Digital Influence Mapping Project

3 NING Social Networks to Watch

The latest buzz around social networks - meaning the big guys like Facebook, Bebo, CyWorld and MySpace  - is about whether the services can ever turn into legitimate, profit-making  businesses. There is the usual hype-leads-to-backlash-of-criticism phenomena going on. Meanwhile, services like NING crank out hundreds of niche social networks for university groups, raw food enthusiasts and a private network for roadies. It's worth taking a moment to look at three examples of social networks on the rise. They are never meant to rival Facebook. Many are not meant to be revenue-generating directly. But all of these examples are serious social nets for the members involved.

Society for Word of Mouth (SWOM)
Started by Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell as a social network for word of mouth marketers focused on small business, the community has grown to 909 members in only a few short months. I am a member but admittedly don't spend as much time there as I would like. The site features member pages and groups. The forums have a few threads that are active. They have just hired a community member to become the community manager. She will no doubt fuel growth amongst the forum threads and even get the Events listing happening.

This is a commercial venture for Jackie and Ben. They have Google Ads and you can contact Ben to talk about more integrated advertising opportunities.

What's the point? Simple, this community will grow into a great idea exchange amongst people enthusiastic about word of mouth marketing (or as they clarify "an operational belief system"). Jackie and Ben will steward that community and offer valuable content and experiences for the business people who are members. Here's how they describe their purpose:

"1. To be a free social network for the true believers of word of mouth (or the merely curious);
2. To be a premium educational resource for making word of mouth fundamental to the DNA of any organization.

For the second part of the mission, SWOM will host webinars, training opportunities and produce educational materials in the weeks and months ahead. Plus, we'll have in-person events. Fun events!"

SWOM allows a community to grow organically around a BtoB knowledge delivery and networking service. Ben and Jackie provide the critical core  - the flint, if you will, for what will inevitably take off as a wildfire.

Firefighter Nation
Billed as "The Professional & Social Network for Firefighters, EMS and Rescue," Firefighter Nation boasts 21,000 members! Within the network, they have groups for Australian Firefighters, Firefighter Workouts, and an invite-only group for Fire Chiefs.

Thousands of pictures, 3500 videos, over a thousand message discussions (threads?) - there's a lot going on here. Dave Iannone is the founder of the service and is actually nearby in Maryland. I love that his bio says that he started working at the Hyattsville Fire Department when he was 12! Like Jackie and Ben, he's a professional (he has been working in media for a while now) and the solidness of the community probably has a lot to do with his efforts and knowledge.

He's got Google Ads on the site and what a great place to get in front of upwards to 20K fire and EMS professionals.

The Hoff
Yes, as in David Hasselhoff. I assumed this was the over the top ramblings of a rabid fan (I am a rabid fan of plenty of folks so this is not meant in any way to criticize Hasselhoff fans). But then I noticed two things. First - there are almost 9000 members on board. Second - this is David's social network for himself and his fans.

I love that the blog posts are from him and that he shared a whimsical video shot by himself in front of the Eiffel tower in a tie. Fans can connect directly with him. Using the SayNow plug in, fans can leave audio messages at a phone service ("Hassel the Hoff"). They are encouraged to photograph themselves around the world with "Hoff Around the World" signs set in the most extraordinary typefaces ever to print off a desktop printer.

This is a great example of a performer taking the bull by the horns and managing their "brand." I don't know how much credit to give to David or to the company that discretely advertises on the site - iconduit - as a media agency for iconic talent, which David definitely qualifies for. I choose to believe that the blog posts and videos are David-generated with a minumum of coaching

There are 41 members in the "Hoff for President" group. That's more than the "Metal Fans of Hoff Society" group. I know that's significant, I just don't know how.

Three good examples of how social networks arr growing and flourishing. No one's going to get rich with Google Ads but it's a start. Do you think that 1000 word of mouth marketers, 9000 David Hasselhoff fans or 21,000 firefighters might be a great connection for the right marketer?

