Quick Facts:
Tara Hunt is:
- A CEO & Co-Founder of Buyosphere
- A public speaker (100+ conferences)
- An author (published in 8 languages!)
- A Coworking space owner and a cofounder of the worldwide Coworking Movement
- One of the most influential women in technology (according to Fast Company Magazine in 2009)
- Runner (training for a marathon)
- Canadian
- Mom of teenage son, Thaddeus (Tad)
- Doggie Mom of Ridley
- A karaoke addict
- A Flickr Fan
- A Twitter-holic
- All over the web
- All over the world
- Totally Googleable
The Personal Stuff
The Trouble With Normal…
Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and raised in small town Alberta, Sundre [on a farm] [with cows], I am the least likely city girl you will ever meet. Yet, the bigger, the smellier, the more crowded the city, the happier I am. I prefer city scapes to mountain views and I think the most beautiful thing in the world is old, slightly broken down city architecture.
I currently live in San Francisco, California Montreal, Quebec. The couple of years have been incredibly exciting for me. I was in Toronto, minding my own business (literally, with Rogue Strategies – now forwarding here) and writing on this blog, when I was ‘drafted’ to go to San Francisco to join an exciting stealth startup called Ojos, which became Riya, who became Like (and is now Google’s Boutiques.com. I left Riya in May of 2006 to pursue my own business, Citizen Agency, launched in June of 2006. We opened our coworking space in November 2006. Citizen Space expanded to new digs in January of 2009 and I left Citizen Agency.
In July of 2009, I left the SF Bay Area to return to my homeland, Canada, and settle into the gorgeous city of Montreal, via a karaoke roadtrip across America. I am now the CEO and cofounder of Buyosphere and do some speaking gigs on the side.
[my migration thusfar]
Although I spend a good deal of time railing against marketing and consumerism, I am by profession an Online Marketing professional and, well, a consumer to the nth degree. You can ask anyone who knows me. I think these three personalities can meet in the middle, though, and I think that makes me more effective. I think about the consumer…the person, the living, breathing, thinking, feeling being that is out there looking for good ways to spend her hard-earned money. I have never believed in mass anything, because people are individuals and not ‘targets’. People don’t buy brands, they buy hope, stories, memories, necessities, etc.
Take off your marketing hat and put on your regular every-day person who has some money in your pocket (i.e. consumer) hat and you’ll see what I mean, but remember that we all have different experiences, memories, desires and needs.
What does HorsePigCow mean?
My mom, Marianne (in the photo with me), is the queen of wise “mom-isms” (I quote her quite a bit here on the blog).
HorsePigCow is a phrase she used to use to avoid embarassment when she called someone by the wrong name (I inherited my mom’s scatter-brained goofiness, too…although it’s endearing to most). Something like, “Hi James, Jake *HorsePigCow* Jason. How are you?”
It’s a way of saying, “Hell, I’m human and I screw up, but let’s move on”…at least that’s my interpretation. Plus, it’s nonsense. I like nonsense.
Favourite Books:
I’m inspired by many things (including Mom), but information and the internet are two of those things that inspire me a great deal. Here are my top 10 reads:
Favourite Quote:
I’ve read many great things over the years and I’ve heard some brilliant other things, but probably one of the most brilliant thing I’ve ever heard is a line from a song by Bruce Cockburn:
“The trouble with normal is it always gets worse”
That’s what horsepigcow.com is all about for me. Making certain that normal doesn’t get worse.
My Resume:
My Travel Map:
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] I’ve decided to collect, upload, and publish a list of the noteworthy and recommended bookmarks that I stumble upon each day — something that I should have done long ago, but was only recently motivated to do while observing how effortlessly Tara Hunt accomplished it on her HorsePigCow: marketing uncommon blog. [...]
[...] This prediction comes from Tara Hunt aka MissRogue at HorsePigCow, excerpted from 2007: My predictions. Tara’s an online marketing professional and dabbles in a great many things. She isn’t a telecom geek, but she often represents the uber consumer’s view. People’s disatisfaction with their cell providers/telcos will grow to new heights [...]
[...] I first heard of the book on Tara Hunt’s blog Horse Pig Cow. I decided it was worth a read because it sounded REALLY interesting. I picked the book up at a half price book store and started the first chapter. I was subsequently blown away. Unfortunately after the purchase I have moved twice and started a new job (not really conducive to reading) and the book got filed away in a box somewhere…until last night! I found it. YAY! As I plow through the different chapters, I am going to do my best to summarize the main points as I see them. Stay tuned. [...]
[...] [...]
