LiveMansion and MySpace
I never really bought into MySpace, too higgledypiggledy for me. Gotta have proper swarming support. I did have a space there, but don’t visit, and it seems that MySpace chose to delete it with no warning. Which is a worrying concept on its own. This new one, LiveMansion is intriguing. In spite of some major…
I never really bought into MySpace, too higgledypiggledy for me. Gotta have proper swarming support. I did have a space there, but don’t visit, and it seems that MySpace chose to delete it with no warning. Which is a worrying concept on its own.
This new one, LiveMansion is intriguing. In spite of some major useability/design issues, they have taken the customising content (fotos, videos, avatars, profiles) concept and adapted it from blogs to forums. Regular visitors here to my blog will note that I am not a big fan of blogs per se and don’t believe they have longevity as the vanguard of communities. Mostly cos they are one -to-many not many-to-many. Forums are many-to-many.
LiveMansions has you creating “rooms” and adding and joining them to your profile. The rooms are a basic front end onto forums. The fact that the pictures and videos and profile information is integrated into the one page rather than on forums or different pages is cool. The rest of the interface is clunky. Insists you register an email address then doesn’t double check it. Uses red writing when its NOT a warning, just for pretty colours. No explanation of gaps in the screen – large blocks with nothing in them (advertising panels?) Poor welcome for newbies, no tutorials. I could go on.
Still, it’s nice to see people moving away a teeny bit from building competitor products to MySpace and coming up with something new. That “create a topic” link may look like a small improvement but its actually a big step from online diaries with respondents to online communities with participants.
Anywho, I set up a room about World of Warcraft under the nom de plume SilkCharm. Come visit if you like…, if you have any questions about LiveMansion post there or here, and we’ll figure it out together. 🙂
Technorati Tags Online Communities, LiveMansion, blog, forum, SilkCharm, World of Warcraft
I like the concept of LiveMansion – it’s sort of like MySpace with a purpose and a common interest. The real question is how many social networks or online communities one individual can participate in. With so new communities and networks launched daily, it’s clear most won’t hit the critical mass needed to succeed.