We Are All Fashion Designers Now!

I love women's fashion. No, not in that weird, creepy way. I love the imagination and the style applied to a look. I have always known women with style who could put a look together beyond what a card-carrying fashion designer might do for the masses. Individual fashion. I gave my daughter (11)  a book on Japanese Street Fashion - harajuku - because she was intrigued by the extreme styles and drama of the looks. She puts her own looks together (no, that is not a picture of her)

Now there are two resources - one online and one in Beverly Hills - that tap into the personal stylist in all of us.

The social network for street style
"Street" is probably the wrong word. Personal Style is probably a better phrase overall but still we are talking about everyday fashion made for and by the people. I love Chictopia. The name comes from "chic" not "chick" so, don't worry.

Helen Zhu and her cofounders have established a social network grounded in people sharing their looks for themselves and getting ideas from the community. you can dive deep into the forums but the real action is in the photographs and the voting. This simplicity is the core of its beauty. In a time when we all belong to too many social networks, a simple structure that builds on teh one affinity - personal fashion - that brings members together is better than all the bells and whistles in the world.

Did I mention Hot Deals! Chictopia has a great business model that goes beyond targeted display advertising into deal sponsorships. If I were a retailer serving young women, i would be all over this community. (Sure, they don't have real "reach" yet, but I love this idea so much I knwo they will get there).

Fashion DIY in Beverly Hills
FashionologyLA recently launched (thanks Springwise) a new store catering to young girls who want a distinctive look at the touch of a few buttons. It's co-creation at the retail storefront. Here's how Springwise described the store experience (designed by: BigBuddhaBaba )

"Using touch-screen Design Pads, they begin by selecting what type of garment they'd like to create, choosing from an assortment of tops, bottoms and dresses. From there they select a fashion "mood" onscreen—themes include Juku, Pop, Rock, Malibu and Peace, all of which include a colourful array of graphic images. They then pick embellishments for their garments, choosing from options including Sew It, Clip It, Bling It and Pin It. Once a girl completes her design, she proceeds to the U-Bar, where a friendly Fashionologist uses a heat press to add the key design element to her new look and gives her a tray of embellishments to take to the customized Make It table. "

I am going to LA in a few weeks and hope to stop into the store to get some pics. For teh tween who wants a distinctive look - something that defines her - this could be a great choice. The looks have to be "ownable."   It cannot just be the difference between a glitter butterfly vs. an applique puppy. I serached Flickr and came up empty. But that is what they need - a gallery of customers proud in their looks (tough when your customers are so young and online privacy is a concern). Can they create a Chictopia-lite community? Will they offer looks as dramatic as the streets fo Japan? Whil ethe seocnd isn't likely, i hope they figure out the online gallery. Their store begs for user images.

I love how digital is putting the consumer in charge of fashion.

NetVibes for Marketers

Michael Cohen from Netvibes presented the basics of the customizable interface for the Netvibes service. He is talking to a room full of CRM marketers for a major CPG (consumer packaged goods) in Barcelona. They all want to know how they can brand widegts and pages within the service and then count the hell out of everything. CRM folks are data geeks, data junkies, Ninjas of ROI.

So netvibes remains a small enterprise - 39 employees in Paris - with a deceptively prolific developer core - currently there are over 120,000 widgets created by more than 700 developers. They have 60 million pages created but then comes the kicker that they are trying to remedy: most users are not registered and rely on cookies-only to maintain page-state. They recently released 'Ginger' which prompts you to upgrade (and register). But as an avid Netvibes fan and user, I have't upgraded yet, myself. (Ginger offers a bit of a social network that allows people to "push" changes to their subscribed users - think Facebook.)

Brands can work 2 ways: Premium Universes
There are two ways that brands can "use' Netvibes. The first is to create  a "premium universe" - a branded page that collects widgets together in a private-labeled user experience. If you were Marshalls (disclosure: client of Ogilvy), you might assemble a bunch of bargain hunter widgets - store locator map, Web site homepage, trendspotter blog feeds and more. Anything with an RSS feed or HTML can be embedded in a widget. You market that as a custom url to your customers as an added service (and Google food).

