14 posts tagged “network”
The
Nintendo Wii has taken the world by storm. It's interactive platform
and the Wii Mii's are in line with everything society wants from a game
system. Even their wrist strap incident failed to put a dent in Wii's
popularity. A new site launched today, WiiSportsLeagues,
is providing an Internet-based community for Wii players.
WiiSportsLeagues has forums for game discussions, sharing tips and
other topics, and of course, they've got teams. Find other Wii players
to connect with, and maybe start a team of your own. Then you can play
against other teams. And that's fun.
Whether or not
this will turn out to be the next Halo (tournaments in Vegas with huge
cash prizes, I mean) is yet to be determined. As WiiSportsLeagues
operates independently from Nintendo, it's hard to say how quickly they
could gain traction. People like their Wiis and the interactive nature
of the Wii game system will no doubt spur the creation of several more
sites like this, especially if college boys have anything to do with it.
Google's
new frontpage gadget lets you watch MTV content. This gadget, one of
thousands provided for your frontpage, brings in all kinds of tv
programming that's been provided by networks' broadband channels.
So if you'd like to consider this a loophole for Viacom's persistently upset stance on Google playing their content, go right ahead. But I can't imagine that this is much different than finding search results for Viacom--or even video search results for that matter. The content isn't pirated (it shouldn't be, at lease). As a matter of fact, the way in which you can watch MTV using Google's gadget feed is probably what Viacom would prefer over the pirated content that has made YouTube what it is today. Legality. That's all that Viacom wants, right? And maybe some revenue kickback.
At
any rate, many are speculating that this new Google gadget will
increase the strain on the relationship between Google and Viacom. And
maybe it will. It's still easy to find those pirated YouTube clips with
a quick search on Google Video, but I guess all that really will have
to be worked out in the courtroom. Could Viacom get all that upset
about the RSS feed on Google? Would they, in turn, get mad at all the
other companies that are allowing users to make their own program
line-ups based on content provided through these feeds?
MySpace will be launching a site as an aggregate of U.S. presidential hopefuls in an effort to raise political awareness for a demographic that is easily out of touch with much of what goes on in the world of politics. MySpace Impact hopes to provide a channel for its users to promote political interaction, giving information on all those that are running for president '08 and even offering a 1-click payment option for donations and fund raising.
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Will MySpace have a great influence on voting next year? Those running the political campaigns are very keen on leveraging social networks and dedicated blogs for furthering their reach. As strange as it is to see Hillary Clinton's MySpace profile and Barak Obama on my friends list, it does provide a very simple way to stay abreast of what's going on. Perhaps this could even facilitate better communication between political figures and the masses.
Here are some other sites worth mentioning that are using online networks for political purposes:
Open Congress
A political news aggregator of sorts, aims to make the process of passing bills more transparent for the public. Their site truly facilitates communication around the very basics of political edification and will hopefully become a fixture for political review, especially with the upcoming elections.
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FirstGiving
Allows you to create a fund-raising tool to be placed on your personal website, blog, or social network profile to raise awareness and funds. This personalization of fund-raising coupled with the integration of their widget with our growing online presence broadens the reach and effects of bringing political issues to the forefront. Their service offers a way for others to donate directly to you or your associated organization. It's a great way to not only spread the word but to raise money for your cause.
So tell me what Fashionising is all about? Fashionising
is a social network built for people who love fashion and buy it, and
those who love it so much that they work within the fashion industry.
We’re particularly focused on creating a community that supports
upcoming talent in the industry, including models and designers. You mention that social networking isn't just about making friends anymore. What else is social networking for? MySpace’s
focus on music, and the success of members such as Lily Allen and the
Arctic Monkeys, really proved that social networks can be a driving
force in our world. Instead of just talking to random people, they can
become an area where people can create opportunities for themselves.
For Fashionising, it’s about opportunities in the fashion world. It
might be something as simple as front row seats at a fashion show, or
something much larger such as providing a struggling, but hugely
talented designer, with the opportunity to find a consumer base which
would otherwise be closed off to them. How do you bring the added value to social networking? Unlike
most social networks, we’ve approached Fashionising from the content
side of things. Profiles and messaging systems, which usually are the
main focus, aren’t our major focus. Instead we’ve concentrated on tools
and features such as our Fashion Diary, which is a mashup of street
style and fashion show videos and photos from across the net, and one
main blog, which all members can contribute to as opposed to giving
each member their own blog. We develop content laden features, which we
then ‘plug’ the membership base into, allowing them to contribute,
comment, and collaborate. It’s more-or-less a reverse of the model of
social networks, but we believe it’s where longevity and value really
exists. In a way, you're providing a lifestyle network. How does that come into play for users' interaction within the site? One
of the most interesting effects is the way members represent
themselves. They’re amongst peers, and trying to show that they have a
lifestyle on par with others, or one that we should be envious of. As a
result, people are much more aware of how they represent themselves.
