StartupsNigeria.Com - Discover Web Startups in Nigeria

Recently, I took some time off from this blog to re-analyse the blogosphere and what it has for me. My journey took me to several blogs on different topics and niches, and I've learned a lot more about blogging, niche topics, SEO, etc.

I've been working on a project the last 2 months and successfully launched a blog called StartupsNigeria. The blog reviews and analyses web startups in Nigeria, as well as tech/mobile products and services in Nigeria that are making an impact in today’s new web space. Since I've been following startup news and tech trends around Europe, US and Australia, I noticed that global blogs on Web 2.0, Technology, and Social Networking rarely cover the web 2.0 industry in Africa.


My goal with StartupsNigeria is to showcase Nigerian Web 2.0 startups, social networking/media and bookmarking sites that are creating a buzz around the world. The idea is to connect global web-savvy blogs and businesses with those in Nigeria, as well as to empower new Web 2.0 startups in Nigeria to developing technologies and applications that would add value to users.

So if you are interested in discovering new web startups in Nigeria and Africa, you can subscribe to the blogs RSS feeds.

Your visit would be appreciated too. Go to StartupsNigeria.Com

Social Network Startups: hurox, travel popnets, mytrybe, ifimpresident, araspace

This week, I'll be sharing social networking startups that got my attention. You can check them out and leave your comments on what you think about them.

There you go...

Hurox (pronounced “who rocks”) is much more than your average social network. Using some of the most advanced tools available, anyone can create virtually any “website”, no pasting code or programming necessary. Also, every Hurox member has the ability to earn monetary rewards for their efforts. Go see for yourself here

Travel Popnets is a new way for globe-hoppers and web-surfers to save, share and discover the best of the web wide world. You can organize all of your travel know-how and explore favorites shared by your friends. Check them out here

MyTrybe is a networking application that connects you with people that share your personal taste and interests. Get just-right recommendations and discover the people in your personal taste network - your Trybe! Visit the site here

ifimpresident.com is a social utility designed to network people through ideas rather than personal relationships. The main goal is to foster a comfortable atmosphere, where political dialogue can be achieved respectably. Users are linked to their peers based on their political views so that when you discuss politics through out site, it will be read by a targetted audience based on what views you yourself have. View the network here

Araspace is the first Arabic social networking site that has a bilingual interface with 100% Arabic and English support. AraSpace.com is dedicated to people throughout the world, especially Arabic speakers, who wish to meet and make friends. Like other social networks, you can find people with similar interests, share your views, announcements, photos, music, videos, and more! Go to the site here

Please feel free to leave your comments on what your think about these social network startups. Enjoy!

January 2008: Profiled Social Network Startups + New Approach for SocialCrunch

I'm pleased to announce to you that this blog, SocialCrunch will be taking a new dimension with the profiling of new social networks as from this month of February. Recently, I decided to focus more on new startup social sites that are connecting people together in today's webspace. That new approach started in January 2008 and I was able to profile 10 social networking startups.

If you missed them, here are they:

1. The CollegeLife.com - A New Facebook?

2. JASEzone MashUp Professionals in Google Maps Mashup

3. FoodHood.com - Where Foodies Meet and Eat

4. Livesteez - The New Video Sharing Place for Hip-Hop and African-American Entertainment News

5. Fiction Folks Mash And Make Money At StoryMash.com

6. Next2Friends Launches Beta And Connects Friends Next To Friends

7. Professional Networking at Neurona.it

8. SocialSplash Uses Splash Points to Buy Users?

9. Tadinky Launches and Invites Members Suggestions

10. MC Hammer To Launch Video Sharing Site Called DanceJam.com

Beginning from February, I'm hoping to try a newer approach. At the end of each week starting from the 4th of February, I would briefly review new social network startups for the week and profile the one I consider as "The Social Network of the Week".

Then, I would expect readers of this blog to select what they would consider as "The Social Network of the Week". You can do so on the comments section. Soon, we would set up a weekly poll, where you can vote for 'The Social Network of The Week'.

I value your readership and comments.

TheCollegeLife.com - A New Facebook?

TheCollegeLife, is probably the next generation in social networking for college students. The new social online community for students by students offers a centralized forum that allows students to interact with peers on their campus as well as others across the country. The site provides college kids a place to call their own without worrying that high school students and their parents could access their profiles.