[...] Next week on the Affiliate Thing my co-host Shawn Collins and I will be talking with Tara Hunt, an online marketing expert. She’s got a great blog (with a great name) and we’ll be talking with her about Pinko Marketing, scalable relationship building, why PR doesn’t work, and what particular companies that are doing interesting marketing things. We’ll also be chatting about the regular weekly affiliate happenings. Tune in. You can also check out other interview from this week with Converseon CEO Rob Key. [...]
[...] and Tara are great leaders in their respective web 2.0 communities of interest — Chris in open web [...]
[...] out Tara Hunt’s case study of Twitter and what she calls Data OnRamps. Great [...]
[...] go to Tara Hunt at HorsePigCow: Marketing Uncommon for the original link to the Maori Proverb [...]
[...] am a big fan of Tara Hunt’s writing (check out her insightful blog) for a while now. When I saw that Tara is visiting [...]
[...] sound like a complete bimbo. I’ve been using ‘HorsePigCow’ more and more (see my About page for further [...]
[...] been a big fan of Tara Hunt’s writing for a little while now (check out her insightful blog). When I saw that Tara is [...]
[...] are they Ugly? Hot? Cute? Sunday October 14th 2007, 2:19 pm Filed under: Uncategorized No Tara, it’s not just you: Is it just me, or does everyone else notice that women who make it to [...]
[...] Tara Hunt (a.k.a. Miss Rogue) made a request yesterday on her blog asking for answers to five questions she has about government. The answers so far, while few, are definitely interesting, and I hope that more people will comment (hint: that means you, dear reader!). [...]
[...] 170-slide presentation on “Government Next“. And I also included a link to Tara’s bio page on her [...]
[...] clearly work to do there, although it’s interesting that ‘even’ people such as Tara Hunt are reacting (also on Twitter, of course) with; “I’m appalled that someone can take my [...]
[...] Tara Hunt uses her blog, HorsePigCow to add refreshing dose of constructive criticism to the marketing field, [...]
[...] included or linked to. The other day I wrote about Changing the Book Buying Experience and today Tara Hunt at Horse Pig Cow writes about Chapters – Indigo and their new social [...]
[...] it in a very cool way. By holding a barcamp style meeting. Plus the very smart and inspirational Tara Hunt is coming to NC! The point of myncCamp is to get the members of the local RDU area (and [...]
[...] kind of role seems to be a bit part of what my job is settling down to become (with a chunk of what Tara Hunt used to call Pinko Marketing as [...]
[...] Messina and Tara Hunt not only co-founded social media agency Citizen Agency and helped start the coworking movement, [...]
[...] which is SF’s own entrant into the co-working revolution. Huge thanks to my friend and hero Tara Hunt for letting us all use the venue to meet and greet. RSVP here addthis_url = [...]
[...] de la là, Tara Hunt a rédigé un Whuffie Factor : l’idée est que dans les communautés numériques, le capital [...]
[...] week on Talk Social News, we’re thrilled to feature our first female guest, Tara Hunt aka Missrogue. Tara is author, marketing expert, BarCamp Queen and blogs at [...]
[...] Tara Hunt needs no introduction in the ranks of the social media elite, but may be less known in the corporate community of Enterprise 2.0 enthusiasts. I’m particularly looking forward to her book because I admire Tara for her unshakable faith regarding how social networking is bringing out the best in us. Tara’s thesis (and it is proven again and again) is the currency of the 2.0 economy is not $, but rather social capital, which conveniently leads to $. (I’m paraphrasing, but I’m sure Tara will correct me if I’m wrong.) You can pre-order the book today, but it won’t be shipping until Q2. And might I remind everyone, by Q2 in this economic downturn, we all may be very interested in increasing our net worth in social capital. So, do something good today for the world and pre-order Tara’s book, “The Whuffie Factor. ” I did. (I also ordered Paul Gillin’s Secrets of Social Media Marketing. Gillin is one of the very best writers on social media marketing. Another great suggestion, and it’s available now.) [...]
[...] them. For example, although we’ve never had an online or offline conversation, I do know that Tara Hunt (http://twitter.com/missrogue) has a new book called The Whuffie Factor coming out. So I counted [...]
[...] uninspiring one-size-fits-all approach” to adaptive equipment. More in this Guardian piece. Tara Hunt, who is running like hell with Cory Doctorow’s ‘Whuffie’ idea – a measure of [...]
[...] Tara Hunt, une spécialiste en marketing et en gestion des communautés, a repris cette histoire. Cette dernière est à l’origine du mouvement du Pinko marketing. Elle en a tiré une théorie du “Whuffie factor“.En deux mots, le Pinko marketing prend le relais du manifeste des évidences (cluetrain manifesto). Pour faire simple, ces deux mouvances font un constat: avec l’avènement d’internet, les communautés en ligne ont de plus en plus de pouvoir(1). Il faut dorénavant être a leur écoute sous peine d’en subir les conséquences. [...]
