Liz wrote a long piece on Wallop, a company we have covered in the past. Today, there seems to be a talk around this new social network, mostly because of its Microsoft heritage, and a $10 million investment. What do you guys think about the chances of Wallop?
Seems like they were dumped from MS since they couldn’t really justify a revenue model to their business. Also looks like they are about 37.5 months too late to the game.
people join social networking sites to be a part of the crowd and the crowd is currently at myspace.
MySpace may be the most popular example of a social network, but it’s not the most successful social network. That’s why most adults shun MySpace. If it were a true social network, I’d be able to 1. connect and share with people I already know; 2. extend that network to people with common interests on an invitation basis; and 3. exclude the general populace, who I’d really rather NOT share my “body type” et.al. with.
Wallop actually shows some promise in this sense, although as Matthew points out, people won’t use it if their friends/family/associates aren’t there. Maybe Wallop can attract the people who were turned off by MySpace.
wow – never heard of myspace! thanks for turning me on to that site, it’s super great and i already got emails from 8 women in russia who want to meet me plus some great bands doing deo covers!
Personally, I don’t think we have seen the winner in the social networking space as of yet. Are these sites really social networks or simply communication tools for people who already know each other.
I don’t see any great efficiency in these models.
I agree with Jeff’s comment that it’s important to note the skewed demographics MySpace serve. The younger US crowd which MySpace currently dominates is more susceptible to trend swings and targeted marketing. If MySpace stops providing that magical formula (which they don’t fully understand themselves) to retain their members, people will find TheirSpace elsewhere. Services like Wallop, SecondLife, CyWorld, or HabboHotel all share the theme that appeals to this age group. And many of these services’ mod-markets are thriving which give them another revenue generation source.