It’s nearly always with pride, dignity and respect because they feel
that they personally are on show and that their name is tied to their
actions. It’s the sort of ‘ownership of actions’ that exists in the
real world, but isn’t always on display on the internet. How does that come into play for other aspects of life, such as jobs, etc? We
hope we’ve made a positive change to many of our members lives. I know
one member describes himself as having going from ‘fashion faux pas to
fashionista’. That’s something that we’re proud of. What are your goals with Fashionising? To
build a vibrant fashion centric community, and to help the industry
change in a positive way. Working within the fashion industry you
notice there is a lot of resistance to change, and many a person has
told us that they either don’t understand, or don’t want to understand,
fashion on the internet. If they keep that mind set, they’re going to
end up in the same place where a large part of the music industry
currently finds itself – the consumer has moved years beyond where the
major players think they are. We don’t want that to be the case for
fashion. What are the next steps for Fashionising? We’re
going to continue to focus on providing opportunities for people within
the industry be they upcoming or established, and at present we’re
building a portfolio platform for stylists, models and photographers.
We’re hoping to have this completed by our official April launch, but
beyond that we’re going to continually add to the site and refine what
is already there. Aside from tools to help the industry,
we’re looking to build tools for more fashion and lifestyle content.
This will help expand our audience, and give the people we’re trying to
help a reach previously restricted to those lucky enough to be featured
in the likes of Vogue.
With
the recognition and success of niche social networks, Fashionising
looks to make their mark on an overall segment of culture.
Fashionising is dedicated to the people that love fashion, and is
looking to offer more than simple conduits for conversing online, but
tools for effective networking within the industry. Fashionising wants
to spur opportunities for its users and bring a higher level of purpose
to the manifestation of our online behavior. Building on the basics of
social networking, in order to bring about a lifestyle network.
I recently got a chance to hear from Fashionising's Daniel P. Dykes.
They key to it all is
the quality behind what goes on. Whether it’s in our members
interaction, or the opportunities we provide them, quality is key.
Tipstrs
is one of those sites that may slightly confuse you when you first
happen upon their homepage; only in the sense that they have a liquid
format that is flexing to the users' manifestation of the site. That
being said, their name says it all. Tipstrs is for tips. Whether you
found something interesting on the web or have some knowledge you'd
like to share with a general public, Tipstrs can be used as a
bookmarking site or a place to share the wealth. It's on its way to
becoming a conglomerate of Internet features, like voting up the best
content or searching for an answer about your favorite video game.
...
Rick Lansky launched Tipstrs at the beginning of the month, and recently took the time out to chat with me about his start-up.
What exactly is your service all about? Are you like Digg for tips?
Noisetap
is a product of Cottenblend, a creative agency specializing in web
development, and provides a rare blend of user-generated resources for
the music community. There is a ranking system built into their
service that pushes the best content to the top. Their posts are
segmented by music genre and context, and offer an aggregate of
relevant information for their users. People are connected to each
other through this relevant information, so based on your interests,
you can find others that share your tastes and will offer information
that is compelling to you. Their relationship with Ticketmaster and
iLike gives them an opportunity to research and develop intriguing
products and provide additional value to their users. They are
currently testing in beta, and hope to be launching their official
service sometime later this year.
How did the idea for Noisetap come about?
...
We are very interested in new technology here at Cottonblend, and Noisetap
is the first of many Web 2.0 sites that we will be building in the
coming year. We wanted to give the music community a cool, unique way
to share news, rumors, opinions, etc. where the most compelling content
rises to the top (based on our ranking algorithm). We also like to look
at these new sites as a sandbox or testing ground—a great place to work
all the bugs out before we offer features like these to our clients.
Not to mention it keeps our designers and developers happy as they get
to work on cutting-edge ideas.
Are most people considering you to be a specialized Digg for music?