Michael showed examples where Figaro and Tagged have embedded NetVibes customized 'start pages" in their services. He, of course, then demonstrated our client's branded start page. The moment of truth happens when the brand realizes that the user can combine their brand with any other widget content from the library (competing branded content, non complimentary content, etc...).

Widgets
The other way to make use of Netvibes is to create widgets and place them in their library (dollars for premium placement).  1000 brands have created widgets. they come in 76 languages from 69 countries. In this mode, you are leveraging (I said the "L" word) Netvibes user base which they don't know enough about to satisfy even the least disciplined marketer (never mind the CRM folks). For the few that are registered, they know age, gender and town. They could do more but they respect their users privacy.

They have a very versatile approach to widget compatibility (not in the OpenSocial sense). Netvibes Widget Platform (Universal Widget API - UWA) makes widget sportable across OS, device and browser platforms.

Brands track number of downloads and can use their own tracking (like a special Feeburner feed). Netvibes is working on reporting "canceling" or dropping the widget. They have their own CPC-like model = "Cost per installation" (CPI).

He showed examples from NYTimes and CBS (CSI Video widget).

Michael had some good one-liners:

• "The user is your best friend to distribute the brand" - speaking to letting users spread your widget
• "The brand as a service provider" - this is the new mantra from marketers who know that product brands have to think differently now to build stronger relationships with theihr customers. they have to think like service providers.
• "Really Sexy Syndication" - they are enthusiastic about RSS

I love Netvibes

Netvibes has put togther a very useful platform for brands. On the widget side of their business, until they convert more users to registered users, they will attract brands looking to reach the great unwashed (young tech males?). The premium universe offering is a great user experience but relys on the brands existing marketing strategies to drive awareness and usage. Also, it is at the end o fthe day a supercool portal concept. Brands have been trying to capture the start page of their customers for years (most rightly gave up). How many people need a widgetized portal from their favorite soap brand? Still for the right product and service, it is a great solution (slam dunk for any major media company).

Social Networks Change Behavior

A Washington Post story covers a new study by Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School and James Fowler at the University of California at San Diego published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine tracking the pattern of smoking - actually quitting smoking - through a social network. They are not refering to an online social network but rather to the more common offline network we all participate in - in this case one whose core focal point is geographic.

You can get the WaPo article here in its entirety.

Here are the interesting parts:

• Over the course of 30 years, the number of smokers in the network dropped from 45% to 21%
• Closer relationships (family, co-workers in small companies, etc..) had more influence and impact
• Yet a single person's quitting seemed to have an effect at least through 3 degrees of separation

There are two assumptions the article reports that I question:

1. The drop in smoking was probably the effect of a shift in 'social norms.'
No doubt. And 'social norms' have become a common lever in social marketing circles (behavior change). We hear it a lot from clients in the government trying to affect change. It has always been around but seems to have risen to the surface of many campaigns via the messaging - e.g. "most people form a driving contract with their teenagers...."

Think about smoking. I quit early in my twenties. When someone quits in your 'circle' you talk about it. It does not remain a secret. People ask what's up, how are you doing with it, how long has it been. The 'quitter' explains their irritability, the different programs they are trying, how long it's been. There is tons of conversation and word of mouth. The researchers previous study focused on obesity. While impolite to mention a ballooning weight, it is also visually obvious. Talking about it, if even in more hushed tones, is inevitable.

I would love to know how many conversations happened between network 'members' about smoking. What was the role of word of mouth?

2. The remaining smokers ended up on the fringes of society. The illustration "proves" this point. I have no doubt that the role of smokers in society has dramatically changed in 30 years. In fact in a recent post, I reported someone's observation that they had become the last true counterculture. They cluster outside office buildings in the scorching heat or bone-chilling cold in small groups to pound back a cigarette.

