I just read about
Urth.tv.
It says it is the Values-based social network for Global citizens. I wonder whether this is going to take the place of Care2.com or the nonprofit professional representation on Facebook, Tribe, Myspace or having a linked-in presence. That is, I wonder what the benefit to this social networking app is over the myriad others out there. I am a power user of these tools (meaning that I am a power-joiner), but I am even suffering from social networking information glut. What do others think?
This service strikes me as social networking for tree huggers (I'm a tree hugger, so don't take that in the wrong way). I think, if it is marketed well it could find a niche, but will it ever reach a critical mass of users? Social requires a large number of users to have significant value.
As an aside, I too am a heavy user of social networking sites and tools and find myself saturated.
Joined on 03-21-2001
Los Angeles
I'm a beginner at this new social networking, still looking (after more than a whole WEEK of use) for value in Facebook. I have not (yet) joined Urth.tv.
That confession being made, I don't agree with Matthew's premise that social requires a "large" number (many millions?) of users.
Back in the 80s and 90s, before, and in the early days of, the world wide web, igc.org (one of the very first ISPs) provided, in a totally non-commercial way, some of the functions that urth.tv aspires to provide now. IGC, a non-profit itself, was never large -- hardly surpassing 10,000 subscribers -- and its ISP function eventually merged with Mindspring, which merged with Earthlink. With the technology available then, and while its business model remained viable (before the rise of AOL and the other behemoths, and the diversification of ways to connect to the internet), it was successful.
It seems that urth.tv may indeed fill a vacant niche -- more or less the one left by IGC -- though their revenue probably depends on the website's commercial sponsors, and they don't have many of those yet. (The Marketplace is the only part of the website that is open to non-subscribers, so I got to look.) If they can attract consumers, even if not a lot of active members, they might thrive. (For example, Urth.tv's sponsor Yogi Times has a business model of attracting new-age consumers and not being the least bit pushy about how much yoga they should be doing.)
Joined on 11-23-2005
TechSoup Member
You might want to check out
QuantumShift.tv too:
"Quantum Shift TV is an innovative news and entertainment TV station with leading edge technology, citizen journalism, creative and entertaining packaging, and positive, stimulating and inspiring content."
It isn't a social network, but it has a community forum and it looks like a lot of the content is user-created.