Connect with us

FACEBOOK

How Partiful has become the hot invitation app for startup founders

Published

on

hybrid events

Since The New York Times has called it the “least cringe” invite platform of 2022, Partiful has taken off among young tech workers — and now, e-commerce founders. 

Founded in 2020, Partiful describes itself as “Facebook events for hot people,” and has a bold, graphic Gen Z-friendly aesthetic. First adopted by tech employees, it’s also been referred to as the Eventbrite for Generation Z.  

Partiful has become popular for hosting birthdays, happy hours and other private events. Once users have RSVP’d, they’re also able to see other people’s profiles and react to their attendance status using emojis. In the past year, Partiful has also quietly become the RSVP app du jour among CPG founders and startup employees, who like its simple features like attendee profiles and calendar reminders. According to several founders and retail industry folks, social distancing hindered industry gatherings — and Partiful creates a quick and seamless way to bring people together again. While the platform still lacks some key features, some people are considering eventually using it for official brand events and popups.

Currently, the invite tools are open and free for anyone to use regardless of event size. 

Partiful did not respond to a request for insight on the platform’s future business model. But the company currently has job postings for product designers and mobile engineers, which could mean an app is coming soon. In November, Partiful also closed a $20 million Series A series led by Andreessen Horowitz. Even still, the startup’s snarky social media accounts have made it clear the founders are in no rush to make money from the platform.

So for now, people in retail startup circles are taking advantage of Partiful’s tools to find each other and network — albeit with more of a “party” sense. 

Advertisement

Over the past few months, Omsom co-founder Kim Pham has been hosting “quarterly bored meetings” using Partiful. The series invites founders and adjacent retail industry people to casually mingle over drinks, at a private location that’s only visible to attendees.

Networking is important for many CPG startup founders, who are constantly looking for growth opportunities such as brand collaborations and potential investments. “But for a lot of us who launched our businesses during Covid, we’ve felt more alone,” Pham said. She added that during the first year of building Omsom, which launched in 2020, she and co-founder Vanessa Pham “were pretty much building it solo” without much in-person support.

“It may seem silly, but a lot of those events aren’t just for professional networking,” Pham said. “They help create connections to other founders who could become close confidants, mentors or even friends.” 

That said, young founders like Pham aren’t rushing to attend stiff networking happy hours. In February Pham and friend Azora Zoe, the founder of sustainable homeware brand Goldune, organized a Partiful invite for the aforementioned quarterly bored meetings. 

Pham said the ease of setup and room for creativity are the two biggest draws for startup people. The platform’s UX also allows for a lot of personality with a fairly low lift, she added. Since Partiful exclusively uses SMS for communication, there are no emails that potentially end up in spam folders. 

Other industry people like Partiful’s instant reach, especially when putting out a call for colleagues to meet up in cities like New York or San Francisco.

Advertisement

CPG consultant Nate Rosen, who is currently working on launching a beverage brand, said that Partiful’s mantra “feels very unapologetic” about creating a fun and casual atmosphere. 

The site also helps fill a niche digital invite void.

“Since people stopped using Facebook, there hasn’t really been a good option to organize and host industry events,” Rosen said. For the most part, Rosen and CPG startup colleagues were organizing events using a mixture of email, texts and calendar invites.

Once in-person events resumed, Rosen and a few colleagues began organizing a monthly “CPG happy hour” in New York City using Partiful. “We can easily throw up an invite page at the last minute and send it to a wide range of people,” Rosen said.

For recurring events like the monthly happy hours and Rosen’s newly-launched quarterly brand panel event, Partiful’s archived events data also help.

“It shows who went to what event, which is helpful because I don’t always remember to invite everyone,” Rosen said. Partiful has also proven useful for organizing meetups at trade shows and conferences while traveling, he added.

Advertisement

In January, Rosen began using Partiful to co-host a panel called “the consumer council,” which has attracted executives from brands like Belgian Boys and men’s skincare startup Huron. “We’ve already had founders of brands like Lunar seltzer and Myvino attend, so we’re going to try to do it once a month,” Rosen said.

For now, Partiful is mainly being used for internal gatherings and industry networking. 

However, CPG incubator The Naked Market is experimenting with Partiful for official branded events. The company used the site to host a private DJ set with Joe Jonas for his brand, Rob’s Backstage Popcorn, at Expo West earlier this month; The Naked Market has a joint venture with Rob’s Backstage Popcorn. 

