Amy Cao

Bio:

Writer, food blogger, native New Yorker, Head of Social Media at Foodspotting.com. Producer-Host of Stupidly Simple Snack videos.

• Title: Head of Social Media at Foodspotting.com, Founder of AmyBlogsChow.com
• Age: 26
• Location: Midtown
• Contact: amyblogschow.com

As the Head of Social Media for Foodspotting, you have a lot of possible tools at your disposal (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.). Which one is your favorite for communicating with the Foodspotting crowd and why? And which do you think is the most effective?

I love Twitter because I think it's incredibly easy to share news on it. Facebook and Tumblr are good for those who have found you by other means, like our website, Foodspotting.com. Sure, you can find our Twitter there too, but I think we've converted quite a few people from Twitter. It's not as often that you see someone's Facebook update saying: Hey, check out Foodspotting.com! Also, the conversation goes both ways on Twitter, whereas on Facebook, you are the host and your "likers" are your guests. I also find it's a breeze to start a dialogue with just about anyone who uses Twitter.

You produce a web video series called Stupidly Simple Snacks, which teaches viewers how to make the most of basic ingredients, techniques, and equipment in a lighthearted way. Your very first video was on banana shakes and the most current one is on peanut butter and banana sandwiches. How do you end up deciding what to make/do in your videos?

My most current one is actually Holiday Reverse S'mores, which I'm posting on my blog this week for those Christmas party planners who are looking for easy-to-make treats. The inspiration for my videos come from a variety of sources - sometimes my friends or viewers will suggest something that they enjoyed eating growing up or one of my guests will bring their snack recipes to the table. Other times, my recipes are the product of pure guesswork. In that instance, I'm lucky if it's edible because when I screw up (as I sometimes do, with cinnamon toast, for example), it's not fun to clean up.

"Head of Social Media" is a relatively new title. Can you explain to us a couple things… First, how did you end up working with Foodspotting? And second, how were your job responsibilities explained to you and are there any metrics that your team uses to gauge levels of success?

I ended up working for Foodspotting because they were hiring for a marketing/community building position out in San Francisco for which I applied. The SF job kind of became TWO roles, so I ended up assuming one of those in New York. My job responsibilities range from social media engagement to event organizing to being on camera for Foodspotting, so my obligations are varied. We're still a small company (only 8 of us in total) so we all do a bit of everything. Because we're in our first year, we don't have previous years to measure ourselves against, but if new users continue to download our app and existing users use Foodspotting with enthusiasm, then I think that we're on the road to longterm success. After all, if they like us now, then hopefully they'll like us more as we become smarter, make improvements, and grow our services and capabilities.

Bobby Flay versus Mario Batali. Who would win in Kitchen Stadium Amy?

I am a bigger fan of Batali's restaurants than Bobby Flay's, but I like Bobby Flay the person. I just spotted him out with his wife at the new Lotus of Siam last week, so I like to think he's a nice, normal guy who's been on TV for a while.