Archive for the 'Social Networking' Category

Review: A Hotter ‘Hot or Not’

Wednesday, June 7th, 2006

The site has been described by some as “the best update of Hot Or Not of all time,” runs on a completely Web 2.0 platform, and has the potential to feed the beast with a MySpace et al Widget that has been submitted to TagWorldWidgets.com for approval. The site was released on May 31st, 2006 with about 100 images of females (taken from a randomly selected “100 Hottest Women” list) and has a lot of potential growth avenues.

Going back to the comparison to ‘Hot or Not,’ one of the original and most popularÂ? rating sites, it is quite a bit different. There is no actual rating given to the images, and images are not rated individually. Instead, the user is given three different images, and from those images, one must be selected to be ‘Killed,’ one must be selected to ‘Marry,’ and one must be selected to, well, ‘F*ck.’ The site is that simple. There is a game-of-the-day (called ‘Today’s Game‘), random games, and there are some custom games provided by the devlopers, and some of the games are actually pretty tough to make a choice on - check out this game and this game that have been pre-programmed in.

There are a couple different areas the site can be improved on, and the developers indicate that they will be continuing to work on the site. There are only women available, at the moment, new images (of celebrities or just regular people) cannot be submitted, and something that has become a regular feature on sites is tags, which could be interesting to help filter the images available for the game. A simple idea, could have some potential, and if nothing else, it’s good for a couple minutes to get away from it all, so to speak.

AOL Makes a Splash

Tuesday, May 16th, 2006

AOL may have arrived a little bit late to the User Generated Content arena, but the Entertainment company sure knows how to make an entrance. On the heels of the release of their “MySpace Killer” called AIM Pages, AOL has now released their “YouTube Killer” under the name of UnCut Video.

AIM Pages was fairly impressive. The site was clean, seems relatively easy to navigate through, and addresses some of the long-term problems that will undoubtedly plague MySpace, like building the site Web 2.0.Â? We posted yesterday about MySpace offering episodes of ‘24′Â? and how the move could take a little of the wind out ofÂ? AOL’s sails. But the very next day, AOL’s release of their own video sharing website trumps News Inc’s release.

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Holy Update Blogman! MySpace offers 24…

Monday, May 15th, 2006

It seems that as soon as we’d posted the message, and then BAM!! A whole wackload of examples presented themselves. MySpace has started to sellÂ? episodes of ‘24′ and Skype is doing a couple different things, offeringÂ? SkypeOut free in the U.S. and Canada, and soon will allow PayPal payments via Skype. These are basic examples of these websites building on their core features in a way that provides added benefit to their users.

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Net Content

Friday, May 5th, 2006

Besides Internet advertising, an industry that should only grow in the next few years, the greatest potential for monetization on the Internet will likely come from having (or having the rights to) original or unique content. In 1990, Sony Entertainment purchased M-G-M Grand Studio, home of Columbia/TriStar Pictures. Not only did the company acquire the rights to some of the greatest classic movies ever made, including the “James Bond” series and “Rocky,” but they have also gone on to release blockbusters like “Spiderman” and “Jumanji.”Â? Sony’s collection of colour movies is considered to be the greatest in the world, and Sony’s greatest asset.

Although controlling content is important, all that really provides is potential revenue. With declining revenues from movie theatres and movie rentals, and as the consumer shifts towards online access to media, entertainment companies will have to find ways to capitalize on that potential. ABC has started streaming some of their most popular shows the day after they air - with a catch. The shows are free, and the user can skip through chapters in the episode, but the showÂ? willÂ? have streaming commercials that can’t be skipped. Again, this is definitely an important step in capitlizing on content, but it still requires users.

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Corporate Facebook

Friday, April 28th, 2006

I’ve often commented about the number of social networking websites, and the ability of these different websites to survive will be almost entirely based on their ability toÂ? create their own unique niche to fill. WallopÂ? thinks they have “a golden opportunity for Wallop to change the face of social computing.” Of course, the people at Wallop won’t give any details before they launch, and they don’t seem to be open for business just yet, so the buzz around the company is mostly to do with Microsoft IP Ventures being a part of the company.

After announcing it really isn’t for saleÂ? and raising $25 million in VC funding, Facebook has announced an ambitious move to expand on its current high school/college-based users. Although a completely different market, corporate social networkingÂ? is virtually untapped byÂ? theÂ? social networking giants. I mentioned in a post recently that MeetupÂ? may be the social networking site that has the best potential to do something unique, however, this bold new move by Facebook could prove to be key to their continued growth.

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