DISQUS

Thanks for the post Jimmy. I almost missed it. I also just joined your East Coast Blogging Groupsite. I'm looking forward to meeting other locals there as well.

Thanks Angela. I follow Black Web 2.0, it's a great blog! Thanks for drinking our kool-aid. We aren't perfect, building innovative products that are easy to use and work 99.9% of the time is hard. So we try to listen to our users, respond to their issues/bugs as quickly as possible... and deliver a final product that exceeds their needs. So we love it when we receive positive feedback from respected bloggers and media outlets.

Thanks,
Clarence Wooten
Founder & CEO
CollectiveX

Fantastic post. I think CollectiveX adheres to 7.5 of your 10 Commandments. I'm pretty sure that we'll eventually achieve 9.5 of your 10.

Again, great post. Keep up the good work :-)

Clarence

Nick,

Very nice coverage. SocialTimes is becoming the DC area's version of TechCrunch. Keep up the good work. I have news coming up regarding CollectiveX... I'll make sure you get all the details. I like what you are doing.

Clarence

Very interesting post. Many have asked themselves that question. Specifically, east coast investors who have been weary of pure ad supported business models since the dot com crash in the early 2000s.

I think ad supported models will last. However, I think performance will be the determining factor. Social networks like MySpace has certainly proven that ad performance is largely situational. In a MySpace like environment, ads are largely ignored. Creative page variations are huge distractions.

In other environments, LinkedIn for example, ads are considered premium. LinkedIn's recent report that they are generating CPMs as large as $75 is a great example. Quality, targeted ways to reach premium highly sought after individuals such as baby-boomers and generation Xers will continue to dive advertisers to spend money. Outside of search, Internet advertising will become more and more about brand impressions vs. clicks. Broadband proliferation has created better opportunities for video and rich-media ads.

It is clear that attention has clearly shifted to the Internet. In a world where content has become plentiful, context is now King! Content without context yields low CPMs and every lower CPCs. Platforms that target and focus on both, will always be sought after.

Nice post. I agree... it's all about quality. That's why I don't blog much... don't have the time to write quality posts :-) So its easier from me to twitter about quality articles like this one... when I come across them :-)

Chris,

What about a concept of not having friends at all... but defining trust based on groups... and having dual profile personas (social & professional) that you display depending on the nature of the group that you're communicating, sharing and networking with?

Yes.. this is a plug.. I've just described what CollectiveX does. I felt the need to mention it based on this post. Social networks are very friend-centric... and not very group-centric. CollectiveX-powered Groupsites are 100% group-centric, so defining levels of friendship isn't necessary. The group defines the context and you decided how much of yourself you want to share based on that context and your level of trust in the group.

Try it and let me know what you think. So far it seems to be working... over 14,000 groups of all types and sizes have setup Groupsites powered by the CollectiveX platform. Not a single friend has been defined ;-)

No conversation about "meta-networks" should take place without a mention of CollectiveX.com. I agree, Ning.com and me.com are both "create your own" Myspace clones... it is clearly a market for them. However, CollectiveX isn't a clone of anything... it's a platform for creating Groupsites - networking and communication sites designed for groups. If anything, CollectiveX.com is more of a create your own "branded" web 2.0 version of Yahoo Groups with networking overlayed.

Try it, and compare for yourself.