I'm The First "User Of The Week" on This Next!

I'm super flattered that the increasingly popular shopcasting site, This Next has named me as their first "User of The Week".

A new weekly component to their blog, I'm the first to get the honor.



If you don't know about This Next (www.thisnext.com) by now, you should.



As explained on their own site:-------------------------------------------------

ThisNext is a shopcasting network where people can discover, recommend and share products and services they love.

In the real world, we rely on the people around us to sort out what we should buy. Brand marketing hype is too loud, too confusing. Tech specs are too complicated, confounding and time consuming to sort through. Our site is a way to answer online a question we ask those around us every day, “What do you use?”

Buying things that are better suited to our individual lifestyles makes life better. We want to help people live the good life, whatever that means to them.

The ThisNext Blog is a place where we identify bloggers and trends whose work aligns with our goal of helping communities unite, express who they are and find products that will help them live more happily and easily.

Our blog will also cover shopcasting on ThisNext. Curious about what’s being picked, who’s picking it and why? Want to know why we’re doing something (or why we aren’t doing something)?
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I actually found out about thisnext.com before it was up and running from a friend of mine who was in contact with one of the founders, Craig Ogg. I have since Craig as well as CEO Gordon Gould, the other founder. Terrific, personable visionaries. I have also had the great fortune to meet some other members of their team, including their fabu PR Diva, Nicole.

Their bloggers and staff are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.


Above: the hardworking team of This Next

They have received impressive press you can view by clicking here.

The name for my blog actually stemmed from my first list of products for This Next.
"If It's Hip, It's Here" was the first thing that came to mind once I started posting objects, art and services that I felt were worth sharing.

Since then, I have created many 'lists' of cool and hip products on This Next.
16 lists, to be exact.

Lists that range from things like "Shop or I'll Shoot: Gun Shaped Stuff" to "Put That Down, That's My Grandma; Modern Cremation Urns" and lists that are really useful like my "Fancy Friggen Flooring and Radical Rugs" list and my The Dish on Dishes list

Some of which have received press from other hot sites (like www.notcot.org) and many of which I've covered in my own blog.

above: My Gun Shaped stuff as seen on NOTCOT.org

I add to the lists almost daily, so if you need to know the latest and greatest things with skulls or aquariums that rock, links to all the lists can be found at the right in my side bar.

As of today, here are my personal stats on this next:


So, perhaps the above is actual 'proof' that I am a trendsetter, no? Okay, well then at least I'm someone who spends waaaay too much time on the web. At least I've done all the "searching for what's hip" legwork for you.....

This Next Loves Me.

One of the reasons I began this blog was the overwhelmingly positive response I was getting on the hot new shopcasting site, Thisnext.com.

If you haven't visited it yet, you ought to. It's a compilation of people's recommendations for available products on the market.

I have personally created over 7 different lists on there.

Begun by Gordon Gould and Craig Ogg, it's received wonderful press from reputable sources like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and continues to grow.

Once you compile a list of products, they keep stats as to how many people actually 'clicked through' on the product or put it on their own personal wish lists. It's here, that I discovered I have a knack for finding items that people like or want.

Today I learned that I am the first person to have posted 349 "first" recommendations.

I believe that literally means I'm a Trend-setter. What fun!



No wonder I'm still single.

What the #$@! is Shopcasting?

For those of you who don't know what Shopcasting is (don't be shy, be proud of the fact that you have a life outside of the internet), I'll help you out.

Shopcasting is very similar to a blog, only in addition to describing or showing the item, there's a direct link to purchase that item.

I've listed some links on my sidebar where you can check them out.

If you're fortunate enough to find a site where the bloggers or participants have similar taste to your own, it can save you hours of websurfing, because they've done the work for you!

Genius.