15 Celebrity-Inspired Social Networking Sites
June 11, 2008 — 02:20 PM PDT — by Sean P. Aune — — Add a Comment
Celebrities have been diving into social networking in a big way recently, and with each launch it’s fairly obvious how much each one gets it.
These 15 celebrity-inspired social networks are examples of some of the good, the bad, and the ugly, with the celebrity involvement ranging from figurehead to hands-on social networking guru.
It also may be the first list in history featuring both Barry Williams (AKA Greg Brady) 50 Cent (and quite possibly the last), so enjoy!
DanceJam - DanceJam is fronted by MC Hammer and is all about letting people learn to dance, showing off their skills and even having face-offs, with the public voting for the winner.
FunnyOrDie - Will Ferrell is the front man for this all comedy video site, and has made numerous videos for it, including the infamous The Landlord. More celebs have jumped on to the site such as John C. Reilly, Fergie, Bill Murray and more.
IBeatYou - Is a social network built around the idea of challenging your friends and strangers alike to competitions like “best celebrity photo” and more. The site is co-founded by Baron Davis of the Golden State Warriors, and one of the site’s most active users is Jessica Alba, star of the Fantastic Four movies and Dark Angel television series. You can check out more about the launch of IBeatYou in Kristen Nicole’s review of the site.
Ping This!Plaxo Moves to Support Google Friend Connect
June 11, 2008 — 01:03 PM PDT — by Kristen Nicole — — Add a Comment
Plaxo, which is now under the Comcast umbrella, now supports Google’s Friend Connect. With Plaxo’s integration, you’re able to see which of your Plaxo contacts are also on sites that support Friend Connect, and invite Plaxo friends to join the site as well. There’s Plaxo Pulse integration too, so any activity that occurs on Friend Connect-enabled sites can be streamed and re-broadcast through Plaxo Pulse.
So with open standards like Friend Connect, Plaxo is able to act as an activity aggregator and redistribution tool, portable contact list, and recommendation service for new websites. Will Plaxo be moving even further towards recommendations based on Pulse activity? I wouldn’t be surprised, but for right now, this is yet another step down the road towards a more socially fluid web.
The ability to retain control over one’s contact information across networks is a concept that’s been growing for some time, and it’s clear that Plaxo wants to be at the center of this particular trend. We’re all still waiting for the other shoe to drop now that Plaxo is part of a larger, more corporate entity, but Plaxo Pulse has managed to add a good deal of potential for Plaxo in terms of current developments towards a more open web. Plaxo has also indicated that it’s continuing work on an open standard for its address book API, as this is the only custom integration that’s been necessary so far.
Matchmine Now Powers Recommendations on Blogged.com
June 11, 2008 — 12:39 PM PDT — by Kristen Nicole — — Add a Comment
When blogged.com officially launched earlier this year, I mentioned that its current catalog format best suited a broad demographic, and may even be one of those services that helps bridge the gap between online blog publications and the increasingly interested mainstream user. And while I noted some existing recommendation tools employed by Blogged, there’s always room for improvement, especially when you’re talking about a service that acts as a directory of quality content.
Blogged has thus teamed up with Matchmine, the recommendation service, to provide additional recommendation tools based on its service. Matchmine is a recommendation tool that works well for both individuals and networks. A user can leverage their own Matchmine preference profile to see what content they’d like on any partnering site, and networks can incorporate the Matchmine recommendation tool into their own database in order to provide users with recommendations.
What’s particularly notable about the Matchmine partnership with Blogged is that this is the first live partner for the blog media type. So far, Matchmine has been teaming up with film and music networks, though its recommendation engine is built to also recommend video, along with film, music and blogs. I discussed Matchmine’s latest strategy in the recommendation arena back in March, and noted how it ties in with the larger data portability movement.
In terms of being involved with data portability, Matchmine isn’t shying away from the task. But I also mentioned in a post regarding Strands‘ direct implementation of use cases for data portability profiles that services like Matchmine, which are providing more immediate ways in which to utilize cross-network recommendations, will continue to evolve along with recommendation options on the web.
TravelMuse: Quality Reviews And Planning Tools in a Pretty Package
June 11, 2008 — 12:32 PM PDT — by Paul Glazowski — — Add a Comment
When you think travel sites, you’re likely to conjure up images of discount airfare search engines or user-generated review sites. There’s TripAdvisor, Expedia, perhaps Lonely Planet (or a rival) for some guidebookage. Lots more, too. But let’s not go listing here. I’d rather get straight to the point of this post.
