demand, so please bear with us. It will be over soon, I promise.

As always, if you have any questions please write to me at rbrown [at] famegame.

Ryan

Fame Game has seen continued rapid growth in content, users, and traffic over the past few months and with that comes some exciting new changes… Wanted to update you all on a few things going on that we are excited about.

The first, you may have seen, is our new “Movers and Shakers” list, based on our algorithm ANDY. Movers and Shakers is a weekly metric used to showcase those individuals in various industries who are movin’ and shakin’ so to speak (i.e. doing and producing interesting cultural things, attending events, being photographed, being written about in the media, and being searched for by others.) Among those making this weeks list include media mogul Jared Kusher, artist Jeff Koons, Fashionista-turned Candy store owner Dylan Lauren, and supermodel Karolina Kurkova.

Movers and Shakers will update automatically every Monday morning with the previous week’s tally, so make sure to check back. Oh, and please remember: we didn’t make the rules, we’re just keeping score! ANDY (and Movers and Shakers) is based on media mentions, search trends, and event photography - so, you’ve gotta get yourself out there to get on the list!

Next, we’re just weeks away from launching our new blog PLAY. PLAY will be a cultural exploration of sorts, and we are bringing in writers from all over to help contribute. PLAY will feature commentary on interesting events such as this one, a party sponsored by AMEX and hosted by our friends at Envirolution, announcing the launch of their new website (Fame Game friend and photographer Stephanie Hodges was there to capture the event - check out pictures here.)

PLAY will also feature thoughts on fame, media, and the state of luxury branding — insights into the larger themes of Fame Theory — all in an attempt to illuminate the bigger picture and why we seem to care so much about these celebrity-types and things like algorithms, rank, news, data, and attention. (I know you’re all waiting in anticipation.)

Jen

jen [at] famegame

p.s., I’m Jen, the newest full time employee at Fame Game. Hi, hello, nice to meet you. I’m just getting into this blogging thing, so bear with me.

Few updates:

We changed the color of the logo (really, white is better).

We’ve fixed many of the event and news feeds, so all of your events should be updating much quicker.

We brought on an advertising parter, and are really excited to work with other brands as well to help bring their PR online. (check our Advertising Page, to learn more)

We’re working on some really fun new iniatives, and also the ability for users to add events to their profiles (finally!)

As always, write in with any questions!

Ryan

ryan [at] famegame.com

Yesterday I had to take down the scene and tag pages for a little while to make sure the webserver stays lively.

Over the course of the next week we will be doing some upgrades that will help us compete with all of this traffic. We’re adding a new burly server for just our database, and today I offloaded all of our overnight data analysis scripts onto a new server. Hurah!

Stay tuned, we’ll keep you informed. Sorry for any speed issues you may run into, feel free to yell at me via email.

Cheers,

Tim

tim [at] famegame.com

What we thought was a cut and dry case of sleeping in turned out to be an epic battle of hacking with Mumbai and China. This morning we found that our server had been the target of an international squadron of hackers. (maybe only one hacker using multiple computers in different nations) It was a serious battle of wits and boring computer commands.

None the less, Fame Game is back up and rocking. Check out the latest events on the homepage if your so inclined or rock out on the 6 degrees of Paris Hilton.

Tim

tim [at] famegame.com

p.s. they ruined my day!!!! what a waste of time!!!!