But are they really the outcasts the article and study suggest? What if you layer in all of the other social networks they may belong to: movie lovers, scifi enthusiasts, wine afficianados, Harley owners? The geographicly rooted social network is one dimension of a "n" dimension of affinity groups we all belong to formally or informally. While the smokers may become isolated in the original network, they may lead vibrant, connected lives across other social networks to which they 'belong.'

Using Social Networks for Social Marketing

The implications of the study on social marketers' use of social media and social networks is great. Can behavior change experts embrace the use of new digital networks to accelerate the spread of social norms and word of mouth? They will need to let go of some control - a lot of control - to do so but we may just find a way to produce behavior change in something under thirty years.

The report confirms the usefulness of engaging influential groups within a network:

"Moreover, medical and public health interventions to encourage people to quit smoking might be more cost-effective than initially supposed, since health improvements in one person might spread to others. Finally, the isolation of smokers within social networks suggests that blanket policy approaches (e.g., advertising and taxation) may be usefully supplemented by interventions targeting small groups."

Roll Up Your Sleeves

If you are interested in how social marketers will begin to use social media (don't get them confused), you shoudl check out Nedra Weinrich, is in town on June 2th to hold her 2.5 day Social Marketing University. This is more than Social Marketing 101. Nedra is a leader in defining how to harness digital innovations and social media for behavior change (social marketing). You can sign up for the regular course Next Generation Social Marketing Seminar on June 4th.

Her blog is Spare Change

Closing Communities: Is There a Better Way?

I was drawn in by Ben McConnell's post about the closing of Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK). The virtual community fueled by Sulake closed one week ago. Lots of coverage from CNN to WSJ. Fans have gone the Jehrico route and set up protest sites. But it's not fair to compare the closing of a community that had been live and active for a couple of years with a passive TV show. Community mmbers feel abaonded, let down or down-right disrespected. Disney claims that the community was part of a limited time celebration of their 50th anniversary and the current message on the url is fairly ubrupt.

John Frost over at the Disney Blog (unofficial) had a terrific post last month about the closing. He considers many angles of the business drivers inside Disney from the decentralized buisness unit structure to the rigorous margin goals shared across the enterprise. Ben takes teh claim that the community was intended for a short term campaign. We wrestle with campaign-mentality in marcom all the time. Only difference is that our campaigns are often a few monmths long whereas this community was up for more than two years. Ben goes on in his post to set up the business rationale for a community to begin with:

"Campaign thinking is a byproduct of the last 25 years of business school education. The formula has been to create a short-term project using established metrics, execute, then start over with a new idea. Move the needle quickly.

The formula for evangelism thinking is: Create a project where the community of users become part of the process and most importantly, are considered a tangible asset. The needle may not move as fast because the investment is for the long term, but it's less likely to have wild, up-and-down swings."

Both authors have hit on something important: communities can serve the business goals of a company and their value and the actual value of the community members should be weighed with a business eye. 

Sometimes you have to close

If you valuate the community, you may find it is not a sustainable enterprise. As business people (and community enthusiasts) we cannot say that a business must keep a community going or make any other business decision not in line with their fiscal responsibilities.  I completely respect the investment of the VMK community members.

But it's how you do it that shows what you are made of

As usual, I think the real missed opportuntiy is how they did it. Communities are co-created experiences no matter who licensed the software or created the bitmaps. Inviting members of the community in to discuss what could happen next - where could the community be directed to to reform, how could they stay connected or how they could participate in the next Disney creation - all of these discussions might have helped the community transition. It would certianly telegraph that Disney respects its community members. Still people would be angry. But some would understand. Just look at John Frost's business-like assessment.

So sites like Savevmk crop up and gather petitions. they also collect comments - almost 5000 comments that show the emtional connection as well as the disappointment:

"Flower_KId
What cruel heartless person would want to close vmk. If anyone ever trys to close vmk i will hurt to a point were they can't even breath! If you close vmk then you shut off the love I have for Disney. I will never watch Disney channel again if vmk closes. vmk staff wise up and keep vmk for all the children to enjoy. VMK, VMK, WHAT'S THE NAME IT'S VMK, HOORAY!! "

Would it be a huge risk for someone from Disney to participate in that comment string?

