Comments on: A small world

By: Catalanese

Catalanese — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 11:51:12 +0000

The network business…

My Space, HI 5, Linked In, Facebook … all of them has 2 things in common: building a network and the use of the Web 2.0.

In the opening talk of the first Web 2.0 conference, Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle summarized key principles they be…

By: boris

boris — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 14:22:53 +0000

Pau: I don´t think you get an invitation if you want to analyze asw ;-) Its not like we want to be a case study object, don´t we. Btw. it is not allowed to talk about whats going on on the community outside of asw so i don´t think you get further information. There had been some members who breaking that rule and they got banned. Personally i dislike the kind of hype about invitations because it attracts people who wouldn´t fit in.

By: pau

pau — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 21:17:14 +0000

I know a member of asw. She told me about how she could organize a trip with some friends to Croatia thanks to a member of asw that found her all the interesting contacts and activities. She also found a great appartment in Paris, where she shares the rent with my girlfriend and where I spent a great time last weekend!

I would love to get in this community. Above all I would really like to know how their promotion system works and how relationships are used within the community. Services and revenue sources are another interesting case study I would like to analyze in there!

Jean Marc: Get me in there now! jejeje

By: Jean Marc

Jean Marc — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:34:25 +0000

I am a member of asw and what Pau says is partially true. I don’t know how the majority of people use it but here’s a glimpse of the utility I find in it.
- Forums: some forums have a high participation rate and the “walled garden” nature of the community ensures some quality in the answers. Also, given the socio-demographics of the community (mostly jet-setters), it is more appropriate for a certain type of discussion. Examples are travel advice, business development…
- City guides (edited and reviewed by members): I found them quite reliable
- Friends of friends are often people you know but do not necessarily have the email - that’s a nice way of contacting directly these people but it is of course limited by the walled-garden approach (but at the same time, it is what allows one to have access to contacting people directly)
Of course it looks like a snobbish community at first glance, but it is so far the best effort I’ve seen to avoid the kind of problem you would find at Orkut, Friendster, multiply and others…
Another “closed” community that is making a lot of noise is www.beautifulpeople.net , he he - check it out!

By: pau

pau — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 13:42:48 +0000

I would generally agree, but I know someone in the network who told me about people in aSmallWorld wanting to help other VIP people to create networks in other countries. For instance, some VIP from Barcelona willing to go to Tokyo would connect with a aSmallWorld japanese member in other to benefit from its benefits.

I don’t know if there is a feedback grade or evaluation method for this kind of collaboration in orther to gain experience within the community. If there isn’t it would significantly help to win useful members.

FYI, I heard of someone (rumor not sustained) that aSmallWorld will begin chargin its customers a monthly fee.

By: Mago de la LLuvia

Mago de la LLuvia — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 12:25:40 +0000

This is all pretty nice and charming, but the “exclusivity” can, and will probably turn up side down into the worst nightmare for the web’s survival. I mean, those people who are already close friends or know each other fairly well (both phisically and in terms of what they like/enjoy and do not like/enjoy) are not in an urgent need for such a service. I do see a very clear objective in Linked-in type services, but ASmallWorld is much more fuzzy…