People Are Talking!

ASU Launch Press Release
MLB All-Star Luis Gonzalez Launches ASUIsTalking.com
Click Here to download the launch Press Release.

Jobing.com Partnership Press Release
Dynamic new social networking site and nation's largest local online employment community join forces to provide comprehensive career resources for college students!
Click Here to download the Jobing.com Press Release.

Tempe Marketplace Makes a New Friend - Luis Gonzalez's ASUIsTalking Social Network
Luis Gonzalez's ASUIsTalking has officially signed an agreement with Tempe Marketplace to become the exclusive social networking partner of the outdoor shopping experience!
Click Here to download the Tempe Marketplace Press Release.

In The Press
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June, 2008
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Marlins outfielder Gonzalez launches networking site for colleges, alumni
by Sarah Talalay

Florida Marlins outfielder Luis Gonzalez is concentrating on his 18th season in baseball, but he also has a business venture he hopes will keep him busy in his post-playing career. With friend and business partner Anthony Conti, Gonzalez has launched IsTalking.com, which develops social networking sites tailored for colleges and alumni associations with information about everything from sports gatherings to social events. So far, only ASUIsTalking.com for Arizona State University has launched; its accompanying alumni site is in testing. But the company has purchased IsTalking URLs for more than 370 colleges and universities across the country. ASU is the first because Gonzalez played eight seasons for the Arizona Diamondbacks and makes his home in Scottsdale.
"It's kind of a unique concept," said Gonzalez, who handed out hats and T-shirts on campus this winter to promote the site along with Sparky, the Sun Devils' mascot, who is a member. "We don't want it to be like a Facebook or a MySpace, where somebody in Germany is talking to somebody in Arizona. It's for the school.... We want to keep it localized, just to keep it fun for college students."
The site, which is free to students, allows for user profiles and information about local events and job opportunities. Revenue is generated by advertising, which is tailored to students. Conti, who knows Gonzalez because their kids attend the same school, is the vice president of digital media for a radio company. He designed IsTalking.com as a dynamic site that provides the benefits of social networking — profiles, e-mail, blogs and poll questions — but is tailored for college students, who could win iPods and computers and learn about events on or near campus.
"We want to keep it on the university and about the university," Conti said.
The alumni site has a more professional focus. Jennifer Holsman, executive director of ASU's Alumni Association, said 70 percent of the university's 280,000 "reachable" alumni are 45 or younger and social networking is important to them.
"It's a great opportunity for folks to begin to communicate with each other that is easy and cost-effective," she said.
Conti said he is talking with other institutions about rolling out more sites, but both he and Gonzalez are more concerned about ensuring the sites work before expanding too fast. That doesn't mean Gonzalez isn't hoping to make a splash.
"We always kid around," Gonzalez said, "but it'd be great to have a company that could go on that [CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny] Deutsch show."

© South Florida Sun-Sentinel - Sarah Talalay

May, 2008
Regan.com
The Social Site to Watch for University PR Pros
by David Murray

When it comes to keeping an eye on university-based social media sites, it seems a university communicator’s job is not only never done—but also hardly begun. College PR pros wonder how to deal with social media sites that are so nasty they can hardly bear to look! There is at least one University social network keeping it on the up and up. ASUIsTalking.com is the one to watch: University-specific social media platforms like ASUIsTalking.com will proliferate. “We are not a GLOBAL social netork,” says ASUIsTalking, launched by a new social network company called IsTalking.com, which aims to bring Facebook-type networks to more college campuses. “We focus all content on what is happening around YOU. On your campus, in your neighborhood and in your world.”

© Regan.com - College PR Watch - David Murray

April, 2008
The ASU West Times
Move Over MySpace
by Joshua Snyder

ASUIsTalking is the university's (ASU) newest way for students to stay connected with their classmates, faculty and surrounding community. Created in January of this year as part of IsTalking, LLC, by Luis Gonzalez (yes, that Luis Gonzalez) and Anthony Conti, the web site is geared to serve as an alternative to the MySpace and Facebook social networking craze. Rather then allowing anyone to join, ASUIsTalking focuses strictly on students who are part of ASU. While this may seem detrimental when connecting with friends from across the country, the limited scope makes it much easier to become part of the campus experience.
This may prove to be especially relevant at ASU's West campus. Primarily viewed as a commuter campus, most students at West simply go to their classes and then head home, without taking part in any of the clubs or activities that are available on campus.
"What ASU West needs is university traditions, academic excellence, and influential figures," says senior Mitchell Bartholomew. ASUIsTalking may help strengthen the campus in these areas where it falters. The web site will allow for major social networking within the campus, and events taking place on the campus can be easily seen and heard. In this way, West students will quickly find it difficult not to know what's going on.
ASUIsTalking is also a place for those looking for jobs. In cooperation with Jobing.com, the site provides a helpful tool in the search for work, helping connect skilled students with companies in need of their skills. "The partnership with Jobing.com allows student & alumni to search for jobs that are posted on Jobing.com directly from the ASUIsTalking site," explains Anne Garland, a representative for IsTalking, LLC. Also, The networking capabilities of the new site will no doubt give students a power to connect with local employers in ways that many other social networks never could.

