OB Exclusive Interview: MANHUNT Social Network Hits National Coming Out Day Street Festival in Vegas and Events Around USA
This article is part of a two day series Helzerman’s Odd Bits is doing in support of social networks, websites and people launching activities, products or initiatives in support of National Coming Out Day.
If you’re a man who has looked online for other men, chances are you’ve run across MANHUNT, a social network growing by over 25,000 members per week. The site, now in its seventh year with over two million members, will be sponsoring events around the country in celebration of National Coming Out Day. In one contest those who enter will be eligible for iPod nanos in the colors of the rainbow flag. (Note to Apple – a pride-stripe iPod would be mega cool –how ‘bout getting one of those on the roadmap?)
Helzerman’s Odd Bits interviewed MANHUNT’s Chief Marketing Officer and asked questions about the blog, their plans for Coming Out Day, and his personal coming out story (which he was kind enough to share).
OB: Let’s get right to it: Is MANHUNT a hook-up site?
Ken: We talk about this constantly. MANHUNT is a hook-up site, in the same way that the old telephone chat lines; the first chat rooms on AOL; and Facebook, MySpace, DList, and other social networking sites are today. We are an unashamedly sex-positive online community which enables men to connect with other men – for hooking-up, chatting, friendship, dating, long-term relationships, roommates, jobs, travel, whatever.
Our customer research tells us that the number of ways in which our members use our site is as diverse as the ages, ethnicities, and body types of the guys around the world who are members on it.
OB: Tell me a little about MANHUNT..I see it’s seven years old?
Ken: MANHUNT is celebrating its seventh birthday in 2008. We were founded in 2001 when our owners, who ran a series of telephone chat lines here in Boston, realized their business was starting to move to the Internet. MANHUNT’s mission is to be the world’s largest, most recognizable, most trusted, and most innovative site for men – including dating, social networking, entertainment, and health.
OB: What are you doing for National Coming Out Day?
For National Coming Out Day, we are encouraging our members to be out, to be proud, and to be themselves.
MANHUNT is sponsoring a number of local events around the country, including this weekend’s National Coming Out Day street festival in Las Vegas (http://www.qvegas.com/ncod/). We are also having a special contest: every Limited member in the U.S. who becomes a Full Access members this weekend, will be automatically entered into a drawing for one of six 16GB iPod nanos in the colors of the stripes of the rainbow pride flag.
OB: You mentioned membership in your site. What do users get with membership?
Ken: Limited membership to MANHUNT is free, with Full Access (paid) members receiving access to more features including the ability to see full-size photos, send/receive unlimited e-mails, access the mobile version of MANHUNT, use advanced search, etc. All members get access to guys in more than 200 countries and territories, including the beta release of our new MANHUNT Messenger service with real-time text chat, audio chat, and MANCAM video chat, which will be available only to paid members after its trial period.
OB: What else would you like folks to know about MANHUNT?
Ken: MANHUNT is the fun, fast, and easy way for men to connect with other men online – whether it’s that hottie next door, or a new friend halfway around the world.
OB: Do you have a coming out story you feel comfortable sharing?
Ken: I have a lesbian to thank for my coming out at work. At the time, I worked for a very “corporate” Fortune 500 company. I wanted to offer a job to an incredibly brilliant usability engineer, who just happened to be an out and proud lesbian with a partner of many years. It hit me, that there was no way I could effectively be her coach and mentor, unless I was willing to come out at work myself. I “outed” myself to my 50-person team and my management. By the time she started a few weeks later, I could genuinely tell her that she could be fully comfortable being herself at work.
OB: Do you have any advice for those who will be coming out this Saturday?
Ken: While everyone’s situation is unique, and everyone has to decide for themselves when the timing is right, my advice is simple: “Just Do It”!
Those of you logging on this evening may be interested to know that MANHUNT is available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German, and there are over 50,000 men online every evening. Happy hunting.
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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 6:16 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