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That may be the first impression of the site, but aside from post
submission and the ability to vote/comment on it, we introduced a
competitive edge to the mix by displaying user ranking and giving users
the ability to display a badge that shows their ranking on their blogs.
We also feature articles/reviews by power users (i.e. editors), which
is something that Digg doesn’t do. So while we do implement some
Digg-like features, we took the idea one step further.
What are the key features of Noisetap?
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Out of the many features on the site, the following do stand out:
1. The ability for users to vote and change their votes
2. RSS feeds for searches
3. User badges
4. Lightboxes
5. Granular user searches
6. posts broken up by music genre and context type.
Where do the social components of Noisetap come into play?
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When users sign up, we ask for their ZIP code if they’re in the US, or their city otherwise. This information will come in handy as we roll out more social components that will mainly focus on connecting users who have similar interests as well as connecting them with resources on partner sites.
How'd you come up with the animal icons for each music genre?
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We wanted something a little more exciting, something different, something that wasn’t just a boring guitar icon for rock. Thus, the animal icons were born. This was probably one of the hardest decisions we had to make in building the site—which animal goes with which category. After many conversations, we finally ended up with what you see today. Personally, I still like the Armadillo for Country, but I was outvoted.
How is beta testing going so far? What type of feedback are you receiving?
...
It’s going great. We’re currently focusing on performance issues and logic bugs. Most of the feedback we’ve gotten so far has been positive with very little bugs to report. We want to pound on the site for a good period of time before we go into GAMMA.
Any plans to add additional social components or music genres?
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Definitely!
Any hopes of branching out other specialized networks?
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Of course. We have plenty of ideas cooking at the Cottonblend labs
What are the next steps for Noisetap?
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The very next step for Noisetap is fine-tuning performance and fixing critical bugs, if any. Then, we’re going to implement new features one by one, allowing ample time in between for testing and fine-tuning. Noisetap is a living entity that will always change, evolve and improve.
When do you plan on your official launch?
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No official date has been set, but if I had to guess, I would say mid-summer.
timeXchange
is a Chicago-based service that provides free online time tracking.
It's scalability allows for small and large businesses to easily
utilize their tools, from independent contractors to entire teams
within a corporation. timeXchange enables you to record and report
time and expenses, and collect and improve team reporting. Their
simplistic approach to an ever-present consequence of business
involvement makes for a great feature that could easily be integrated
into larger aspects of business, and their focus is really on the
building of the networks around the time sheets. timeXchange just added its 1,000th member to its network yesterday, and Chicago couldn't be more proud.
I caught up with Joe Piekarz, President of timeXchange.
Did the creation of timeXchange come from a personal need for a web-based application for time tracking?
Instead
of connecting with other to share photos, our users share project-based
time reporting. The network, not the timesheet, is the application.
What are your main objectives with timeXchange?
Could timeXchange be used for a small team within a large company?
What are some of the struggles you face as a start-up in the midwest, as opposed to the west coast?
Do you have real time collaboration services?
Any plans to partner with other companies, such as web collaboration services or business/networking social communities?
What are the next steps for timeXchange, and when do you hope these will be implemented?
Our
next steps involve going from Public Beta status to full production in
the June timeframe. At that time we will also be making some
announcements regarding partnerships and new services.
Citizen Image, a company we interviewed a while back, is an online tool for the distribution of user-generated photos to existing publications such as USA Today. They are announcing ciSyndicate, which includes their partnership with two image-sharing sites, "giving users the option to seamlessly sell images on Citizen Image," said their CEO Feargall Kenny. The two image sharing sites are third party social networks Pixpulse and Photagious. With these affiliations, Citizen Image has added 10,000 photos to their repository.
ciSyndicate utilizes RSS functionality and links to grant easy selling options for Pixpulse and Photagious users. You can choose to automatically stream your images for availability on Citizen Image or click on a "sell" link that will submit a particular photo to be sold through Citizen Image.
It's a new level of participation not only with the established media industry, but with social networking and citizen journalism as well. As more user-generated content becomes available, particularly online, it is necessary to find easy ways for that content to be monetized by its owner. Incorporating that feature into existing social networks that thrive on content-sharing activities is an excellent way for Citizen Image to tap into the power of the people, extending the reaches of both media and the mass.
"there's a fundamental shift from
sharing [content] to monetization."
