South Philly’s Stoya: adult film it girl on DOS, social media and leaving Philadelphia

Adult film star and tech head Stoya in a South Philly cafe. Photo by Neal Santos. See more of his work at NealSantos.com.

It could be her, standing in the low light of a trendy South Philadelphia coffee shop.

There are maybe 10 people — drinking tea and working on laptops — most of whom are cute, pale-faced women with dark hair and a look. One arrived promptly at 4 p.m. and happened to be the biggest young thing in the entirety of mainstream adult film.

She was introduced as South Philly’s Stoya by CityPaper last November, but with more than six years of this city behind her and the heart of a profitable and exhausting porn career ahead of her, Stoya is leaving Philadelphia.

And she’s taking her Twitter account, T-Mobile G1 phone and MacBook Air with her. But the “Goth Girl Next Door,” who has catapulted to among the top names at porn powerhouse Digital Playground, says she isn’t a nerd — she was just raised one.

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How social media took Asher Roth from Philly suburbs to hip hop stardom

It’s going to be that anthem you hear over and over again this summer, and the artist behind it happens to have grown up in Bucks County, a half hour Regional Rail ride into Center City.

Like a growing collection of young artists, Asher Roth, the artist behind “I Love College,” found his path to a major label album by way of MySpace. But it seems likely he’ll see more than Internet fame.

I helped profile Asher Roth on the cover of today’s Philadelphia Weekly, but during our interview last month, we also spoke about the role social media have had on launching his career.

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Philly cultural institutions among their industry’s social media leaders

Fine arts organizations in Philadelphia are quickly enveloping their marketing campaigns around social media, according to a story I wrote for today’s Inquirer.

“When we post an interview or a video, our fans like the inside track, the details,” says Janine Zappone, a marketing director at the Arden Theatre. “I think Facebook and the rest give you that inside track”

The social media story is admittedly beat. Don’t think I don’t know it, but I believe it is something different for Philadelphia’s cultural institutions, like the Kimmel Center, pictured above, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Ballet and others.

It’s different because, really, these organizations in this city are so often seen in so many ways unlike what social media is supposed to be about: crowd sourcing, democratic thought, details and speed before accuracy.

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SEO copywriter: Musicians should turn to a variety of social networks for promotion

Sansone presents his case study at Ly Michael's in Chinatown.

For a plurality of users, MySpace is all but dead. But for musicians, the social networking site remains crucial for maintaining connections with fans and venue owners, according to a lecture by local SEO copywriter Ron Sansone.

Before a modest crowd of a dozen-and-a-half on hand to hear Sansone’s talk on social media and music, organized by the Philadelphia Standards Organization, he presented a case study observing new media marketing practices implemented for his own local band.

According to the speech by Sansone, whose day job is with the Philadelphia branch of global digital branding company Razorfish, MySpace can be a powerful central hub for promotion when flanked with a multitude of additional social networking sites.
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