Yes, TravelMuse. It’s a beta. And I have to say I really, really like it.
As an individual who enjoys his share of travel literature - I’m currently cranking through Thomas Kohnstamm’s “Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?” and I’m gripped - TravelMuse upon first glance struck me immediately as interesting. It blends travel planning tools with some quality editorial content topped off with a weekly theme or destination, and everything is put together into a thoroughly enjoyable package. From top to bottom, it really is an attractive mixture of quality photography, articles, and destination search options that is at once comprehensive in its broad utility and engaging in each of its components. You can take TravelMuse just for its reviews, its trip planner, or its ‘Book Travel’ annex. Any single segment seems able to stand on its own. Taken all together, it is even more impressive.
The primary reason I have for taking to TravelMuse’s construction so warmly is I’m one to believe people are inherently curious and uncertain of where they want to go and what they want to do. They’re interested in seeing what others have enjoyed (or not) to determine the route they’ll take. This goes for product purchases as well as global journeys. And of course there’s also the psychological element of trusting “professionalism.” Hence Lonely Planet’s historied reputation for driving tourism to out-of-the-way places (sometimes to cultural detriment, but that’s an argument for another day).
And so TravelMuse appears to offer a great recipe for pleasing the undecideds among us. They present new feature destinations on a routine basis, plus the requisite tips, tricks, and specials like book reviews and ecotourist picks. Most everything you might desire at any given point. For example, this week’s highlights seem to center around Yosemite National Park. There’s the main feature article on the reserve, plus items on top hikes, rafting adventures, and lodging and dining. Lots of ideas to spark some thoughts of getaways.
What’s more, TravelMuse’s trip planner allows users to not only sift through the site’s catalogue of articles to cull ideas for places to go and activities to do, but also transfer bookmarklets to their browsers (Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer are all supported, and you can read step-by-step how-to install instructions) to collect third-party data (URLs, etc.) to keep in one cloud-based location. This option can prove very convenient if one’s itinerary becomes rather elaborate in its dimensions and detail. Naturally, nothing’s quite as complete as creating your own personal guidebook, word for word, but what’s the fun in that?
In all, TravelMuse is without question something worth referring to over and over. The only area of improvement could perhaps be in its depth of content. But as with all startups, it has to begin somewhere. I’d say it’s off to a really good debut.
Docstoc Kills Email Attachments with New Desktop Utility
June 11, 2008 — 12:06 PM PDT — by Adam Ostrow — — Add a Comment
Docstoc has just launched a new desktop utility that totally kills the need to send email attachments – at least if you’re a PC user (a Mac version is in the works). Dubbed DocStoc OneClick, the new app allows you to right click any documents on your desktop and have them automatically uploaded to Docstoc, where a link is generated and inserted into a new message in your default email client (Gmail in my case).
Beyond the right-click feature, OneClick also lets you simultaneously upload multiple files, grab embed code, and add other meta data to your documents. So, if desktop apps are more your style, Docstoc now offers a simple solution for sharing your documents online that offers the same functionality as the web site.
Of course, this doesn’t kill email attachments completely, because if you’re on the receiving end of a heavy PDF or PPT file, you still have to download it and open it on your desktop. But it’s a big move, and could drive some serious user adoption of Docstoc for a couple reasons. First, it makes it way easier to get your documents on the site, which will increase the volume of files flowing through the system. Second, and perhaps more importantly for Docstoc’s growth, it introduces a highly viral element, as users who download the app will start sending out files with Docstoc links as opposed to PDF files.
The challenge for Docstoc is of course the competition. Scribd just teamed up with Drop.io to integrate its iPaper solution, while the 800 pound gorilla that both startups are trying to unseat – Adobe – just launched their own web-based document sharing service at Acrobat.com. Docstoc recently raised $3.25 million to fuel its growth, and assuming they can continue to stay nimble, they remain a strong darkhorse in the race to kill email attachments.
Chictopia.com: Real People Can Be Models Too [The Startup Review]
June 11, 2008 — 10:15 AM PDT — by Alana Taylor — — 4 Comments
Editor’s Note: If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion in “The Startup Review” series, please see the details here.
