In September, we covered the latest investment in FourSquare, a popular mobile app that fuses geo-location, micro updates, outside social networks such as Twitter, and social gaming into one, very social and addictive platform for the iPhone and Google Android phones.

Initially O’Reilly AlphaTech and UnionSquare Ventures were identified as investors. However, behind the veil, FourSquare also aligned an all-star list of investors and advisors. Yesterday, the company finally revealed the names behind the mystery…(descriptions amended)

Let’s play…

Jack Dorsey, creator of Twitter.
Twitter has changed the way a lot of us think about things – presence, status, search.  Jack’s advice and feedback have already proven to be invaluable as the team hustles to improve and grow foursquare.

Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.
A day after FourSquare launched at SXSW, Kevin tracked us down and bullied them into making a badge for Digg’s party.  Since then he’s been one of their biggest supporters and a great source of advice and product ideas.

Joshua Schachter, founder of Delicious.
Since FourSquare launched, people have been describing parts of it as “Delicious for places”.  Obviously, they love this comparison and have been thrilled to have Joshua’s feedback and insight into their product goals.

Alex Rainert, co-founder of Dodgeball.
Very few people understand the mobile/social space as well as Alex.  Since their very first iPhone build, he’s been throwing feedback and product suggestions at us. Karen Bonna-Rainert, Alex’s wife and a good friend from Dennis’ grad school days at ITP @ NYU is also actively involved.

SV Angels LLC
The angel group founded and backed by Ron Conway is a major player in seed-stage tech investments since the early days of Google.

Chad Stoller, NYC branding/advertising/interactive superstar.
You can thank Chad for the “mayor” idea – which he demanded that the tream build so he could flaunt his loyalty to Think Coffee.  FourSquare sold out and wrote the code in exchange for two beers.  :)

Sergio Salvatore, long-time music / technology entrepreneur.
A long-time friend of Naveen’s, Sergio’s been advising the team on scaling and technical architecture issues since the early days of foursquare.

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Now available! (click below to purchase the new book or poster):

words and pictures by Brian Solis

And you thought the TechSet + Windows Mobile Rat Pack at the Belmont party was slammed…

Digg hosted a live episode of Diggnation at Stubbs BBQ during SXSW Interactive with thousands of the show’s most ardent fans in attendance. It was simply mind blowing. The cult-like phenomenon that served as the undercurrent for our Geek culture is now broaching pop status. Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht represent a new genre of celebrity and if you don’t believe me, just ask any one of Kevin Rose’s 375,000 friends on Twitter.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Jim Louderback takes the stage

Alex Albrecht and Rad Zach, Zach Luye

LaLa, Lara Doucette

Alex and Kevin rev up the crowd

Jay Adelson, Alex Albrecht, Kevin Rose

Alex Albrecht

Jeremiah Owyang, Kevin Rose and Brian Solis

Sarah Austin and Zach Luye

Diggnation

Diggnation towers over the crowd

Lara Doucette and Brian Solis

Tamar Weinberg

For more pictures from Diggnation @SXSW 2009, please visit my album on Flickr.

Please read:

The Human Network: The Social Economy is Influenced by How We Communicate Online & Offline (My philosophical analysis of what makes SXSW so special)

Which parties did you hit or miss?

Check em off at Diddit: SXSW Interactive Festival 2009 Party List

Pictures:

SXSW – The Calm Before the Storm

SXSW Day One

TechSet + Windows Mobile Rat Pack 2.0 Party

SXSW Day Two

Diggnation Party at Stubbs

We Flashmob the Driskill

AllHat @Allens Boots

Brian Solis Book Signing @SXSW

Are PR Agencies a Dying Breed: Brian Solis joins the panel

Kirtsy, AllTop Party @Allens Boots

Pool 2.0 – SocialMediaClub

SXSW Day Four

Paul Nelson Performs in the TechSet + Windows Mobile Blogger Lounge

Dell Adamo Premiers at SXSW

Power Geek Girl Tweetup in the TechSet + Windows Mobile Blogger Lounge

Rackspace + Scoble Party

Blurb + Mashable Party

SXSW Day Five

WorldSings.com

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words and pictures by Brian Solis

BusinessWeek released its report on the 25 most influential people on the Web today as determined by the magazine’s staff.

Congratulations to our friends as well as those we have yet to meet in person for making this prestigious list. I’ve included pictures of those that I have on hand.

Here are your influencers, in no particular order:

The Seeker: Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

The Marshall: Mitchell Baker, Mozilla.org

The Innovator: Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com

The Searchers: Sergey Brin, larry Page, and Eric Schmidt, Google

The Investor: Jeff CLavier, softtechvc

The Papa Bear: Paul Graham, ycombinator

The Muckracker: Arianna Huffington, HuffingtonPost

The Adviser: Joi Ito

The Mastermind: Steve Jobs, Apple

The Filmer: Jonathan Kaplan, Flip

The Communicator: Loic Le Meur, Leweb, Seesmic

The Trader: Jack Ma, alibaba.com

The Publisher: Matt Mullenweg, WordPress.org

The Mogul: Rupert Murdoch, Myspace.com

The Community Organizer: Craig Newmark, craigslist

The Traffic Driver: Gabe Rivera, Techmeme

The Poster Boy: Kevin Rose, Digg

The Adult: Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook

The Edutainer: Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

The Money Man: Peter Thiel, Clarium Capital, The Founders Fund

The Crafter, Maria Thomas, etsy.com

The Advocate: Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia

The Crowd Sourcer: Jimmy Wales, Wikia, wikipedia

The Blogger: Evan Williams, Twitter

The Fighter: Jerry Yang, Yahoo

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