MingleNow - social networking that mingles online and offline
By Tom Foremski - June 12, 2006
I just got an early briefing on an interesting idea for social networking coming out of BlueLithium, the online advertising agency headquartered in San Jose, CA. It's an idea developed in Blue Lithium Labs, the R&D component of the business, to solve some social networking problems of their own.
"We've earned a reputation for hosting some great parties and we wanted to put some of that experience to work in this venture," says Dakota Sullivan, chief marketing officer at BlueLithium.
This is the overview: people register with MingleNow and say where they hang out, which bars, restaurants, clubs, etc. The site will have a very large national database of nearly every social place. Users will also be able to create their own places such as a corner of a college campus, or a camp at Burningman.
"There will be a page for every place that exists in the real world and you'll be able to see pictures of the people that go to that place," says Mr Sullivan.
One of the goals/solutions is to figure out where your friends are going to be hanging out, which clubs, parties etc; it will show which places they have committed to going. "That makes it easier to decide where to go when you are planning your weekend," says Mr Sullivan.
Another aspect of this venture is the belief that the places where people hang out says a lot about their personalities and the things that they like. This makes it easier for people to "mingle" online and offline with like-minded others.
Also, restaurants and bars and clubs would be able to get feedback on menu changes, for example. And to build communities around their businesses.
Users would be able to rate those places and also rate each other for flakiness (not turning up at an event when you said you would). And users could compete for "VIP" status by inviting friends and being active in the online/offline community.
The public beta of MingleNow will be rolled out later in August, nationwide, you can preregister now. And after the US roll out, the United Kingdom is the next target.
MingleNow already has some investors interested in the venture, which will become a standalone entity. For now, BlueLithium will incubate the project.
Krishna Subramanian, is the lead developer of MingleNow, he was a former club promoter so has a lot of experience in these social areas. "We will also add a dodgeball type function to mobile platforms so that people can tell their friends where they are located," says Mr Subramanian.
He adds that there will be RSS feeds available for nearly every data point in MingleNow, allowing users to aggregate the information in many ways.
SVW's take: It's an interesting approach to social networks and Blue Lithium is taking the right approach by overlaying the online and offline worlds. There are several issues to deal with, such as the private versus pubic nature of the information, the trust aspect of the users with each other, and the gaming that will inevitably occur in the competitive restaurant/bar/club business.
It is an idea that could be extended to other businesses such as dental offices, even schools, any physical location. It will be interesting to see how groups of users will interact with MingleNow and the direction it takes might not always be the most obvious one.
Different uses might appear in different geographies. If the MingleNow platform is versatile enough, it will be able to accommodate many different groups of users. I'm looking forward to trying it out.
By Tom Foremski - June 12, 2006 | Permalink | Category: Culture Watch
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Comments (8)
Come on now Tom, this is a pile of bollox and really not worth your writing about. Basically it looks to me like someone has piled a load of half baked thoughts about 'social spaces' etc into one project and rolled out a press release of sorts, which you have happily reprinted for them. Oh, and they have 'investor interest' for something that is going to launch in August. Talk about bandwagon jumping. A bit of thinking about the project reveals how daft it is - "There will be a page for every place that exists in the real world and you'll be able to see pictures of the people to go to that place". Every place in the real world? Pictures of the people who go there?
I suppose it's possible that something like this will take off, but you'd be better off waiting until there was some proof of critical mass, which will be the hardest thing to manage.
Until then, you'd be better off reading your own words, which include this fine blooper:
'the private versus pubic nature of the information'
Posted: June 13, 2006 1:33 AM
Ivan: I thank the gods I have readers such as yourself. Look, who knows if these things will fly? At least these people are trying stuff out. What have you done today? You've sniped at my work and those of others.. well done. You have created something worthwhile(!?) And you've completely missed the point about keeping social activities private versus Googleable... But I do detect an keen intelligence and I'm sure that you don't really mean to come across as a troll :-)
Posted: June 13, 2006 1:52 AM
Come on now, it's honest criticism. I love your blog, but this stuff is just lame. Well, that's my view, fwiw. Sorry to come across as a troll, never have been that.
What did I do today? www.snipperoo.com - in stealth, but the real thing. If you want an early briefing on that, you're welcome.
And what gives me the right to criticise? Just for the record: In 1993 I started an internet magazine (The World Wide Web Newsletter), in 1994 I invented the term and concept of the Cybercafe and launched .net, the world's first consumer internet magazine, in late 1994 I started one of the world's first web design and build companies, Webmedia ('the web is a medium, not a technology'), in 1997 I invented the domain name industry (NetNames). Along the way I chaired Internet World UK and founded Nominet, the .uk authority, wrote for dozens of mags, wrote a book, etc etc. In 2000 I sold my company.
Been there, done that.
Posted: June 13, 2006 4:14 AM
Ivan: Those are very impressive credentials. And yes, I'd love to know more about what you are doing. My cell is 415 336 7547 if you'd like to chat sometime.
I still think MingleNow is worth watching because it's a different approach to social networking and you can never predict the abberant behaviors of large groups of people :-)
Posted: June 13, 2006 11:49 AM
Tom,
Can't find an email address for you on the site. I'll give you a call soonest. I'm at Gnomedex next week, any chance you are there? I'll give you a demo - would be good to hook up for a chat. Cheers, Ivan
Posted: June 22, 2006 2:25 PM
Ivan, it's tom(at)siliconvalleywatcher.com and I'm skipping Gnomedex and other stuff the rest of the week, I need to get some writing done and so on but would love to chat, I'm in SF if you want to drop by. Cheers,-Tom
Posted: June 22, 2006 2:43 PM
this sounds like a good idea, i know some people on the inside and i'm hoping this is a success.
Posted: June 27, 2007 12:41 PM
www.napkinnights.com has been doing that for years!
Posted: September 24, 2007 10:17 AM