She may only be 24 but Rubenstein has certainly put herself on the fast-track to success in public affairs. Even while studying at Yale University, she was working for non-profit organizations, political campaigns and helping out with environmental education at Yale’s Recycling Dept. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles in search of a job in the public interest/non-profit world and was, therefore, a little hesitant when new media giant MySpace came knocking. What appealed to her was the tabula rasa nature of the offer. “The job wasn’t really defined at all,” says Rubenstein. Indeed, at that point Impact didn’t even exist. All they had was the idea that, “We have all these users, we have an amazing marketing platform and we should open it up to campaigns and non-profits and see what kind of difference we can make in the world.”
Slowly but surely the Impact channel started to develop with Rubenstein as the driving force. “I was really the only person managing that whole process day-to-day,” she says, “The first thing we did was launch a small program called the Impact Awards where we give away $10,000 a month to a non-profit based on MySpace user nominations and voting.”
Last March, when the presidential campaigning began to heat up earlier than expected, the MySpace team decided it was time to stake their claim and pulled back the launch date of Impact. With some serious hustle, they launched the first version of Impact in just two weeks. Since then the structure of the channel has been finessed and now boasts several major programs. On the political side there is Declare Yourself, an organization which aims to register every 18-year-old to vote before the 2008 elections, and the Presidential Dialogues. A partnership with MTV, the Dialogues are, “a series of one on one conversations with each of the Presidential candidates. We’re trying to give young people an unprecedented level of access to the candidates,” explains Rubenstein, “They’re not getting five minutes of sound bites, they’re getting a full hour of really talking about the issues that young people care about.” The format includes a live broadcast on MTV, webcast on MySpace and all kinds of innovative tools to help the online audience interact in real time.
Liba Rubenstein (far right) with presidential candidate Barack Obama
On the cause front, Impact features programs like Our Planet, a community for environmental action and climate change with over 150,000 members, and Rock for Darfur, a night of worldwide concerts benefiting relief efforts in the Sudan. “So there’s a lot going on at Impact,” Rubenstein proudly states.
And they’re still just getting started. Recent upgrades include the launch of a customizable profile type specifically for ‘Impact-Makers’ (campaigns, non-profits, and cause-minded individuals) and a Viral Donation tool that will enable users to fundraise at the click of a mouse. So how does Rubenstein handle the pressure of knowing that her work has the ability to influence millions of young people? “I feel an enormous level of responsibility but it’s not like I can just press a button and everyone will listen. Part of the challenge of the job is to find messages that are going to cut through everything else…and get that broad audience truly engaged.”
As someone who has created her own indispensable role in the development and success of an endeavor like MySpace Impact, Rubenstein has some seriously insightful advice on the world of public affairs. “It’s an emerging world, the world of corporate social responsibility and using new media to further social causes. So it’s just a matter of keeping your mind open, pursuing causes that you care about when you’re a student and when you have an opportunity to volunteer. That will build the kind of contacts and the kind of passion that will help guide you when you’re in a position of pursuing a career.” And that’s how you make an impact.
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