STARTUP DETAILS:
Company Name: Chictopia
20-word Description: Chictopia.com is the new fashion destination connecting style seekers to trend setters. Chictopia answers the ultimate question fashion magazines and television advertising do not. What looks good on you?
CEO’s 100-word Pitch: By connecting users to those that are similar to them in shape, age, skin tone, and style preference, Chictopia.com offers targeted social networking opportunities to our users, connecting style seekers to real trend setters that are relevant to them. Similar to how MySpace transformed the music industry into a democracy, YouTube transformed the film industry into a democracy, Chictopia is here to transform the fashion industry, where original style icons surface and gain popularity amongst their fans.
Mashable’s Take: Chictopia mashes the constructive criticism concept of RestyleMe and the social networking angle of ShareYourLook to create one of the edgiest fashion site startups I’ve seen. What Chictopia provides is a platform where users who are interested in fashion can meet and help each other decide what looks good on them.
By uploading pictures and describing your body type, you can be connected to friends who share your similar look, complexion, and style. Searching by body shape, size, and style Chictopia brings fashion down from the model runway to a real-world perspective.
If you ever wondered what would look good on people who look just like you, just browse through photo categories that match your type such as broad shoulders, short legs, long torso, or wide hips. Not only can you build your own style based on friends’ photos, but you can also poll other Chictopians to see what they think about your own outfits.
The site has advice on what to wear for certain occasions, like parties or brunches, and it also lets you see which boutiques in your areas have the clothes you are looking for.
There are many sites that socialize fashion in the web world, but at its 2 million page view run rate, Chictopia looks like it may be an early leader. The whole website is run by the community and there is a strong sense of trust between users when reviewing each other’s outfits or styles. Between the Style Gallery, Forum, and user blogs it has never been easier for fashionistas to stay up-to-date with the latest trends.
However, it must be said that if the words “fringe,” “romper” and “maxi” aren’t in your vocabulary then Chictopia will be as foreign to you as a 17th century Pilgrim at a Metallica concert.
Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials
Austin: Mashable’s US Summer Tour 2008
June 11, 2008 — 10:00 AM PDT — by Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — — Add a Comment
As I mentioned earlier, I’m not the guy who typically pushes out these event posts, but everyone around here is acting like school is out and it’s time to party. After a small amount of badgering, I’ve decided to join in on the festivities, and take the short drive down to Austin and hang out with you guys at our first Texas event.
Aside from WordCamp Dallas, this is embarrassingly my first Texas event in about five years. Due to conflicting conference schedules in the past, I’ve been elsewhere in the country during SXSW the last few years. Consequently, I will no doubt be unleashing the party animal within as I get several years worth in during one night. Aside from me, our fearless leader Pete Cashmore will be in attendance, as will resident party princess Karen Hartline.
I’ve also been informed that I’m contractually obligated to accept any challenges to billiards, Rock Band, Wii or Shuffleboard and that I must at least three points during the night yell “Yee-Haw.” We’ll see about that.
When: July 30th, Wednesday, 7:00 - 10:00 PM
Where: Buffalo Billiards 201 6th Street, Austin, TX 78701
What Else?: Drink Tickets, “Bar Food”, Billiards/RockBand/Wii/ShuffleBoard and more…
RSVP?: Tickets will be released through Eventbrite, 21+ Only
Socialize: Facebook, MySpace, Meetup and Upcoming
Press Passes: Please inquire through events [at] mashable |dot| com for Press Passes
Local Sponsor:
‘speakTECH provides User Experience and technical consulting for some of the top social networking companies in the world.’
‘Pluck: Empowering leading media companies, brands, and retailers with open content, community, and social networking to drive audience engagement.’
*There is 1 more “Local Sponsor” position available. For more info please contact: Brett and Adam at events [at] mashable |dot| com
Local Media Partner:
“Austin Tech Happy Hour has become the premier networking event for Austin technology professionals to share ideas, insights, and knowledge in a casual and fun environment.”
Tour Sponsors*
The Sun(TM) Startup Essentials program is designed to help startup businesses off the ground by providing access to industry-leading systems at deep discounts, free world-class software and web-based training, discounts on partner hosting services, and more.
Yoono’s mission is to make the social web accessible, easy and fun for everyone. Its newly expanded service socializes your browser, helps you manage your digital life and brings the best of the web into one single browser-based application. Today, 1.3 million users are leveraging Yoono.