Harrison Fugman, co-founder and CEO of The Naked Market, said the incubator launched at the end of 2019 right before the pandemic and it wasn’t until the past few months that they started doing physical events.

“We wanted the event to be jovial and celebratory, and turning the first night of the show into a dance party was the perfect recipe for networking with the rest of the CPG community,” Fugman said. The Naked Market got a lot of feedback that Partiful’s reminder feature was helpful for Expo West attendees. “It was great being able to push out real-time updates so everyone could make sure they were there during the DJ set,” Fugman said.

That said, Partiful not being a full-fledged invitation platform poses limitations. For example, attendees aren’t able to automatically download event invites to their calendar. 

Advertisement

“I will absolutely be considering using the platform for Omsom events,” Pham said. But first, she’d like more customization options for the landing page to be able to integrate a more branded experience.

Similarly, Fugman said that when it comes to corporate events, Partiful “definitely has some shortcomings compared to competitors, but it did the trick.” 



Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

FACEBOOK

Facebook Faces Yet Another Outage: Platform Encounters Technical Issues Again

Published

on

By

Facebook Problem Again

Uppdated: It seems that today’s issues with Facebook haven’t affected as many users as the last time. A smaller group of people appears to be impacted this time around, which is a relief compared to the larger incident before. Nevertheless, it’s still frustrating for those affected, and hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon by the Facebook team.

Facebook had another problem today (March 20, 2024). According to Downdetector, a website that shows when other websites are not working, many people had trouble using Facebook.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has had issues. Just a little while ago, there was another problem that stopped people from using the site. Today, when people tried to use Facebook, it didn’t work like it should. People couldn’t see their friends’ posts, and sometimes the website wouldn’t even load.

Downdetector, which watches out for problems on websites, showed that lots of people were having trouble with Facebook. People from all over the world said they couldn’t use the site, and they were not happy about it.

When websites like Facebook have problems, it affects a lot of people. It’s not just about not being able to see posts or chat with friends. It can also impact businesses that use Facebook to reach customers.

Since Facebook owns Messenger and Instagram, the problems with Facebook also meant that people had trouble using these apps. It made the situation even more frustrating for many users, who rely on these apps to stay connected with others.

Advertisement

During this recent problem, one thing is obvious: the internet is always changing, and even big websites like Facebook can have problems. While people wait for Facebook to fix the issue, it shows us how easily things online can go wrong. It’s a good reminder that we should have backup plans for staying connected online, just in case something like this happens again.

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

FACEBOOK

Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy

Published

on

Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy

LAHORE, Pakistan — A court in Pakistan granted bail to a Christian falsely charged with blasphemy, but he and his family have separated and gone into hiding amid threats to their lives, sources said.

Haroon Shahzad (right) with attorney Aneeqa Maria. | The Voice Society/Morning Star News

Haroon Shahzad, 45, was released from Sargodha District Jail on Nov. 15, said his attorney, Aneeqa Maria. Shahzad was charged with blasphemy on June 30 after posting Bible verses on Facebook that infuriated Muslims, causing dozens of Christian families in Chak 49 Shumaali, near Sargodha in Punjab Province, to flee their homes.

Lahore High Court Judge Ali Baqir Najfi granted bail on Nov. 6, but the decision and his release on Nov. 15 were not made public until now due to security fears for his life, Maria said.

Shahzad told Morning Star News by telephone from an undisclosed location that the false accusation has changed his family’s lives forever.

“My family has been on the run from the time I was implicated in this false charge and arrested by the police under mob pressure,” Shahzad told Morning Star News. “My eldest daughter had just started her second year in college, but it’s been more than four months now that she hasn’t been able to return to her institution. My other children are also unable to resume their education as my family is compelled to change their location after 15-20 days as a security precaution.”

Though he was not tortured during incarceration, he said, the pain of being away from his family and thinking about their well-being and safety gave him countless sleepless nights.

Advertisement



“All of this is due to the fact that the complainant, Imran Ladhar, has widely shared my photo on social media and declared me liable for death for alleged blasphemy,” he said in a choked voice. “As soon as Ladhar heard about my bail, he and his accomplices started gathering people in the village and incited them against me and my family. He’s trying his best to ensure that we are never able to go back to the village.”

