BUSINESS WEEK — Sep 27 — Wallop was unveiled Sept. 26. It was spun off from Microsoft a year ago and has been in the works a full four years. Wallop looks more like a desktop than a Web page, and it's entirely based on Flash. Instead of listing friends, the site has a radar-like graphic that plots your connections based on how frequently you interact with a person. Wallop doesn't make money by selling ads. It collects small payments for clever, animated applications called "mods." For a fee of, say, 10 cents, you can get a cartoon of an angry bunny created by an independent Flash designer to jump around your page. The key isn't simply amassing users, but getting "cool" people to come to Wallop. Everyone will want to be where the cool people are. The site is invitation-only now, and each person only gets a few invites to dole out. Wallop will be doing some grassroots promotions in cities including Los Angeles and New York to woo trendsetters.
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Mark Brooks: Brilliant! They were wise to ditch the Microsoft pedigree. It wouldn't quite work for viral activation amongst the student population. (Microsoft is still kinda evil, compared with the likes of do good Google). South Korea's Cyworld has made a mint of graphical charms and mods. Will this concept convert to a Western audience. I think so. I worked on all-flash Mooble earlier this year. They are looking for more money to execute the plan I laid out. Namely, chase down Facebook. (Email trevorcoyne@ireland.com if interested)
I was thinking of Microsoft’s venture earlier this week because MySpace is clearly has untapped usefulness. The ease of use makes it viral, and the customization makes it personal, but I need my connections to have usefulness – where’s the mySpace job referrals… and dating introductions… and how do I quickly find a new rock-climbing buddy or workout buddy?
I figured (probably mistakenly) that Microsoft would add this third dimension to mySpace, but it doesn’t seem that anyone has brought it all together yet.
In the mySpace 2.0 (whose birth hasn’t happened yet), I see networking rings where a mySpace “add” doesn’t just go into a big “pot of friends”, but is designated to certain groups: my work friends, my college buddies.
Then each group of friends might create a page with appropriate applications. This gives you the flexibility to “add” tons of “friends” (like most mySpace people love to do) while giving each group of friends a place to create more purpose and usefulness. Each page could add appropriate applications to the group’s intent.
My love coaching students and my weight watcher buddies each need chat rooms for weekly meetings. But my college buddies need a discussion board since we don’t get together all at the same time on the internet. My entrepreneur buddies need a Linkedin-type referral tool and my page with all the music I like needs a series of mySpace music pages. But unlike the horrid creeping-features of MS Word, or any of their applications, the group would never add features that it didn’t need – so my college buddies wouldn’t set up a referral system, etc.
More from my mind…
Coach Mark