Though fashioned like Facebook, the new social site is not keen on taking over the world, but has limited its membership to only college students, so you need a valid school email address to join TheCollegeLife. The site currently on beta version looks too simple and welcomes suggestions and criticisms.

TheCollegeLife has basic features like other social networks such as blogs, profiles, image galleries and messaging. Plus, TCL features a video section, and forums for students to share and discuss life, assignments, profs, and just about anything they like. The site is continuing to improve and other great features are in the offing. So watch out!

Whether or not TheCollegeLife would be widely accepted by college kids and schools around the world remains unknown. What we know is that it can never compete with Facebook.

JASEzone MashUp Professionals in Google Maps Mashup

JASEzone is a new professional social spot designed to help you network with other professionals and expand your business prospects. Like other social networks such as LinkedIn, you can create your profile that identifies your professional accomplishments and goals. Friends and colleagues will find you just as you can network with other professionals aligned with your interests. You can add more JASEfriends by inviting others to join the JASEzone and connect to you.

Your network consists of your JASEfriends, your JASEfriends' JASEfriends, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of friends.You get your own inbox for on site messaging and a free blog. Join groups related to gaming, politics, music and more. Discuss your favorite topics in the forums, or auction and purchase items in the JaseBid section.

Through your JASEzone network you can:

• Find potential clients, subject matter experts, and business partners.
• Be found for future business initiatives.
• Discover JASEfriends that can help you reach job opportunities.
• Get introduced to other professionals through your JASEfriends.

The JASEzone team recently integrated the profiles of its active users into a Google Maps Mashup. Currently only United States profiles show on the mashup but the team has plans to expand into Canada and eventually Europe, Asia, Central & South America and more.

FoodHood.com - Where Foodies Meet and Eat

Could you have imagined that any social networking site would connect people who love food to one place? As funny as this may seem, a new social community for food lovers worldwide has been launched to cater for all your foodie needs.

FoodHood.com is an online food in da hood that provides its community with great food, recipes, photos, secrets, prizes, restaurants, exotic and new food discoveries—everything a foodie could dream of. In the FoodRoom, you can discuss anything food, and you can also share photos of your favorite restaurant, backyard BBQ steak, favorite wine, etc in the FoodBook. You can check out The Scoop for the latest quirky food news and stories, or you can simply check out recipes for dinner.

I made the mistake of searching for some menus and not only did what I found whet my appetite, I started getting hungry. Ouch! My stomach! Here are a few of the menus...

Pork loin and Salmon/Yorkshire pudding Dip for HaiNam chicken/Pickled vegetable

Livesteez - The New Video Sharing Place for Hip-Hop and African-American Entertainment News

Have you ever wanted a place where you can meet people and discuss current events and politics while networking? The place is Livesteez - a new online social network and a forum especially devoted to urban youth which allows members to upload and share videos, discuss current events and politics, as well as network.

Livesteez news feeds and discussion boards almost exclusively feature Hip-Hop- or African-American- focused stories. View here, here and here. Livesteez is a perfect example of a specific social networking community that does not rest on its demographic differences, but adds innovative applications (video sharing in a social network, exclusive artist contracts) to keep its technology current and members satisfied.



But Livesteez might need to promote it's site better to reach audiences. The discussion forums seems to be begging for attention (who cares to talk?) and Livesteez appears to have just a handful of members.

Via: (Killerstartups)

Fiction Folks Mash And Make Money At StoryMash.com

Now, this really got my attention. Probably because I have a flare for fiction. A new social community called StoryMash, for collaboration, constructive criticism and a place to experiment and discover different writing styles is mashing up fiction readers and writers together.

StoryMash is a place where fiction folks start new stories, continue existing stories, or take a story in a different direction by adding a chapter to its middle! All the while earning money for every chapter they publish on StoryMash. If you are a reader, you can vote for your favorite chapters and choose how you want the story to continue. After reading a chapter you can select from among multiple followup chapters. And while reading a chapter if you have a great idea on what should happen next, you can register and submit a followup chapter!

The idea is similar to Helium where writers are paid from $20 to $200 for each article selected by their partner publishers. The difference is that with StoryMash, you pay yourself for each work you publish on StoryMash depending on the number of votes you get for your story.