[...] Tara Hunt, une spécialiste en marketing et en gestion des communautés, a repris cette histoire. Cette dernière est à l’origine du mouvement du Pinko marketing. Elle en a tiré une théorie du “Whuffie factor“.En deux mots, le Pinko marketing prend le relais du manifeste des évidences (cluetrain manifesto). Pour faire simple, ces deux mouvances font un constat: avec l’avènement d’internet, les communautés en ligne ont de plus en plus de pouvoir(1). Il faut dorénavant être a leur écoute sous peine d’en subir les conséquences. [...]
[...] time. John Maeda, the President of RISD gave a great presentation on creative leadership, while Tara Hunt shook some corporate foundations with the Whuffie factor ideology. In essence, my personal key take [...]
[...] Tara Hunt is a name that means a lot to Social Media experts but not only. Enterprise marketers are also – or should be – familiar with her earlier attempts at promoting a new form of marketing philosophy entitled Pinko Marketing, the aim of which was to prolong the work that had been initiated by the cluetrain manifesto team at the end of the 1990’s. [...]
[...] Tara Hunt est un nom qui compte dans le microcosme des médias sociaux (alias 2.0), mais aussi au-delà. Et tout marketeur professionnel aguerri est – ou du moins devrait – être familier de ses tentatives antérieures de promotion d’une nouvelle philosophie du marketing, intitulée Pinko marketing – dont le but était de poursuivre le travail initié par les auteurs du cluetrain manifesto, à la fin des années 1990 il y a exactement 10 ans. Son implication dans le mouvement des Barcamps (forums collaboratifs du Web dont il existe des déclinaisons dans le monde entier) ou du “coworking” (espaces de travail partagés) ne l’a pas empêchée de s’investir dans un nouvel ouvrage intitulé – bizarrement – le “facteur Whuffie” (The “Whuffie Factor”). [...]
[...] Tara Hunt est un nom qui compte dans le microcosme des médias sociaux (alias 2.0), mais aussi au-delà. Et tout marketeur professionnel aguerri est – ou du moins devrait – être familier de ses tentatives antérieures de promotion d’une nouvelle philosophie du marketing, intitulée Pinko marketing – dont le but était de poursuivre le travail initié par les auteurs du cluetrain manifesto, à la fin des années 1990 il y a exactement 10 ans. Son implication dans le mouvement des Barcamps (forums collaboratifs du Web dont il existe des déclinaisons dans le monde entier) ou du “coworking” (espaces de travail partagés) ne l’a pas empêchée de s’investir dans un nouvel ouvrage intitulé – bizarrement – le “facteur Whuffie” (The “Whuffie Factor”). [...]
[...] Tara Hunt est un nom qui compte dans le microcosme des médias sociaux (alias 2.0), mais aussi au-delà. Et tout marketeur professionnel aguerri est – ou du moins devrait – être familier de ses tentatives antérieures de promotion d’une nouvelle philosophie du marketing, intitulée Pinko marketing – dont le but était de poursuivre le travail initié par les auteurs du cluetrain manifesto, à la fin des années 1990 il y a exactement 10 ans. Son implication dans le mouvement des Barcamps (forums collaboratifs du Web dont il existe des déclinaisons dans le monde entier) ou du “coworking” (espaces de travail partagés) ne l’a pas empêchée de s’investir dans un nouvel ouvrage intitulé – bizarrement – le “facteur Whuffie” (The “Whuffie Factor”). [...]
[...] Tara Hunt est un nom qui compte dans le microcosme des médias sociaux (alias 2.0), mais aussi au-delà. Et tout marketeur professionnel aguerri est – ou du moins devrait – être familier de ses tentatives antérieures de promotion d’une nouvelle philosophie du marketing, intitulée Pinko marketing – dont le but était de poursuivre le travail initié par les auteurs du cluetrain manifesto, à la fin des années 1990 il y a exactement 10 ans. Son implication dans le mouvement des Barcamps (forums collaboratifs du Web dont il existe des déclinaisons dans le monde entier) ou du “coworking” (espaces de travail partagés) ne l’a pas empêchée de s’investir dans un nouvel ouvrage intitulé – bizarrement – le “facteur Whuffie” (The “Whuffie Factor”). [...]
[...] market, searching for that first job, or maybe just a different job; not just for the potential Dr. HorsePigCow. How? Just rephrase the questions in terms of the [...]
[...] few days ago, Tara Hunt over at HPG posted a slideshow she created for the 2009 Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference. [...]
[...] 21st century renaissance woman if ever there was one, Tara Hunt is an entrepreneur, pioneer of Web 2.0, public speaker, author, mom, admitted karaoke addict, [...]
[...] to have famous and very interesting female bloggers here in Montreal. Michelle Blanc, Kim Vallee, Tara Hunt are a real treat. We have less famous bloggers and experts, like Diane Bourque, with whom I'll [...]