© The West Times - Joshua Snyder

April, 2008
The Business journal
ASU social network site started by Luis Gonzalez adds job component
by Patrick O'Grady

A social networking site for Arizona State University students is teaming up with Jobing.com to provide businesses with a large pool of potential employees.
ASUIsTalking.com, a social networking site founded by former Arizona Diamondbacks player Luis Gonzalez and partner Anthony Conti, signed the exclusive deal that allows students to search for jobs using their own accounts. ASU students and alumni can access the jobs.
"It's important that we bring them job opportunities that are relevant and that match up with their interests," said Gonzalez, who is the founder of Is Talking LLC, the ASU site's parent company. "This exclusive partnership will allow them to do just that."
Jobing.com CEO and founder Aaron Matos is an ASU alumnus, and the Phoenix-based company is a long-time supporter of ASU.
"Jobing.com has enjoyed a strong relationship with ASU, working closely with leaders to provide valuable resources to students and alumni," Matos said. "This agreement allows us to serve ASU in a truly unique new way and we are thrilled to be involved with such an innovative project."

© The Business Journal - Patrick O'Grady

March, 2008
The East Valley Tribune
Gonzo wants to get ASU students talking
by Donna Hogan

Former Arizona Diamondback Luis Gonzalez and partner Anthony Conti, a digital executive, have launched IsTalking, LLC, a Phoenix based company that develops new social networking Web sites exclusively for college students.
The business partners just debuted ASUIsTalking.com, its flagship site, for those who have an Arizona State University e-mail address.
Gonzalez, who currently plays for the Florida Marlins, still calls the Valley home and chose ASU as the pilot school.
IsTalking also partnered with the Tempe University's Alumni Association to launch ASUAlumniIsTalking.com, which aims to keep the University's grads connected.
The IsTalking sites will allow students to communicate with other students, find common interests and develop relationships, the company said.
On ASUIsTalking.com, students can create a profile, post pictures and videos, lounge in the "social lobby", join common intrest groups and learn about upcoming events.
http://www.asuistalking.com

© The East Valley Tribune - Donna Hogan

March, 2008
The Arizona Republic
Luis Gonzalez, buisness partner form online Social-Network firm
The Arizona Republic

Former Arizona Diamondbacks player Luis Gonzalez and business partner Anthony Conti have formed an online social-networking company called IsTalking, LLC that is creating Web sites geared toward specific colleges.
It's flagship site is ASUIsTalking.com and is open only to students with an Arizona State University e-mail address. To date the site has attracted 10,000 users.
The company has also formed a partnership with the ASU Alumni Association to be the exclusive online social-network for its 250,000 members.
IsTalking founders say their sites will differ from social-network behemoths Facebook and MySpace in that the communities will be geared toward individual schools.
http://www.asuistalking.com

© The Arizona Republic

February, 2008
Phoenix Business Journal
Former Diamondbacks star Luis Gonzalez testing IsTalking.com at ASU
The Business Journal of Phoenix - by Annalyn Censky Phoenix Business Journal

Former Diamondbacks outfielder Luis Gonzalez is launching social network sites for college students. For Gonzalez, who recently signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Florida Marlins, this marks his first business venture outside the realm of professional baseball.
"I'm on the tail-end of my career. I'm just like everybody else, and I'm trying to learn something new," he said.
Gonzalez, along with business partner and friend Anthony Conti founded Phoenix-based IsTalking LLC in 2006 with their own money.
Last month, they launched public beta tests for an online network of Arizona State University students, called asuistalking.com.

The IsTalking sites, which eventually may reach more than 300 schools, serves individual colleges only. They will not be interconnected between schools across the country, as Facebook started out, but will maintain local networks only, Conti said. "We thought it would be good to have something very local," Conti said. "One thing that's part of the backlash with MySpace and Facebook is it's no longer about what's happening in your own backyard."
At the same time, Conti said, he and Gonzalez did not found IsTalking to become the "next MySpace." "It's not global, and it's not about the business model or the dollars and cents," he said. "It's about the students and creating a local and private site for them."
If the site is successful at ASU, the company's next step, Conti said, may be to build sites for University of California - Los Angeles or New York University.

The ASU site has about 6,000 student members so far, but no local advertisers yet, IsTalking Sales Director Greg Swiszcz said.
Student users on the site can create profiles, post photos, live chat and connect to their friends' profiles, for free. By the end of the beta testing, sometime in March, the site will include pages for giving to local charities, finding apartments and posting YouTube videos.
Meanwhile, businesses can buy a profile on the site, starting at $750 a month, Swiszcz said. That price includes a promotional e-mail blast to all users and a footer ad at the bottom of a Web page. For an additional fee, advertisers can post their logo on other portions of the site, as a watermark graphic on the page. IsTalking is developing other forms of "integrated marketing" that may be customized for advertisers, Swiszcz said.
Swiszcz said he's recruiting advertisers, mainly within a two-mile radius of the ASU campus -- although other businesses further away have also shown an interest. For more: www.asuistalking.com or www.istalking.info.

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