Here is how it works:

If you're a fiction writer and want the world to know about your work, you will post your story to StoryMash.com. Then, other authors can add follow-up, or even middle chapters to existing chapters written by others. Branching chapters compete with each other based on the vote ranking of registered readers. Eventually, the best storylines will evolve into the most entertaining, and profitable storytelling possible.

The whole idea is a a collaborative system of user generated content where StoryMash provides a fair contract for writers; writers keep their copyright, and grant StoryMash a non-exclusive license so that StoryMash can adapt and possibly resell combined works. Plus, all authors are paid over 50% of all revenue made by the content they publish.

There are also periodic writing contests, and this February, over $500 in prizes will be given away. So start posting on StoryMash by share your creative writing with the world, and earning some cool cash.

Have fun!

Next2Friends Launches Beta And Connects Friends Next To Friends

Do you want your friends to be next to you? Next2friends is a new social community that's now on beta version until late March 2008 and limited to 250, 000 users during the 3-month beta period. The social site allows friends to stay connected to each other by taking advantage of mobile phone tools. It's got some amazing features that will get you attracted from the word "go".

Here are just a few:

Once you create a profile at Next2friends.com, not only can you make friends online but the site's Intelligent Proximity matching will send you updates on the Next2friends users that you passed throughout the day that share your interests.

Here's how it works: You set up a Next2Friends profile detailing all your likes, dislikes, quirks and everything that makes you who you are. Then, as you move about in the real world, if you have the Next2Friends software loaded onto your Bluetooth enabled mobile device, Next2Friends will automatically collect and match your data to other Next2Friends users you came into close proximity with. When you next sign into your account you'll receive notification of all the people you passed throughout the day who share your likes, dislikes, and yes, even your quirks.

With the Ask-A-Friend feature, you can also get a friend's advice on a pair of shoes you like to buy while you are shopping by sending them a photo and asking their opinion. With the Live Streaming Video, you can broadcast live events from any capable mobile device or webcam to your family and friends wherever they are in the world. They can watch the event in real-time with you, as it happens. The idea is for you to capture moments and share them with your friends with live video streaming while living in the real world.

But, doesn't the whole idea of the social networking startup seem like you don't have your privacy as it could be a way for people to track you throughout your day? Wouldn't that make you feel like someone's probably watching you?

Professional Networking at Neurona.it

Neurona.it is a free virtual community created to promote networking among professionals and academics of the marketing and sales arena. So, it's got the feel of LinkedIn and perhaps a step up from LinkedIn and a focus more on business than Facebook.

The social business site is a network tool that promises to help you forge new professional contacts as well as expand your personal and professional network. Like other business networks, you can organize your contacts, set privacy filters, send email and join groups. Neurona has over 100 professional groups to choose from including Studying and Working Abroad, Services Marketing, and Food & Agrimarketing.

Again, Neurona.it is not about selling services or products… it is about people. Neurona.it is about facilitating your network with fellow professionals, and helping you to get the advice or assistance you need.

The social networking site is designed in three language versions namely Italian, Spanish and English with over 1 million current users.

SocialSplash Uses Splash Points to Buy Users?

Are you a social networker? In order words, do you use social networks such as Facebook? Myspace? Bebo? Is your answer, yes and yes?! Not surprised! They are the largest social media sites today ringing the major buzzword s~o~c~i~a~l n~e~t~w~o~r~k~i~n~g.

Social sites as I like to call them have been around for quite some time now, and have all been competing to earn a place in the social media market. They've introduced interesting features and concepts that attract users and generate more revenue for their efforts.

But here comes SocialSplash - a new kid in the block. The new social site offers something no other social networking site offers. As the name 'splash' suggests, the site splashes users with "gifts" such as mp3 players and other electronics, etc when they earn "Splash Points".

In other words, whatever you do on the site, like uploading photos, creating a blog or a group, or even using the forums, you get Splash Points, and the more you collect, the better, because when you grab a good number of points you can get a gift from their Splash Store. SocialSplash also allows users to play flash games while chatting with your friends, create funny pictures using the great option of SplashPix.

So can your loyalty to Facebook or Myspace be purchased by SocialSplash's Splash Points?

Tadinky Launches and Invites Members Suggestions

Tadinky.com, the latest lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, announced today the beta launch of it's new Wiki-style website, opening the door to innovative changes suggested by its members.

