Paolo Tosolini: Microsoft’s Podcast Guru

Posted by admin

May 11, 2009

Passionate; it’s a word that could be used to describe practically everyone within Seattle’s social media scene and for good reason. Without passion, none of us would be attending events, conversing with one another, or doing what we’re doing to keep this social media thing here in Seattle growing. Simply put, without passion within everyone of it’s members, there would be no Seattle social media community. Thankfully, however, that is not the case. Passion can be found within every person that’s involved in the community and if ever there was a person who embodied it, it would be our next profiled member: Paolo Tosolini, Microsoft’s Podcast Guru.

The Basics:

My name is Paolo Tosolini, I’m Italian and I moved to Seattle in 1996 working for a multimedia company called (at that time) Asymetrix. Since then I co-founded my own vacation rental company, myItalianVacation.com (which I sold a few years later), and then joined Microsoft in 2001. I’m currently working as a New Media Business Manager in Microsoft’s sales organization, where I lead a companywide knowledge-sharing initiative based on social computing, online video, and podcasting.

Social Media:

What is your interest in social media?
I love social media because it’s instant gratification and immediate connection to people, whenever you want it and in the measure you can take. It gives me access to information and individuals that I couldn’t reach otherwise as easily. And may be not too surprisingly, social media individuals are nice people, pleasant to engage, open, and willing to share what they know. How often do you get to meet a wide range of interesting folks with their own fascinating ideas, high aspirations, common passion, and open to all sorts of dialogues? It takes a certain open mindset to participate in social media activities; you’ve to give first to get.

How would you describe Seattle’s social media community?
Seattle seems to have a vibrant social media community. Lots of technological people in this area due to Microsoft, Amazon, RealNetworks, and various startups. I love the Tweetups, where you get to meet, in person, somebody who you just knew by their Twitter handle.

I feel I not only grow as an individual as I engage more and more in this discipline, but I constantly learn something new. I want to be a life-long learner, and this is a great time to benefit from a wealth of information and wonderful people who filter, forward, generate, comment, and argue on every possible topic out there. It’s up to you to tune to whatever conversation interests you the most; it’s just much simpler, direct, and immediate than 10-15 years ago.

Any interesting social media events coming up?
One of my favorite events is New Media Expo – www.blogworldexpo.com, which recently merged with Blog World Expo.

Just For Fun:

I have a very busy life. Among working at Microsoft, being with my kids, keeping up with technology, enhancing my professional skills, and consolidating my personal brand, I don’t have much extra time. My family is my priority. I have two kids of 5 and 8 years. My older daughter has been teaching Italian to other kids via YouTube videos for a few years, and she enjoys the popularity of the medium and the fun of being a little star.

What are your hobbies?
Travelling is what I like the most—to the point that with my wife, we wrote an e-book called “Italy From The Inside: The definitive survival guide for travelers” – www.italyfromtheinside.com. We offer our insights on Italian culture, sharing tips in new media format to tourists interested in my country of origin. It’s a nice way to research and apply social media marketing, take a few trips home to generate new content, and share what we know with others.