*There is 1 more entire “Tour Sponsor” available. For more info please contact: Brett and Adam at events [at] mashable |dot| com
Touring Video Partner
Launched in February 2006, Stickam emerged as the first and largest Web site dedicated to live interactive video streaming. Stickam’s cutting edge technology delivers millions of streams each day, reaching over two million registered users. They are continuing on the path of social interactive TV by adding features that nurture its growing community and tech-savvy broadcasters. Whether you are famous for 15 or 150,000, Stickam.com is where you will find your friends and fans. See and be seen at Stickam.com, The Live Community.
Exclusive Ticketing Partner
“Eventbrite is the world’s largest self-service online ticketing site. Eventbrite makes it easy for anyone to sell-out an event.”
Tour Media Partner
“Thrillist is a free daily email that sifts through the crap to bring you the best of what your city’s hiding. Each day, you’ll get one quick email with info on the best food, drinks, gear, services, and events. Whatever it is, we promise it won’t suck. Get on the list.”
Pluggd Evolves, Re-Launches as Video Publishing Platform Delve Networks
June 11, 2008 — 09:31 AM PDT — by Paul Glazowski — — 1 Comment
What once was Pluggd is now Delve Networks. And what once was an audio and video search and ad system, is now a full-fledged “breakthrough Internet TV and online video publishing platform.” While the company is a touch superfluous in its explanation of what its primary purpose is (it speaks of hosting content as well as uploading and managing it, which, let’s be honest here, is really just three ways of looking at the same coin) we get the gist. It’s looking to be a comprehensive publishing agent to all types of content producers. Why, if only we had a dime for every time we’ve heard such ambition spoken 
Peering back into the last year of Pluggd and Delve’s history, it’s somewhat difficult to determine whether the company has meant for the successive changes to its business model its made over the last 12 or so months or if its trying out new ideas until it comes to something that give its financiers something to truly smile about. Whatever the case, the company now know as Delve Networks is pretty much all focused on Web video, intent on giving parties who put together content to manage it in streamlined fashion.
Visually, Delve looks like a solid build. It’s taken cues from current trends and built for its platform a control center replete with that always-recognizable dark grey theme and with basic options for adding, tagging, and analyzing videos. No surprises, really. Just the kind of stuff you’d expect from such a system. If we are to give it a quick one-two-three comparison with fellow industry players, perhaps Brightcove and Move Networks are yardsticks by which one can measure Delve’s new launch. How does it stack up? Well, it depends.
As for its front-end service, its video player, I’m of two minds. It doesn’t look terrible. I’ve seen worse. Each participant in the market really has its own pros and cons, so impressions are generally to be taken subjectively, mostly because menu options you get with one are typically found within the devices of competitors. Simply speaking, it’s an intuitive piece of code.
Like with previous entries, publishers using Delve can give viewers options to see information on subject matter being shown, buttons to share and embed clips in various places, and so on and so forth. Nothing special. Just the essentials. Which are fine. Viewers aren’t into complexity these days. They just want to watch stuff how, where, and when they want - preferably in as high a definition as possible.
In terms of Delve’s entire platform, I’d have to say it fails to really impress. Here’s what I mean by that. It has the right foundation laid. The vitals are there to make it work right for lots of people. But so go the developments of its more veteran challengers. Therefore Delve may well have to do some serious one-upsmanship, either by putting together an absolutely stellar marketing team or by building its services bigger and faster than the rest. Which is no guarantee. The company says that it is very effective in looking within video content to offer viewers an easier way to find content put forth by publishers in serious need of exposure, providing Delve an advantage over the standard class of services in the industry. But it’s going to have to convince publishers that that truly translates to many more dollars in the bank.
So far, Move Networks and Brightcove have secured rather substantial deals with producers, managing and distributing for big-name news organizations and entertainment broadcasters alike. Delve might instead have to focus more exclusively on smaller publishers. Exploit the long tail, as it were. Yet even in that space Delve comes across ample and formidable players.
Live from MashBash Tel Aviv!
June 11, 2008 — 09:20 AM PDT — by Adam Ostrow — — Add a CommentWhile it’s only lunch time here on the East Coast, over in Israel, our startup exhibit hall/beach party - MashBash Tel Aviv - is kicking into high gear. Our friends at Flixwagon are broadcasting live in the videos embedded above - tune in for coverage of the festivities and interviews with some of Israel’s hottest Web startups. Special thanks to Sharon Kuper, who has been a huge help in planning an event taking place 7+ timezones away from us!
