May 11, 2010

In the latest issue of Paper Magazine, the iconic NYC downtown lifestyle book, fabulis is featured as one of 19 New York Playas in their Social Networking Issue, the one with Sarah Silverman on the cover. Also included are the Foursquare guys and the Kickstarter guys.

In the photo Jason's looking buff in a fabulis shirt and blue swim trunks while grilling chicken. No, he doesn't always dress like that. But, yes, he does eat a lot of chicken.

The text of the article is below. Thanks Paper and Peter Davis for the shout-out!

No offense, TripAdvisor, but your recommendations are a little dull. Here comes Fabulis, a new social networking-andreviews site targeted at gay men, to liven things up. "If I'm trying to find the best burger, the best boutique, restaurant or nightclub in a certain city, I want to know what people like me are saying," says CEO Jason Goldberg. A veteran of several social network startups, Goldberg and his co-founder, writer Bradford Shellhammer, established the site to give fellow gay dudes a place to discover (in Goldberg's words) "amazing experiences down the block and around the world." And, incidentally, to discover each other, though not in the your-place-or-mine kind of way. Fabulis is about real connections, which is why the site's profiles are tied to Facebook, and requires real names and real pics. (No nudity, please.)

The user-generated content of Fabulis combines aspects of Yelp, Foursquare and Facebook. Guys make pages and connect to other guys. The profiles can be voted up or down on the wisdom of the crowd, and are ranked sequentially by votes (by coincidence or design, Goldberg currently hovers near the top of the site's "Most Fabulis Gay Men in the World" list). Users can also review their favorite spots, share them with others, and see who's going there and when. "The social graph among gay men functions a bit differently than among the mainstream audience," Goldberg explains. "Among gay men it's more about what are other guys doing in my city, where I'm at. They're more interested in meeting new people." And though the target audience is gay men (and the men they hope to meet), the benefits, Goldberg insists, extend to all. He described with a laugh a recent trip to Prague with his mother. "Gosh, I wish we knew what Bradford's favorite shop in Prague was, that's where I'd want to go to," said Mom. Not to worry, Mrs. G -- soon it'll be a click away.