Cory Booker helps launch #waywire, a social media news site for millennials
Newark Mayor Cory Booker talks to students at Maple Avenue School November 18, 2010 in Newark, New Jersey.
Apparently, Cory Booker does not have enough to do being the mayor of Newark, NJ, and a sometime superhero who rescues constituents from burning buildings.
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The tech-savvy mayor – he has more than 1 million Twitter followers – has just co-founded #waywire, a news aggregation web site aimed at members of the millennial generation, the Newark Star-Ledger reported.
The site, which will launch later this summer, will broadcast video aggregated from online news sites and also allow users to publish their own news and social issues videos, Fast Company reported.
Booker told the Newark Star-Ledger that #waywire is a "way for people to consume information, ideas and media, but more importantly also to let their own voices be heard, engage in a different way." He added, "I’ve always been very compelled about the democratizing force in social media that is getting more voices engaged in the larger dialogue.”
Booker’s co-founders are former Gilt Groupe executive Nathan Richardson and Sarah Ross, the digital marketer who turned Ashton Kutcher loose on Twitter, Fast Company reported.
The site has raised $1.75 million so far, according to Variety. Investors in the venture include Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, Lady Gaga's business manager Troy Carter and John Ham, co-founder of live-streaming service Ustream.
Booker maintains that he won’t be distracted from his mayoral duties by the launch of the new company, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. According to the Newark Star-Ledger:
Booker said while he will be a board member, his stake in the company will be in a trust, held by former Gov. Tom Kean and he will not play a role in directing content.
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