Morgan Sommer is the first to admit that Cybersocket's existence was almost an accident. Born of "an idea we were just sort of hashing around one day," Sommer says he and his boyfriend and partner Tim Lutz embarked on their publishing tour de force in December 1996, shortly after they met. "We didn't have a grand master plan," he says.
What they did have was an abundance of drive, chutzpah, brains, and talent, combined with a good idea. In the six-and-one-half years since its founding, Cybersocket LLC has become a powerhouse and remains the only organization of its kind to do what it does: index and promote gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Websites in multiple media. "We refer to ourselves as a multimedia publishing company promoting the gay and lesbian Internet through print and electronic media," Sommer says.
Initially employing just Sommer and Lutz and producing one product, Cybersocket - a paperback directory of all the gay and lesbian Websites the pair could find - Cybersocket LLC has grown during the intervening years, diversifying its product line, adding employees, and making its name virtually synonymous with the gay and lesbian Web in both adult and mainstream markets. Today the home of about two-dozen employees whom Sommer describes as "12 queens, four lesbians, and a bunch of people who like us," Cybersocket and its sister company, the Web design firm Bionic Pixels LLC, occupy a 2,000-square-foot office space in Los Angeles that's bulging at the seams. Sommer says Cybersocket Central is a fun, laid-back place to work where the basic uniform is T-shirts and shorts, pet owners bring their four-legged children to work with them, and everyone plays pranks on everyone else. It's a close-knit group - although not too tightly wrapped, sometimes - and hiring decisions are based in large part on personality. About half the staff is employed in sales, Sommer says, so the offices can get loud when all of them are on the phone at the same time or when someone tells a particularly hilarious joke or hears an unusually juicy bit of gossip.
"Without humor it wouldn't work," Sommer says simply. "A lot of work is drudgery. A business is an entity. It's an organism. The character of a business is shaped by everyone who works with it or for it. As a company, we're evolving all the time, and everyone must 'fit.'"
Despite the staff's tendency toward levity and practical jokes, the company is very serious about maintaining its position at the top of the heap by continuing to deliver high-quality products. Now in its seventh edition, Cybersocket the annual directory is the resource for people interested in finding any type of GLBT information or entertainment on the Web. Cybersocket Web Magazine, a free publication that switched from a bi-monthly to a monthly schedule in January, promotes and illuminates the GLBT Web in a more in-depth way than the annual directory can. It's now in its fifth year of publication, and an audited 70,000 copies are distributed in 100 cities across 37 U.S. states, making it the largest publication of its kind. The company produces several e-mail newsletters, and Cybersocket's online presence, www.cybersocket.com, was introduced as a search engine six years ago and has become a leader in its space. It is just now undergoing its first redesign in the very capable hands of Blakey St. John, who partnered with Sommer and Lutz two years ago to found Bionic Pixels, which has clients across the spectrum. About half of them are adult entities, Sommer said, and the other half are firmly planted in the mainstream.
"[Blakey's] brilliant," Sommer says. "She can make anything out of nothing. Her background is with motion picture studios; Cybersocket was her first adult client. Everything we do is part of such an evolving industry, we're all still figuring it out together."
What Sommer neglects to mention is that he and Lutz are fairly brilliant, too, and they have equally interesting backgrounds. Lutz's is a bit more straightforward perhaps: He's a graphic designer by trade, and he once owned a magazine that is no longer published. On a day-to-day basis, he oversees the look and "feel" of all of Cybersocket's publications in addition to keeping an eye on the company's finances and heading up the marketing team. Sommer, whose responsibilities include sales, company infrastructure, human resources, and general organizational details, was trained and educated to be a geophysicist. After moving to L.A., his good looks - and apparently his cocksmanship - led to a career in porn movies. In fact, he says he met Lutz at a precursor to the GayVN Awards: Sommer was a star and Lutz was a fan, and they clicked immediately, personally and professionally.
That the pair can work and live together successfully is absolutely fabulous, Sommer says, but it's not all fun and games. Even though Cybersocket has no real competitors, hard work, diligence, persistence, and concrete goals are the secrets to their success, he says. "We've sacrificed just about everything to achieve the objective," he notes. "Making money is a good thing, and capitalism is a fundamental value to me, but growing a business is like raising a child. Being profitable is a byproduct of nurturing and caring for a business over the long term."
Cybersocket's success is not something Sommer and Lutz feel they can take all the credit for, either, Sommer says. "A lot of what we've done has been due to the interest and support of others in the industry," he remarks. "There's a constant network of communication going on in the industry; we're not isolated. Relationships are very important, and we are so happy to be part of a growing family in the industry."
That industry is changing monumentally, maturing and becoming more "real" all the time, Sommer says. "There's so much more professionalism now than there was even a few years ago," he says. "What started out as hobbies has grown into businesses. Consequently, a lot of us have had to learn to be business people. As this industry is maturing, those of us in it are learning who we can trust; who follows through."
Sommer gives Web surfers much of the credit for the maturation of the GLBT Internet industry. "A good reputation, honesty, integrity, and a good work ethic are essential," he says. "A business plan based on duping customers is a bad idea. It's just short-sighted."
That's part of the reason Cybersocket started the Cybersocket Web Awards three years ago, Sommer notes. Like Cybersocket Web Magazine, the awards focus on all sorts of Websites: adult entertainment, personal, artistic, informational, health, community service and outreach, and those in other categories. About half of the content in the Web magazine and about as many of the awards go to non-adult sites and individuals.
As the company's evolution continues, Sommer expects Cybersocket to stay the same in many ways. It will continue to be a place where people have a good deal of fun doing something of importance. The company will continue to publish, online and in print, a variety of products and offer communication services. It will look for new ways to give back to the community that spawned and continues to support it. All of that will be done honestly, ethically, and with at least a modicum of tongue-in-cheek verve.
"Our role is to promote, support, analyze, categorize, comment upon, and popularize gay- and lesbian-oriented Websites," Sommer says. "We don't criticize. If there's something on the Web that we don't like, we just ignore it."
Very few, however, ignore Cybersocket.