Will EA Do It Better? 

Now SIMS Online from EA is closing. From the sounds of it, they do not have the vibrant community that VMK had. Still, it looks like they may also be tumbling forward in a less than ideal way. They changed the name of the community to EAOnline and then immediately announced it's closure. Someone asked if they did that just so they wouldn't have to say that one of their most prized assets didn't hit a home run. Undoubtedly, they are closing for business reasons - for one reason or another it doesn't make business sense for them to keep going with it. I only hope they are reaching out to their community - what little there may be - and having them contribute to next steps for that community.

If more companies went the extra mile to demonstrate their respect for and their value of their community members (read: customers, evangelists, potential customers), they could make business decisions like closing a community and maintain many of their strong positive relationships with community members.  

Singapore Will Build It's Own Virtual World?

The Media Development Authority in Singapore is soliciting bids from hungry software development shops to build their own version of Second Life. MDA department chief executive Michael Yap calls it "Google Earth meets Second Life." Can't you just hear the concept meeting now?

The development seems to be tied to the launch of the 2010 Youth Olympics. The budget is not clear. The MDA will fund 50% of the development costs which suggests that they are also seeding a business.

I have to admit that when I first read about this in the newspaper upon touching down, I had immediate visions of Walmart's The Hub. Remember that ill-fated MySpace clone for committed Walmart shoppers? I think it lasted about three months in the light of day before they pulled the plug with a quiet little "Oops" squeaked out of Bentonville. Creating a social network - virtual or otherwise - is not a trivial task that can be overcome by a deep purse and business "will". The fact that a government authority is behind this new effort only added my sense of hubris-fueled doom.

I think I am wrong. On quite a few levels, actually.

I had the chance to meet with Krishnasamy Bhavani from the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts where the MDA resides (MICA). I met with bloggers and PR pros. I met with friends who had grown up in Singapore. Others who have since gladly made it their home or at least their homebase. And while there are some mixed feelings about the controlling nature of the government, one thing seemed to come to the surface: they could actually pull off creating the Singapore Virtual World.

There are three things that support this idea:

1. When Singapore won the bid for the Youth Olympics, there was a wave of pride across the island city-state. I wasn't there when that happened, but the sense I get is that it was widespread and unifying. That pride may drive traffic and residency in a virtual social network that promises to reproduce the physical Singapore with some innovative mix of 3D and live-camera feeds.

2. MICA and DMA are the groups responsible for the world-reknowned feat of pervasive wireless connectivity across Singapore. They do what they say they are going to do. I walked in with a western POV. My government could never pull this stuff off but that wouldn't stop them from wasting taxpayer's dollars on ill-fated projects. Most people I talked with acknowledge the efficiency of the Singapore government and it's overall capability in what some call "social engineering."  They have the will, the resources and the capability of accomplishing significant tasks. They know what they are doing and they have a proven track record.

3. Singapore will become a significant hub of technological - specifically Internet marketing - innovation over the next 5 years. Warning: this obeservation is firmly rooted in gut, not independent research. This comes more from my own experience with our 360° Digital Influence team throughout Asia Pacific (major hubs in Singapore, China and Australia), a gut feeling about the efforts of the government to seed tech business (some failed attempts which is the source of learning not dead-ends), some emerging social media education, and the idea that the current government leaders will be succeeded by a next-generation leadership who see the benefits of loosening the reins a bit to juice growth.

Welcome to Virtual Singapore
I love Singapore. I first visited 20 years ago. The city-state has become a significant nexus of wealth perhaps, eclipsed by dramatic, nearby Dubai but quietly stable and growing. There are almost all the right seeds to make Singapore a digital marketing hub, if not a digital innovation center. Who knows, they may have a a virtual Singapore we can all join by the start of the Youth Olympics. If anyone can pull it off, it will be Singapore. And I will join if they will have me.

