Interview With Patrick Varden (Tagroom)

Once again folks were here to bring you another interview fresh out of the box via the best blog on the market entitled "Born To Be A Bo$$". This time round I got given the opportunity to question CEO and Co-Founder Patrick Varden on his online news website "Tagroom" who reveals all to us about the birth of the newest thing on the social media block.

Forde Esq: Hey Pat...How's it going?!?

Patrick: Good bro. Thanks for the build up in the intro by the way. Love it!

Forde Esq: Just telling it how it is bro! So let's get to it shall we?

Patrick: Let's!

Forde Esq: So to start us off, where did you get the idea of Tagroom from then?!?

Patrick: My background is in psychology and I have always been fascinated about why people share so much content on social networks and how certain pieces of content emerges as something viral. I asked myself, do people even get anything out of sharing content. What I found is that people like to inform and entertain their friends. I wanted to see what would happen if you rewarded those actions. I thought, well we need a place that is easy to stay up to date with what everyone is sharing online and get rewarded for sharing. 

Forde Esq: I think I like this idea the most because people are encouraged to promote news amongst their friends and colleagues with the added incentive of prizes for their knowledge generousity. If anything it entices readers to search for more interesting news and articles to share that they probably wouldn't have glanced at previously before with the chance to be whisked away to the Bahamas.

Patrick: Exactly. It's a win win situation.

Forde Esq: So explain a little bit more to me what Tagroom is and what it's about then please Pat?

Patrick: I'm the CEO and Co-Founder of Tagroom who creates the vision of the company. I manage and build and editorial team to bring up to the minute news and work with brands to help them connect to our audience. Tagroom is a social news website the rewards users with points for sharing content. The site is dedicated to tracking the worst most shared news. It is also designed to allow brands and businesses to market themselves as rewards. Points act as virtual currency, and these points can be converted to giveaways, discounts and charity initiatives. 

Forde Esq: Gone are the days of waiting until the 6 o'clock news for the latest stories ay Pat?

Patrick: That's yesterday's news Clint. No pun intended but like everyone else in the world people want to be kept up to date with breaking stories across the globe when it happens which is why websites like this have such a necessity to exist in todays world.

Forde Esq: So since you guys have been up and running, how have you guys been performing?!?

Patrick: The company is going well. Site traffic has been increasing by the day. We have an app we are aiming to launch soon. Currently we are working on updates that will be coming to the site in the next few weeks. We also successfully pulled off a cool campaign for a travel agency brand giving viewers the chance to win a trip to Malaysia.

Forde Esq: Yeah I saw that. I was gutted I didn't win that, I could of done with a holiday!

Patrick: Well there's more where that came from don't worry. The team is focused on delivering awesome content designed to be shared on the social web. We constantly learn and refine the way we package our content. We use a super cool dashboard that tracks content that has gotten a lot of traction on Facebook and Twitter using social metrics which is a brilliant tool for our editors to stay ahead of the game. We are also experimenting with "native advertising" as banner ads seem to not be as effective, we want to build an environment that where brands and readers can live together nicely. Native advertising is the new buzzword in the advertising world and we want to show how it can be executed well on a content website. We will also we working along university societies next year to help bring more awareness to their activities by making meaningful content viral. 

Forde Esq: Well that takes care of question 4 then! So that just leaves me with the final question on where you see Tagroom in the next 5 years?!?

Pat: In 5 years I see myself expanding Tagroom to places I can't even imagine taking it right now. Technology and the web constantly evolves and we know we will stay on the cutting edge to disrupt the content market as the web expands into different territories. Where I do see myself is running a successful social news platform that will rival the larger news sites out there in Australia providing readers with awesome content to read and share and provide brands an environment to connect with consumers.

Forde Esq: That's awesome. Well thanks alot for you time Pat. You definitely given a great account of Tagroom and what it's all about and I wish you and the team all the best in all future endeavours. 

Pat: Thanks Clint. Good luck to you too.

Forde Esq: Thanks bro. Well readers if you wish to find out more on what Tagroom has to offer then visit their websitehttp://www.tagroom.com/ or follow them on Twitter (@Tagroom) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/tagroom) for daily updates.

Until next time folks

Forde Esq.