To frame this in the larger picture, Kenny notes that "there's a fundamental shift from sharing [content] to monetization." Citizen Image's partnership with Pixpulse and Photagious is beneficial for the networks because they're now creating value to pass along to their users, giving then the ability to make money from their photos. It's dually beneficial for Citizen Image as it increases the amount of content available for publishing and extends their brand even further through the Internet. In terms of the relationship between Citizen Image and social networks, they have created an indirect way of interacting with the networks' users.
This service can obviously be extended to a great number of other content-sharing sites; even those that do not focus on image-sharing. When asked if they would be looking to work with more networks, Kenny said "right now we're targeting image-sharing sites, but we're very much interested in not only providing white label services to social networks that will be involved in a wide variety of services; for example, travel. We could create a process allowing photographic input from users to real customers looking at travel-oriented content or a travel company."
This way of approaching the niche markets further empowers the citizen journalist and provides an invaluable resource to established media. It will also create a great resource for newcomers looking to start a new wave of publications, whether they're printed or online. Removing previous barriers to entry levels the playing field to a certain extent, bringing new and exciting challenges for everyone involved.
Group Recipes is a social network with a delicious slant. Their central focus is obviously food, and the social aspects created around such a topic are suprisingly refreshing. Group Recipes isn't just a place to share your recipes and find new ones, but it incorporates a hefty amount of tools that help you discover more about yourself and connect well with others, including a stumble feature that will randomly choose a recipe for you, and a detailed floating sidebar showing your activity history. You can subscribe to a particular user who's recipes you like, add a recipe to a comparison chart, or send it to your cell phone.
I like their recipie robot best--it's designed to consider your food preferences and reccomend recipes accordingly. And they do encourage users to upload videos of their own little cooking shows (some of which are pleasantly professional). My favorite is Boy Eats World's episode explaining how to make a watermellon martini from real watermellon (a recipe I've been searching for these past few months). Even if you're a bad cook, you'd still get a good deal of foodie benefits from perusing Group Recipes.
Below is an interview with Kristopher of Group Recipes.
How did you decide to create a social network around food?
It sounds terribly trite, but basically I looked at food websites and thought I could do it better (Wow, that sounds pompous to boot). These massive sites hadn't changed in years. Nobody was focusing on community, let alone harnessing it to make the user experience better and more efficient. So I studied the vertical for awhile and thought I had enough unique ideas to make a go of it.
You've got tons of features on your site to keep users involved. Where did you get some of your inspiration from?
The site doesn't have any specific inspirations, but utilizes a lot of what has been shown to work for social sites in general.
Tell me a bit about the Recipe Robot...
Much of the site's development focused on creating an algo to analyze both user histories semantically and probabilistically (with regression analysis). Roger the Recipe Robot is the pretty wrapper we place on the guts of the algo that predicts recipes for you.
What's the most important aspect of Group Recipes?Harnessing community to find good food. GR is about more than networking, it is leveraging the collective knowledge (and data) to make finding good food more fun and more efficient.
Do you have any added features, such as widgets?Yeah, brand us "Web 2.0", we do indeed have widgets.
What are some features you plan on adding soon?We have a few more rounds of fine tuning, then we are going to push out some more "exploration" focused features.
Would you consider any sort of partnerships with other companies, such as a larger social network or a food publication?
I don't see any value working with a generic social network; however, I do indeed see some value in working with some of the larger established food/recipe companies. We are exploring a lot of options right now.
What are the next steps for Group Recipes?Growth. That is chief focus at this stage. Like every social network, we are chasing "the tipping point".
Hearst has been revamping their web image for some months now, adding niche social networks and user-generated content submissions to their magazines' online counterparts. They've now hooked up with Maven to create 12 user-generated video sites that will really amp up their web campaign. The highly customizable Maven players will work well with branding, and will fit with any of Hearst's magazine titles. Their own content as well as ad campaigns can be inserted with user-generated content.
The most important aspect of this strategic move is Hearst's circumvention of middle-men, taking their social network and advertising capabilities directly to the users. By creating a web space that invites users to submit their own content, they've carved out a market of content with which to latch onto for marketing purposes, directly to their existing customer base.
Instead of going through Google or Yahoo, or other advertising companies that will will place ad content with videos on other hosting sites like YouTube or MySpace, they've created their own market in a distinct effort to eliminate the middle-man. Of course this will only work if their niche social networks gain enough steam for this to be properly effective.