Best Insight From Duncan Wardle at Disney

Disney surprised me at the Media Relations Summit 2008. Duncan Wardle, VP of Global PR Disney Parks, talked openly about having some challenges launching social media-based programs inside the company. The legal department was mentioned several times with a knowing tone in his voice.

They have several social media-based programs going: Virtual Magic Kingdom (think Habbo Hotel meets NeoPets) Dream Jobs (would you like to be a Pirate at the park for a day? Who wouldn't?), a Mom's panel and others. He introduced each by commenting on how challenging it was to get these "uncontrollable" programs through legal.

But the insight came during his description of some of these programs and when he answered the question about where social media responsibility should reside in the marcom world within an organization like Disney.

More Complex Integration

Duncan described having all players of the marcom mix at the table - the brand managers, the advertising folks, the Public Relations team, the CRM folks, etc... That is how we are working more and more. Who "owns" social media or it's more mature outcome, word of mouth marketing, is a trick question. He described how they strike more complex deals now with entities like the big portals (e.g. Yahoo) which weave the communication goals and business objectives of all of the discip0lines to get the most out of the portal. So, it's not just an ad buy to drive traffic to an initiative, it's editorial integration, an even a bigger commitment on selling rooms via the travel channel within the portal, and so on.

Campaigns meant to generate customer or employee involvement and word of mouth work better when complemented and integrated with PR and advertising. They need to work together to get the best effect. And social media? Social media is a set of tools, techniques and methods used to reach a marketing or communications goal - usually in the form of word of mouth marketing. I added this last distinction. I think it was implicit in Duncan's talk.

Still in love with BlogHer

I know its right but sometimes it feels so wrong - my love affair with BlogHer. Tomorrow is the first day of the BlogHer Business Summit in NYC. We are hosting the "Best Practices" track. I continue to believe strongly in the value of the BlogHer community for marketers. They are unique. Maybe they don't have the same reach as Federated Media. But they have a vision and integrity (I mean, FM has that too but BlogHer's is special).

The tie that binds members to the collective is stronger than other affiliations. It's born from the relationships developed online in what for all intent and purpose is a social network. These are made deeper during the annual big conference event (July in CA).

The NYC event is really for brand marketers to come together with BlogHer and talk about real ways to collaborate between marketer and blogger. We will be video-ing a bunch of it and will publish soon after. I, of course, cannot be there. Butthe 360° Digital Inlfuence team - Virginia, Laura and Kaitlyn (and I think Matt, too) will all be on hand. Stop in. Say hi.

Social Media Visualizations

I have become a quick fan of MITs Technology Review. Not sure why I am just paying attention now, but I picked it up a few months back in an airport and rediscovered a great pub (nicely designed to thanks to Art Director Lee Caulfield).

Erica Naone has a great article in the April edition about different schemes for social media visualizations. As a Creative Director, information design has been a long-time love. Now, with digital data, we are seeing interesting approaches to creating pictures of the abstract dynamic of social connectedness. Tools like Visible Technologies help us understand the network path of ideas across bloggers by showing graphics - bubbles, lines, connections.

New Visualizations
Two visual schemes that stand out to me include the work of Mathew Hurst at Microsoft's Live Labs ( I am a regular reader of his Datamining blog)  and the Comment Flow visualization from Dietmar Offenhuber and Judith Donath at MIT Media Labs. The Live Labs work demonstrates the clustering we all sense exists amongst blogs. The image below shows even more centralization than I would have guessed. Is it a 'blogosphere' or a 'blogoclump'?

Comment Flow displays that wonderful mosaic of pics and favicons connected in hubs of comments around core posts or conversations.

On the MIT site, Dietmar describes it as such:

"We have designed and implemented a flexible tool for the content driven exploration and visualisation of a social network. Building upon a traditional force-directed network layout consisting of nodes (profiles) and edges (friend-links), our system shows the activity and the information exchange (postings in the comment box) between nodes, taking the sequence and age of the messages into account."

