In Perusing through several new social networking concepts I came across a social networking talent site called Gonnabe (www.gonnabe.com).

They offer talented individuals or parents of talented kids the opportunity to network together at a professional level, develop their skills and build out their portfolios and offerings.  Think of it as a LinkedIn for entertainers or parents of future entertainers.

Now, I like the concept that Gonnabe offers up for a couple of reasons. 

1. They facilitate people to work together and grow together.  Too often creative types are pitted against each other in a zero sum game that does not benefit consumers.
2. They are utilizing web 2.0 concepts of bringing people together to reduce costs and increase speed and efficiency.  Instead of say parents having to cart their kids off to LA, they can conceivably make forward progress without having to relocate or travel.
3. This encourages the masses to improve their skill sets. 

That last point is very important.  In an American Idol type of contest, they essentially weed out creativity and originality as they race to identify a single person that can win a popularity contest, so that a record company can then control a limited resource in a single artist.

Under this methodology, many artists can network together, improve themselves, their skill sets and offer up more very good content without people being subjected to a monopoly on the artist or their performances.  This increases both the quantity and quality of entertainment and media and that is a philosophy that I tack after as well.

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I do not write about this concept too much on Maven Mapper’s Information these days, however there is a very good and slightly old fashioned way to network with other bloggers across the blogosphere.  Its called a blog surfing exchange. 

How Blog Surfing Exchanges Work

A blogger or a non-blogger signs up (works better if you have a blog).  You then surf through the directory of blogs that they offer, they tend to display a new blog one after the next in categories that you pick.  You control the speed and you can rate blogs as you go if you want to do that type of thing.  You can also block or favorite blogs as you go.

For each blog you visit, you earn some credits.  You can then use these credits to list your own blog in the exchange and other bloggers will then see your site in the que.

This is a good way to find other bloggers, see what they are doing, how they are doing it and network or share or develop ideas. 

This is not a good way to market your website or products or ebooks.  If you are into that type of thing, you should probably look elsewhere.

This is primarily for bloggers to connect with other bloggers and generally communicate blog to blog.

As I mentioned this concept has been around for a long time.  I am a long time member in BlogExplosion and BlogMad.  These are two of the largest surfing exchanges.  BlogExplosion is the oldest I believe and BlogMad seems to have recently eclipsed it as the largest.

To my knowledge if you have more than one blog, there is no limit on the number of blogs allowed at BlogExplosion.  That said, they are slow at approvals and very picky.  You can expect to be rejected a few times.  Try and take it in stride as it can pay off later. 

I do not agree with their philosophy, but it is their club.

BlogMad is much easier, but they limit you to 3 and then later 6 blogs.  Essentially you have to work your way up the levels to get more benefits such as the ability to list more blogs.

I’m just about to hit the ‘Mad’ level for example, I was hoping to win a Technomarine watch, but will settle for the ability to add more blogs.  Sounds goofy, but hey its about as mature as Facebook.

Big Picture Purpose for Building Subscribers

This isn’t a good place to go strictly to get traffic for your website, however as you network there and as people see and possibly like your site, they will essentially be able to use that introduction as a means to coming back and maybe subscribing to your syndicated delivery via rss or email.

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Today, I reached 100 LinkedIn Connections.  That was a milestone for me.  I do not connect with people, just to connect with them on LinkedIn. 

If you know me, here’s the link to my LinkedIn Connection

Some people will connect with anyone that makes the request on LinkedIn, but I work to make sure that I connect with people that I really know, have met, have worked with, worked for, partnered with etc.

I have definitely only scratched the service of the people that fit into that description for me, but not everyone uses linkedIn.

I didn’t really do a lot with it myself until about 70 days ago, when I started generating a lot of business through LinkedIn, and when I started successfully placing referrals through LinkedIn.  I then saw the huge amount of functional utility that this social network really provides. 

I might play around on Twitter or Facebook, but I get business done through LinkedIn.

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Maybe you have heard of Twitter.

Its part social network

Part Micro Blog

With Twitter Blocks its also one part three dimensional (two and a half) mind map.

OK, so that is using the term mind mapping rather loosely.

Twitter Blocks enable you to visualize the Twitter movements of your friends or even people that are following you or your friends through the Twittersphere.

I have no idea if Twittersphere is a real thing, but it seemed to fit the bill.  think Blogosphere + Twitter -> a Micro Blog and get TwitterSphere.

This is a great example of a conceptual application for Web 2.0 technology.

Its also one that shows how mind mapping concepts, software and technologies could be adapted to fit into the social networking revolution.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social network that enables people to submit short text entries from a cell phone SMS message, email or computer.  The short messages provide casual little updates about where a person is, what they are doing, what they are thinking etc.

For example a series of Twitter Entries might look like this

Woke Up Tired

Sweating Profusely after long run

too much traffic

Productive Afternoon

Traffic Lights Suck!

Need to let off steam with the Guys

Hot at the poker tables!

Not so Hot, Going to bed early

Context for TwitterSphere

When I first saw this concept I was reading a short article at Webware.com.  They presented Twitter Blocks well, but they summarized and my first impression was that this could be a MindMapping tool for people.

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Winster (pronounced Win ster) has established a social collaborative gaming site. Winster - the Win-Win Game Site games are not complex. They are probably on the order of playing a flash game and of a variety similar to that on the Price is Right. You are not going to find a first person shooter game here, but something along the lines of Yahoo Games with a real prize twist.

Players can win points with their free moves and if they earn enough points they can win prices. The social aspect comes in to varieties.

First players never compete against each other. Chat is available to talk with other players that are online.

Second, players can benefit from helping each other play the games which helps promote Winster’s goals of helping people collaborate in a positive environment while they are having fun.

Prizes include things like a pair of movie tickets or an iPod shuffle. Each player can play for free with a certain number of moves or they can upgrade for a nominal membership fee and get more moves. This membership provides more moves and enables players to gather more points to win the prizes.

Play Nice

You can benefit during the game by trading the puzzle pieces you win with other players. You can see 4 other player boards at the same time. This helps you to understand what they have and see maybe what they need. You can then offer to make a trade by dragging pieces to their board.

Price

A basic member ship starts off at $4.99 per month and is capped with a premium membership fee of $9.99 per month

Technorati tags: interactive games, social games, cooperative games, games, flash games

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