The social site's founders are hoping to avoid the mistakes of social giants such as MySpace, Friendster and Facebook that have "all had their limitations, as proven by disgruntled members, while refusing to implement any changes or ideas offered by their members." For their business 'their customers (users) are always right'. Thus, they have welcomed suggestions for improvement of the site. Sounds like a humble beginning, huh?

Tadinky is launched in beta form as a stripped-down version of a standard social networking website while awaiting the first qualified suggestion. The new website has the usual features of social networks such as profiles, photos, blog, email, instant messaging, etc. The site currently has 22 members, 6 friends, 2 blog entries and 1 comment. Unfortunately, it has no traffic rank yet from Alexa.

About Tadinky
Tadinky, a part of Dreamry, Inc., is the latest lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, networking with like-minded people, and creating changes that would have an immediate impact. By integrating web profiles, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, and member blogs, Tadinky has created a connected and responsive community. Tadinky will continue to evolve with new features and exciting changes.

Via: TheOpenPress

MC Hammer To Launch Video Sharing Site Called DanceJam.com

Former rapper MC Hammer, is readying the launch of a new social website, which would be similar to Youtube.com, the leading online video sharing site, or is it meant to compete with Youtube?

The site called dancejam.com, would offer users a place to watch and post dance videos, since we can't touch it, we can watch and feel it "online". According to SoundSlam, Hammer (real name Stanley Burrell) and his partners have reportedly complied 100 gigabytes of dance footage which will be used to launch the site in mid January. The site will host head-to-head dance competitions, and also give viewers tips on how to perform their favorite dance moves.

Last February, MC Hammer visited the youtube offices, as part of his interests in launching a video sharing site. You can watch the video below.



According to HipHopGalaxy, it was reported that James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research claims that Hammer could find it difficult getting people away from YouTube, which listed 1.7 million dance videos last month alone.

Well, YouTube users will have to decide what they want, and if they "can't touch this", maybe they can dance this.

Will the White House Be Housing Social Networks in 2008?

Who said social networks would not be allowed into the White House in 2008? If you are not aware, a few U.S. Presidential Candidates are already using this new social media to connect their supporters together.

Earlier this month, the Republican Candidate Rudy Giuliani launched a social network called Team Rudy. Other candidates are using the social media for their various campaigns also. See Barack Obama, John McCain amongst others. Now, you can share your Ron Paul love with other supporters at RonsPeople.com

As with any social network, you can post music, videos, pictures and more to provide the world with more assurances of your Ron Paul love. (And you can't miss how “EVOL” in “revolution” is highlighted) Read it backwards and you get "LOVE"!

One unique feature of Ron's social campaign site is that it allows supporters to create multiple user profiles so you can get a handle on your privacy. You might wonder what you would have to hide from other supporters, but it's your choice.

Unfortunately, nothing seems spectacular beyond the standard social networking fare of messaging and so on, but this one is going to be driven solely by content and the true ability to network with others who share your common cause.

We'll see if social networks will stay at the White House come next year or if it's just a means to an end.

(Via Mashable)

Open Web Awards by Mashable: The Finalists

As part of the Open Web Awards, the finalists for the first four categories have been determined by voters according to Mashable. Below are the finalists:

Category 1: Mainstream or Large Scale Network

Bebo

Netlog

Vois

Category 2: Application or Widget

MindTouch Deki Wiki

Quintura

Widget Bucks

Category 3: Social News or Social Bookmarking

Digg

Reddit

StumbleUpon

Category 4: Social Search

Copenda

Facebook

Wink

The final voting round to find the winner of each category has begun already till Thursday, December 20th at 9:00 PM PST. The winners will be announced shortly thereafter…at Mashable, and the finalists will be covered in the days after.

Update: There will be an award ceremony at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco on January 10th, 2008.

Silicon Space Launches Social Networking Solution

According to a press release on December 10, Silicon Space, LLC, experts in customer-facing software solutions that enable companies to grow their businesses, has announced its SocialSpace Business-to-Business (B-to-B) social networking solution. Optimized for enterprise environments, the SocialSpace solution will provide the services and expertise required to bring a social network community to market.