We’ll have more coverage of the Israeli startup scene over the next week, as our own Adam Hirsch has been busy conducting interviews along with the help of Ayelet Noff (”Blonde 2.0″).
Meanwhile, here are the exhibitors and sponsors you’ll find at tonight’s event:
Yedda (an AOL company) provides publishers and content sites with its Ask & Answer platform for increased user-engagement, reach and ad revenue.
The Sun(TM) Startup Essentials program is designed to help startup businesses off the ground by providing access to industry-leading systems at deep discounts, free world-class software and web-based training, discounts on partner hosting services, and more.
Copenda, a unique social people search engine, allows users to cross-search leading social networks to find their friends, singles for dating, people with similar interests and more.
HooQs is a personal mobile media service that lets you publish and share video and music channels for cellphones and receive personalized media recommendations.
Outbrain provides bloggers, media companies (news/magazines), blog networks, rss readers and other publishers with a free rating and personalized content recommendation widget.
Qoof is the Home Shopping Network for the Internet that bridges the world of online video, E-commerce, and Direct Response TV.
Sightix: Social search and mapping engine that delivers individually ranked & personally actionable search results based on user’s circle of trust.
Facebook to Push “Useful” Applications with “Apps You May Like”
June 11, 2008 — 08:35 AM PDT — by Alana Taylor — — 6 Comments
For those of you (or just me) who have complained about the app overload that has made Facebook feel like a virtual Barnum & Bailey circus show, I am sad to announce that they have claimed the land, planted their flags, and are here to stay.
Facebook is no where near getting rid of any applications. Quite the contrary. According to Inside Facebook, the social networking site is focused on launching the latest “upgrade” to the Application Directory today. Instead of recommending apps that are popular Facebook is now going to … drum roll, please… recommend “Apps You May Like.”
Justin Smith from Inside Facebook writes:
Based on earlier things I’ve heard, this list is likely generated by looking at which apps your friends are engaging with in combination with which apps are more broadly popular with people like you. While this may decrease the importance of the App Directory as a source of new users for some apps, it should make discovery better for most users.
This points towards broader changes Facebook is making to its application directory to try and make more useful and engaging apps rise to the top, as Ben Ling hinted at in his interview with Adam at Graphing Social Patterns yesterday.
Personally, you know what I “May Like?” A life without this:
FOX Interactive Makes the Weather Social with Flashy New Site
June 11, 2008 — 08:01 AM PDT — by Paul Glazowski — — 1 Comment
For many centuries we humans have employed the conversational icebreaker of weather reading - now perhaps more aptly termed “climate change” - as something to comment on in passing, over coffee, while idling at the office, and so on. Well it just so happens that today the social aspect for Jack and Jane Weatherman gets recognized on the Web in a new release from Fox Interactive Media. It’s called FOX Weather Beta.
On its face, the new website is an interactive Google map with weather overlay surrounded by some other odds and ends. The map itself is clearly meant to be the primary appeal of the launch. Simple, straightforward, with options to view weather animations and graphical advisory notices. A look around the weather window, however, will show some other components. Among them, a set of social tools, intended to help build a network of amateur weather watchers. If you’re curious to see what they’re about, they can all be found in the site’s community section.
There users can register profiles and write blogs, post photos and videos, and engage with fellow registrants in the forums. Those options ideally could prove useful, especially if a sizable number of people sign on and maintain a regular presence and offer updates accordingly. But it may be an uphill battle for FOX Weather Beta. 
The site’s community structure is somewhat generic and unappealing visually, and some parts of the photos-blogs-forums window, shown below the weather map, need extra attention. These are perhaps easy, mostly external fixes, and the core community functions are operable, so it’s not as if the social features are dead on arrival. But there’s certainly work still to be done. The beta tag remains firmly in place, as it were.
You can of course employ the monitoring devices of FOX Weather without investing time in the social and information-sharing sides of the site. The Google map overlay with current environmental data will likely be enough for many first-time and return visitors. The map itself operates very well. So well, in fact, that you tend almost to ignore the rest.
Whatever the case may eventually be with FOX Weather’s social services, however, the options to share information on local events and regional and national developments are there for anyone interested enough to put up a post of notable things happening in their neighborhood every now and again.
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