In 2007, Clara Shih was eating wonton in an obscure Hong Kong diner when she overheard two locals chatting about Facebook. It was then she realized social networking had truly become a force of nature. That same year, Clara unveiled Faceconnector, the first business application for Facebook, and the CRM social movement was launched.

Clara followed up this achievement with her book, “The Facebook Era,” which is a New York Times-featured bestseller, has been translated into nine languages, and is used as a marketing textbook at Harvard Business School. In researching the book and talking with Silicon Valley colleagues, she realized companies weren’t embracing social media because of branding and compliance risks, but their representatives and employees were already representing their brands using social media. Clara set out to help big brands and their representatives build relationships using social media in a way that was safe and compliant, and Hearsay Social was born.

Co-founded with Stanford classmate Steve Garrity, Hearsay Social empowers corporations to quickly onboard, train, and successfully enable their local offices to create authentic conversations with their clients and customers in real time on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. At the same time, the organizations can rest easy knowing their social media efforts will be protected from compliance and messaging infractions.

Clara, Steve, and the entire Hearsay Social team are passionate about social media and how it cements authentic relationships between corporations and their local customers and clients. The world has changed, and Hearsay Social will continue to innovate, evolve, and help make connections between companies and their customers.