Meet Steve Rosenbaum

Founder and CEO, Magnify.net
Participant: We Media Miami ’10
Judge: We Media PitchIt! Challenge

I was a magician in high school, and I always loved the back and forth with the audience. The feedback. When I started working in the media, I found the whole ‘one way’ thing kind of hollow. I wanted applause if we did well and I wanted rotten fruit if the audience didn’t like a documentary or program we produced.

At the first chance I got, I invented a TV series that gave the audience a chance to do more than watch — but actually participate. It was called MTV UNfiltered, and if you haven’t checked it out, you can find it here.

Along the way, I’ve made a ton of films, documentaries, and web projects for partners including HBO, Discovery, A&E, MSNBC, and CNN. I’ve also directed a number of feature documentaries, including a film I’m very proud of “7 Days in September” about how New York was affected by the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Magnify.net is the incarnation of the way I see the media world evolving. Increasingly, the power is in the hands of the audience. The audience engages, shares, ranks, and validates. I always imagined Magnify.net as a platform that would engage, embrace, and facilitate media creating, sharing, and collective knowledge. I’m passionate about the sounds and pictures that real people create, and excited to help create order from chaos.