They have a movie (64Mb) and an application file for download (26Mb) here - could be interesting.

It reminds me of the display of the Vizster project that Danah Boyd had a hand in.

   So where is all thi sgoing? These research-based and somewhat academic models must become the tools for us marketers tomorrow. If we want to track, demonstrate and prove the flow of WOM and the influence of person X over person Y in a particular conversation, having visual displays of the network and the spread of an idea will be very compelling.

As marketers, we live in a world of 'dashboards' that try to make complex data around campaign performance easy to get quickly and to provide meaning if not insight that can be acted upon. 

MashMeet DC & Mashable the Brand

We held a Mashmeet at our offices last night in DC. Pete Cashmore flew in from Scotland and hosted a group of 5 or so startups. First, I want to share some observations about the strtups and then a little about my feelings about the Mashable brand (disclosure: Mashable recently became an OgilvyPR client).

The "buzz" from me happened around Kluster and Mixx. Kluster was full of fun bluster as they landed from a whirlwind gig finishing their product enough that they could demo it at TED which is clearly a great venue for a young, VC-backed start-up.

A Message Platform Side-note

Each of the five startups delivered a lightening round preso in front of about 100-150 people jammed into our space. I wish I could work with each on their message platform - help them tell the crowd in a couple of compelling sentences what their service/software was all about. Each suffered from describing features without ever setting the stage as to the relevance or essential power of their idea. Part of me believes that the geekfest setting of Web 2.0 meetups is a lazy setting with a forgiving audience.  (I'm a geek, so don't get upset). Part of me believes that these presentations are a conscious program to help give the entrepeneurs behind them some experience presenting in a non-threatening environment. Anyhow, I would love to see them sharpen their story.

Kluster

Kluster is a co-creation, collaboration marketplace with a twist. Unlike Cambrian House, they encourage participants to collaborate and invite deeper investment in ideas. They do this by allowing contributors to up their stake in their idea by investing "watts". It is a wee bit complicated but it does look promising. There is a video that describes them here.  They have this age's 'black box' - an algorithm - that helps decide winning ideas (ones with "spark"). Usually, services that create a whole new vocabulary and require a glossary just to get it are annoying. Still, I know Kluster wants to carve out some of its own blue ocean strategy so why shouldn't they have their own language. You should be able to see the exercise they did for TED - The Game of Global Awareness - at their core site here >

Mixx

Mixx is a well known bookmarking aggregator feed reader thingee. By using tags, they create a segmented collection of 'what's interesting' and then display in a very clean, easy to read interface. I am sure I am shortchanging the service in terms of all its value but still I like it and plan to add their icon to our own Web site. I think of it as a tag-based Digg. 

Mashable the Brand
I have always liked Mashable and have waxed poetic here. Having interviewed Pete Cashmore, the CEO and founder, and watched him diligently meet and hand out cards at the MashMeet, I remain a fan. I appreciate that they focus on positive stories. I have never appreciated the snarky side of the Web. Part of it is that they are good - prolific coverage, tell a story via pictures (screen grabs, usually) and yet they have some sort of humility (I mean - the colors of the interface - they are charmingly weird).

I probably gravitated to them because Pete and his team have been looking from the outside of Silicon Valley in. That makes them underdogs in a space dominated by those who can hold parties in the bay area to their hearts content. Pete is from Scotland and while he has a full legion of doom in terms of employees, most are not based in SF. That is changing soon though.

The brand for me is about a relentlessly curious, optimistic group of enthusiasts who value hard work over cocktails (mostly). Pete admitted that most of the time he is holed up working. He remains surprised when he comes to the MashMeets and sees all this enthusiasm and attention from real people.

We will be seeing some interesting upgrades in the near future. Between the core blog, the Marketplace, and the bubbling social network, I think Mashable is a great source of content, community with a human soul.