Me.com copies us - too - acknowledges meta-networks is the way to go
I’ll take a quick break from my work, to blog about Me.com cloning our approach to meta-networks. When Ning copied us - I didn’t make too much of a commotion, as copying is the most sincere form of flattery. And to me - it validated ideas I had had - 4 years earlier.
Now that Me.com has copied us as well - I might as well point out that last summer when we first relased PeopleAggregator - we knew that meta-neworks was the right approach to promulgating 100,000’s of smaller, niche social networks.
And Ning and Me.com have verified that.
Now the issue is that offering these networks directly to end-users is definiately NOT the right business model for a compay to survive on. Apparently Me.com is also OEMing/white labeling their plaform - while Ning is not.
But then again - Marc Andressen doesn’t need the money.
The coolio thing is when you sit down and start to architect a system for a brand, the US Army or a record label you suddenly realize that each constituent, target market or niche - can have it’s OWN social network, while the mothership can host and pay for it - all the while flowing their ads, messages or brand awareness throughout the ‘meta-network’.
This is a fundamental architectual advancement which I believe will hold true for all social networks moving forward. The only issue remaining is by what rules and policies does one ‘carry’ their profile or persona across multiple networks.
And solving that ‘multiple network’ issue - is the same issue that needs to get solved connecting networks - across vendor offerings! So NOW maybe you grok why we built PeopleAgrgegator like we did! It is a analogy for the entire world of distributed, decentralized social networks.
May 8th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
It’s interesting that you feel that Ning and Me.com both copied your business model. CollectiveX has been executing on the “meta-network” model for a year now. However, CollectiveX’s market is less social and more professional and focused on getting things done. None-the-less, the paltform network model that CollectiveX employs fits into the same meta-network category. I think PeopleAggregator, Ning and now me.com all validate that we are all moving towards a market need.
May 8th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
[…] Charles Wooten of CollectiveX left a comment, informing me that his company has been doing meta-netw…. I had heard of CollectiveX but had no idea that they were also a network or networks - offered as a hosted solution. I wonder if they also OEM/white label their system, like Me.com (but not Ning.) […]