As we know of today, social networking applications provide a new forum for businesses to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration, solicit feedback from internal and external business partners and extend company reach to new channels. Thus, the SocialSpace platform has been designed to be integrated with a majority of the leading social network applications on the internet, including Facebook and MySpace, along with many other networks via the Google OpenSocial interface.

With the SocialSpace platform, Silicon Space partners with enterprises to develop a tailored B-to-B social networking solution based on a detailed analysis of their business model. Based on this analysis, SocialSpace deploys its solid technical platform, along with the launch marketing, moderation services, and long-term management of the community to ensure member engagement.

Via: Silicon Space

SocialCrunching Becomes Beta

I started this blog just 4 weeks ago and my experience with blogging about social networking has been very challenging. For one thing, there is always something related to social networking to blog about and even with other projects on my shoulders, this blog has been able to be relatively consistent with quality posts, decent traffic, and just a few readers.

At the moment, I've decided to concentrate on blogging about social network startups only, which I've been doing, except that the blog has covered so more information about existing social networks such as Myspace, Facebook, etc.

I've been reading Mashable and other social networking blogs and I've come to a conclusion that these blogs post practically anything that forms news around social networks and more. Thus, this blog SocialCrunch will now create a niche by posting gists, news and info about new social networks in any industry or field whether, music, fashion, sports, professions, etc, thus profiling them in relation to new and existing trends in the social media webspace.

I have called this new dimension the blog is exploring SocialCrunch Beta!:)

Bode Miller Ventures Into SkiSpace

Bode Miller, the World Ski Champion and Olympic Medalist Skiier has launched a new web 2.0 social networking site called SkiSpace.

SkiSpace is a new social networking and information site just for skiers, snowboarders and winter sports hounds. At SkiSpace.com, Ski enthusiasts can connect with other skiers, boarders and snow sports fanatics, while keeping up to date on the latest news, snow reports. The site also allows users to share photos and videos, even from their mobile phone.

On the flip side, the site is planning to adopt a primo-style site, thus helping users plan their snow adventures, snag the best travel deals and hottest resorts, and outfit them with the greatest selection of gear.

Some other features include weather updates, vacation planning, equipment sales and ski reports, mobile blogging (in case you are on top of the mountain), skiing action videos and ski lifestyle videos. The site is being powered by PathConnect, a Web 2.0 provider of online social networking software.

Red Room Writing Society Gets More Funding

The social network site for authors, The Red Room, has raised $1.25 million from angel investors, including Craig Newmark, author Rober Mailer Anderson and Nion McEvoy, CEO of Chronicle Books. With a small army of authors already supporting The Red Room, its social network looks to be going in the direction of a promotional hub for writers.

The site offers tools, such as blogs and book tour calendars for writers to promote themselves and connect with their fans. Thus, we can say that it serves authors the same way MySpace serve bands. Red Room(mates), Alice Walker and Amy Tan are just some of the high profiled authors that have pages on The Red Room.

As the social networking fever is gripping web enthusiastes, it is not surprising to see a growing trend for authors seeking networking and promotional tools on the web. Meanwhile, sites like Helium, StoryLink,TurnHere, BooksConnect , BookTour, Shelfari, amongst others continue to create online spaces for writers and authors to promote themselves with more web 2.0 tools.

The founder of The Red Room, Ivory Madison, also started the Red Room Writers Society - a place for writers to work on their projects and take part in seminars and workshops.

LinkedIn Launches Intelligent Application platform

LinkedIn, the social networking site for business professionals is finally unveiling a new application branded LinkedIn Intelligent Application platform that would allow third-party developers to build applications that work within the social network.

Using the API, developers will be able to create widgets and integrate LinkedIn data into other applications, as well as create applications that will integrate with LinkedIn. Google’s OpenSocial platform is sure to be supported, and some others are also planned.

The company has also announced an application with BusinessWeek. The application will let readers of a BusinessWeek article search their LinkedIn networks of personal connections for people associated with companies mentioned in the story in a mouseover popup style. Something Mashable thinks is not the best way to introduce the API. View a preview of the application here.

LinkedIn says it will take a more cautious approach, looking for companies that add value to the site instead of throwing open the doors to everyone. Hmm, what does that suggest? That they want only business productivity applications and anything that doesn't fit that description (perhaps Facebook's applications) will not be welcomed?