Social Impact Tech: Rosemary O’Neill of Crowdstack On How Their Technology Will Make An Important Positive Impact
An Interview With Jilea Hemmings
We believe the solution to all of the problems described above is independence. Our Crowdstack app allows anyone to instantly set up their own public or private social network, where they can set the rules, decide what to talk about, and create their own community for any purpose. It could be just hanging out with family online, organizing a nonprofit volunteer base, or connecting with your podcast audience. We’re making a powerful tool very accessible and easy to use.
In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rosemary O’Neill.
Rosemary O’Neill is CMO/Co-Founder of Crowdstack, Inc., which makes software that helps groups connect and communicate online. She has been an expert writer, speaker, and entrepreneur in the online community and digital marketing space for 25 years. Rosemary is also a recognized HR innovator, with appearances on NPR’s All Things Considered and the BBC to talk about how her company pioneered unlimited paid leave programs.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?
I am a military kid, and grew up all over the US. At the time, I wasn’t too keen on moving around, but now I realize that my ability to quickly connect and meet new people is a superpower. I relish walking into a room full of strangers and emerging with a bunch of new friends.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
In 2010, our company instituted unlimited paid leave for all employees, which for us was just a confirmation of the mutual respect we wanted to foster as a corporate culture. We thought it would be an interesting little story, and emailed a local Seattle blogger about it. She wrote a story, and a few days later the story became an international buzz, and I went on Fox and Friends, the BBC, NPR’s All Things Considered, and countless other outlets to talk about our program. There were some funny moments, including interviews in the grocery line (a TX radio station), and outside my son’s rec league basketball game (local TV news that wanted to scoop the other stations). That was my 15 minutes of fame, and I learned a lot about how news works.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
This is an easy question. My husband, Ted O’Neill, is the one who invited me to become his co-founder. We are true partners in every sense of the word, and every day he inspires me to be my best self. We both had corporate jobs before he developed the original downloadable message board (UBB), and I was able to make the leap to entrepreneur because of his respect and belief in my marketing/communication skills. I was so happy to leave government RFPs behind, and I pinch myself that I get to work with my best friend.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My motto is “Carpe Diem/Seize the Day.” We only get one shot at this life, so we’d better make it a good one. This has been brought home to me personally over the years as I’ve lost family members too soon, who had big plans for “after they retire.” You can’t count on being happy at some date in the future; you’ve got to squeeze the juice out of today, right now.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Being a business leader builds character, but success comes from recognizing your strengths and using them to the fullest. I’d say my three most useful traits are:
Humility — My marketing philosophy centers on lifting up other people. I believe that, if you focus hard on helping others achieve their goals, you will achieve yours. I’m not afraid to share my “blooper reel” if I think it will help someone avoid the same mistakes. I once missed an important investor pitch because I didn’t confirm time zones. Always check your time zones, people!
Curiosity — I am insatiably curious. The day is not complete unless I learn something new. If you want to be a successful business person, you need to have the itch to learn and stretch yourself out of your comfort zone. This applies to skills that don’t seem directly relevant to your industry. I just passed my Level 1 test for Krav Maga, something I began as a way to increase confidence, and am now obsessed with!
Patience — A great business person should always be planting seeds, even if there’s no harvesting plan. Begin building relationships, doing daily practices, and creating things that may not have an immediate return. With 25 years of marketing under my belt, I often have connections or things come back to me that were planted years ago. We recently got a new customer who became aware of us during the original press buzz I mentioned earlier, 11 years ago.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive social impact on our society. To begin, what problems are you aiming to solve?
Our software/app aims to solve the problems of centralized social networks — misuse of consumers’ private information, difficulties moderating content at scale, using algorithms to throttle your audience, presuming there can be a homogenized culture for a global audience, and centralized control over public and private conversations with no transparency for guidelines.
How do you think your technology can address this?
We believe the solution to all of the problems described above is independence. Our Crowdstack app allows anyone to instantly set up their own public or private social network, where they can set the rules, decide what to talk about, and create their own community for any purpose. It could be just hanging out with family online, organizing a nonprofit volunteer base, or connecting with your podcast audience. We’re making a powerful tool very accessible and easy to use.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
We started getting a lot of inquiries from folks who normally would have just set up a Facebook Group, but who felt that it no longer served their purposes. They didn’t trust Big Tech, they wanted a more simple, streamlined solution, and they were tired of dealing with a huge corporation that offers no recourse to users who have a problem. With our track record in online community, we felt a big call to make an accessible, affordable option available.
How do you think this might change the world?
We’ve all seen how the current Big Tech scenario has unintended consequences, including reinforcing extremist views by algorithmically suggesting similar content, disabling harmless groups or accounts by using AI that misses context, and amplifying the most outrageous content because it gets the most engagement.
Our technology flips that paradigm by doing away with behind-the-scenes manipulation, replacing it with human beings who control their own community rules. These group leaders and moderators operate in a much smaller scale, able to directly communicate and respond when there’s an issue. There’s no “pushing” of certain content from a centralized source, only actual people discussing things they are interested in.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Of course, whenever you’re allowing people to post and share information together, whether it’s in a global network or a tiny group, there is the possibility of bad actors. Each Crowdstack owner will have to be responsible for setting up their own guidelines and ensuring that their members also adhere to our Unacceptable Use Policy. We’ve given them the tools to manually and automatically do their own content moderation according to their community’s ethos.
Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”? (Please share a story or an example, for each.)
- Learn the lessons of others who have gone before. New social tools are launching every day, fueled by venture capital. Many of them go to market quickly, without tackling basic content moderation and privacy up front. Consider the meteoric rise of Clubhouse, the audio-only platform, which is now dealing retroactively with moderation issues that have been worked out by other platforms for years.
- Empathize. If your technology is going to have a positive impact to the broadest number of people, you need to expand your bubble. Think about the array of people who might use your platform, their desires, abilities, disabilities, cultures, assumptions, broadband access, languages, etc. Sometimes this will mean you can’t lean too hard on AI. For example, Facebook censored posts about Plymouth Hoe, a popular seaside landmark in Britain, because the AI confused it with a misogynistic term.
- Practice active listening. When customers (or potential customers) come to you with questions, ask them more questions and get to the heart of their challenges. This can inform both your messaging and your roadmap over time.
- Stay true to your core mission. It’s very easy to get sidetracked, watching competitors add features or pivot their concepts. Make sure that your “North Star” stays in focus. While our company has innovated and addressed different markets over the years, we have always stayed true to our primary focus, which is making it simple for anyone to connect online with their group.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
Everyone has a responsibility to use the gifts they’ve been given, in service to the world. That could mean curing cancer or it could mean raising kind, generous children. It also means that you need to listen to that inner voice that is guiding you toward your role; you may not immediately understand what your contribution will be. The world needs you.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Definitely Sarah Blakely of Spanx. I follow her social accounts and I love her relatability. Her work ethic is inspiring! I’d love to learn more about where she’s going next with her empire.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Our website is at https://crowdstack.com, and I’d love to connect with anyone via my social accounts. I’m @rhogroupee on Twitter.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.
Social Impact Tech: Rosemary O’Neill of Crowdstack On How Their Technology Will Make An Important… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.