New Ideas in Search and Social Networking - vBuddy.com
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vBuddy.com is a social networking site that asks the question "What if web sites could social network with people?" Okay, that sounds a little ridiculous at first, but the idea behind vBuddy is to give each web site its own network site. You become a member of the network by confirming your email from the web site's domain. Once you're a member, you can update the network's profile, blog, photos, and post company jobs. Users can vote on photos and blogs; the most popular entries get showcased.
If you can't become a member of a particular network because you don't have an email account with the web site, you can always become a fan. Fans have fewer privileges, but they can post comments and make posts in the network's forum.
They seem to believe in AJAX at vBuddy. See that list on the left? I didn't need to click any links; I simply hovered my mouse over each item, and the content in the large box changed to highlight the important points of each area. For example, when I hovered over "People" the box displayed a bulleted list that included "Discover business contacts" and "Get to know like-minded people in various networks you enjoy," among other advantages.
vBuddy is in limited beta now. That means there really wasn't much I could do once I was on the site, aside from read the company's blog and submit my email address to apply for a spot in the beta. The site might be of interest to a company that doesn't have the resources to build its own social network but would like to put a friendly face on for their fans (and set up a way for their employees to communicate or possibly improve morale). I'm not sure of the size of this target audience, but I like the idea of an easy "front end" for a social network, and may keep an eye out to see what develops.
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