Tuenti's founder Zaryn Dentzel: "We really focus on the local part"

Burning Man

Andie Grace, Communications Manager of Burning Man is not your typically key note speaker. With scarlet hair and a hippie green dress she resembles the spirit and message of the Burning Man Festival.

Burning Man is an annual festival held in the Black Rock Nevada Desert. What started as a San Fransisco beach ritual of burning a wooden, turned out in a mass gathering of thousands of people in the middle of nowhere. A festival where the participants provide the content - not the organisation - forming a temporary community. Art - sculptures, constructions, dance - plays a substantial role as well.
&' || 'nbsp;
"Participation is the key", says Grace. "Connection with others, with the art, deep and face to face, is what we aim for. That''s how you strengthen the experience of Burning Man". With a budget of zero dollars and no income of sponsors or advertising, Burning Man tries to beat consumerism as well. Selling products on site is forbidden, as is leaving any trash behind after the festival has ended. Ecology plays an important role in the concept.

More than a party

"It''s hard to keep an underground image if you host one of the most famous festivals in the world. Burning Man is alive on any social network, although we don’t contribute ourselves; our fans do", she continues.

But in the end it''s all about the feeling and the positive message the festival brings along. "Burning Man leaves a great impact on every participant. It’s more than a party", Grace concludes.

Zaryn Dentzel

Creator of the social network site Tuenti, Zaryn Dentzel, was the last speaker of the 2010 Nonick Conference. He founded Tuenti with a couple of friends in Madrid. Six years later, Tuenti is -with over 8 million members- the most important social network site in Spain.

"We really focus on the local part", said Zaryn Dentzel during his presentation, "We want to keep the local experience. Real people, real relationships and real places that are all connected."

"Now we started with something new: with all the data we have, we can change the way people consume information. Take a man in his mid thirties who wants to go out in Sevilla in a bar with people of his ownage. Thanks to the data, we know where other mid thirties men go out in Sevilla."

Although Tuenti is very popular among Spain''s student community, the goal of Zaryn Dentzel is to get every single person in Spain on Tuenti and that they use it on a daily basis. "Not all Spaniards are on our website, that''s a problem we are trying to solve every day: how do we get them on Tuenti?"

SubMate wins Startup 2.0 Competition

With 27 pro cent of the votes won SubMate Nonick''s Startup 2.0 Competition. Minube came second with 25 pro cent, the bronze medal was for Askaro with 23 pro cent of the votes. Stereomood and Good job respectively got 10 and 13 pro cent.

In SubMate you just have to write your subway trips to discoverev erything happening along your route: concerts, happy hours, restaurant reviews as well as cool new people, the familiar strangers you see every day.

Our congratulations to Laurent Kretz and we wish the four other websites all the best.