[...] 58 minutes de télé et 6 experts, dont Jaron Lanier (You are not a gadget), Raymond Laflamme et Tara Hunt (The Whuffie Factor). [...]
[...] Ziggs, ClaimID, LookUpPage, CV 2.0, and Visual CV. We then moved into Blogs and Angelika quoted Tara Hunt, author of “The Whuffie Factor“. Tara has 8 Tips for the courageous people diving [...]
[...] Tara Hunt [...]
[...] your mediocre product/marketing into something that it isn’t (see point #2). For more, read Tara Hunt’s “Your Social Media Strategy Won’t Save You” presentation from the 2009 Web 2.0 [...]
[...] Tara Hunt is an entrepreneur, the author of The Whuffie Factor (reviewed here) and has been blogging regularly since 2004. She has previously started and run businesses like Rogue Agency and Citizen Space, a co-working environment. She is now working on a new start-up, Shwowp, as a co-founder and is working on her next book. [...]
[...] à propos des joies de Facebook et des médias sociaux dans un contexte d’affaires, Tara Hunt elle, a [...]
[...] This statement has proved to be true for centuries and was recently mentioned by well known blogger Tara Hunt. Here is an example that is certainly the case when, as an animal or pet becomes a profit center, [...]
[...] Tara Hunt [...]
[...] own standouts and content suggestions for next year. Techcrunch CEO Heather Harde plus Tara Hunt, Cathy Brooks, Shireen Mitchell, and 20+ other awesome presenters joined the speaker slate and [...]
[...] our daily lives and how it’s constant application creates a better society for all. Thanks to Tara at horsepigcow for posting this great talk. (If you haven’t already done so, go visit her [...]
[...] Learn more abour Tara from her bio: [...]
[...] is an impressive lineup of speakers, including Robert Scoble, Jeremiah Owyang, Tara Hunt and Matt [...]
[...] participating in Reverb10, and this post is in response to a prompt from author Tara Hunt: Prompt: Travel. How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next [...]
[...] I went off to Paris for LeWeb 2010 Conference and ran into Tara Hunt and our conversation got me thinking (I love meeting people who make me [...]
[...] de ler o livro “O Poder das Redes Sociais”, de Tara Hunt. Em inglês, ele se chama The Whuffie Factor, o que faz mais sentido, já que o livro trata sobre o [...]
[...] de la là, Tara Hunt a rédigé un Whuffie Factor : l’idée est que dans les communautés numériques, le capital [...]
[...] – any takers?), kudos to Tara and Shwowp for getting attention.photo from Tara’s site: http://www.horsepigcow.com/about/. Related posts:Kinecting With Women?Startup Shwowp Presenting at TechCrunch DisruptHelp Rename [...]
[...] a coffee or a bite to eat. Take 20 minutes to watch Tara Hunt share a moving tale of entrepreneurship and taking the “unclear [...]
[...] Tara “missrogue” Hunt, named as one of the most influential women in technology by Fast Company Magazine, has spent the past 15 years living her life online. In April 2009, her book on Web 2.0 and community marketing The Whuffie Factor was released with Crown Publishing. She lives in Montreal, travels around the world speaking, is writing her next book (working title ‘Happiness as Your Business Model’), is a mother of a teenager, caregiver of a small dog and is working on the launch of her startup, Shwowp. She is working on changing the world in her spare time. Keywords: economic health, economy, gdp, Marilyn Waring, Who's Counting Related posts:March 8, 2010Guest Post: Author/Entrepreneur Tara Hunt on the influence of Marilyn WaringDecember 4, 2009The NFB wins at the Canadian New Media Awards Previous post4 interactive projects up for the 2011 FITC People's Choice Awards [...]
[...] make a real driving contribution to a start up, I’m not sure. I’ve been reading some of Tara Hunt‘s postings on entrepreneurship (following from her TEDx talk) and how she describes so much [...]
[...] Learn more abour Tara from her bio: [...]
[...] named my blog after a funny phrase my Mom uses and continue to recall memorable quotes she passed along to me that [...]
[...] as a concept, has been adopted by many in the social media world because it is a useful way to explain the cultural norms that form the [...]
[...] Arwengrim tipsade mig om följande presentation från Tara Hunt som kan vara väl värd en genomläsning. Riktigt bra läsning om du frågar [...]
[...] the idea and were active in the open-source movement—most influentially Chris Messina and Tara Hunt—the concept caught on. They set up a coworking wiki and a Google group (initial with just a [...]
[...] at least some part of today’s speakers succeeded in doing this. Starting with enthusiastic Tara Hunt who talked about the 10 most common mistakes commited by entrepreneurs, through [...]