Shahzad has met with his family only once since his release on bail, and they are unable to return to their village in the foreseeable future, he said.

“We are not together,” he told Morning Star News. “They are living at a relative’s house while I’m taking refuge elsewhere. I don’t know when this agonizing situation will come to an end.”

The Christian said the complainant, said to be a member of Islamist extremist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and also allegedly connected with banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, filed the charge because of a grudge. Shahzad said he and his family had obtained valuable government land and allotted it for construction of a church building, and Ladhar and others had filed multiple cases against the allotment and lost all of them after a four-year legal battle.

“Another probable reason for Ladhar’s jealousy could be that we were financially better off than most Christian families of the village,” he said. “I was running a successful paint business in Sargodha city, but that too has shut down due to this case.”

Regarding the social media post, Shahzad said he had no intention of hurting Muslim sentiments by sharing the biblical verse on his Facebook page.

Advertisement



“I posted the verse a week before Eid Al Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice] but I had no idea that it would be used to target me and my family,” he said. “In fact, when I came to know that Ladhar was provoking the villagers against me, I deleted the post and decided to meet the village elders to explain my position.”

The village elders were already influenced by Ladhar and refused to listen to him, Shahzad said.

“I was left with no option but to flee the village when I heard that Ladhar was amassing a mob to attack me,” he said.

Shahzad pleaded with government authorities for justice, saying he should not be punished for sharing a verse from the Bible that in no way constituted blasphemy.

Similar to other cases

Shahzad’s attorney, Maria, told Morning Star News that events in Shahzad’s case were similar to other blasphemy cases filed against Christians.

Advertisement



“Defective investigation, mala fide on the part of the police and complainant, violent protests against the accused persons and threats to them and their families, forcing their displacement from their ancestral areas, have become hallmarks of all blasphemy allegations in Pakistan,” said Maria, head of The Voice Society, a Christian paralegal organization.

She said that the case filed against Shahzad was gross violation of Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which states that police cannot register a case under the Section 295-A blasphemy statute against a private citizen without the approval of the provincial government or federal agencies.

Maria added that Shahzad and his family have continued to suffer even though there was no evidence of blasphemy.

“The social stigma attached with a blasphemy accusation will likely have a long-lasting impact on their lives, whereas his accuser, Imran Ladhar, would not have to face any consequence of his false accusation,” she said.

The judge who granted bail noted that Shahzad was charged with blasphemy under Section 295-A, which is a non-cognizable offense, and Section 298, which is bailable. The judge also noted that police had not submitted the forensic report of Shahzad’s cell phone and said evidence was required to prove that the social media was blasphemous, according to Maria.

Bail was set at 100,000 Pakistani rupees (US $350) and two personal sureties, and the judge ordered police to further investigate, she said.

Advertisement



Shahzad, a paint contractor, on June 29 posted on his Facebook page 1 Cor. 10:18-21 regarding food sacrificed to idols, as Muslims were beginning the four-day festival of Eid al-Adha, which involves slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat.

A Muslim villager took a screenshot of the post, sent it to local social media groups and accused Shahzad of likening Muslims to pagans and disrespecting the Abrahamic tradition of animal sacrifice.

Though Shahzad made no comment in the post, inflammatory or otherwise, the situation became tense after Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers telling people to gather for a protest, family sources previously told Morning Star News.

Fearing violence as mobs grew in the village, most Christian families fled their homes, leaving everything behind.

In a bid to restore order, the police registered a case against Shahzad under Sections 295-A and 298. Section 295-A relates to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs” and is punishable with imprisonment of up to 10 years and fine, or both. Section 298 prescribes up to one year in prison and a fine, or both, for hurting religious sentiments.

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.

Advertisement



Morning Star News is the only independent news service focusing exclusively on the persecution of Christians. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide complete, reliable, even-handed news in order to empower those in the free world to help persecuted Christians, and to encourage persecuted Christians by informing them that they are not alone in their suffering.

Free Religious Freedom Updates

Join thousands of others to get the FREEDOM POST newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post.

Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

FACEBOOK

Individual + Team Stats: Hornets vs. Timberwolves

Published

on

CHARLOTTE HORNETS MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on X: Facebook – All Hornets X – …

Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

Trending

Follow by Email
RSS