Mesmira - An Interest Conversation Network

Mesmira could possibly have the solution to my biggest gripe with any social network. Today on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter a person is followed without regard to the topics they are posting about. There are certain people you follow that you want to see everything from. But, then their are others that you only want to see certain topics from. Take me for example, wouldn't it be nice for my family to have the ability to not see my technology posts if they didn't want to?

Aditya Ramachandran started Mesmira "to help you connect with people on shared interests without being overwhelmed". This is done by filtering out any topic that you have not previously stated was an interest of yours. Now when I follow that person that loves the outdoors, as I do, it should filter out their posts about crafts.

This concept is great and I hope they continue towards the intended goal. But, a this time the service is not there. Keep in mind it is in early private beta testing, but I had hoped for more. Basically you are able to follow topics and there are networks built around those topics. From inside these topic networks you post publicly (no privacy settings) using text, links, videos, etc. You can then follow a person from inside that topic; you would need to follow that person again and again for each topic network of interest. This structure is a bit cumbersome and confusing to me. I would rather be able to follow my friend once and then if any of our topics/interests are found to be mutual a link is formed in some fashion.

The vision is a good one and I will certainly watch as progress is made; the most influential section is nice. If you would like an invite to try it out please email me at dain@dainbinder.com.

Follow Mesmira on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and Posterous; and the founder

Igobubble Lets Content Live and Evolve

Igobubble is a mobile app for the iPhone that integrates location-aware social networking with continuously evolving digital content by creating "living" bubbles that carry thoughts, images, sounds, videos and other fun content created by users. These bubbles evolve in real time and can be modified, moved and cloned. In fact the bubbles you create have a life of their own. Partially built on Darwinian principles of evolution, the bubbles can grow, shrink, change, divide and spread like viruses. They can even "jump" from mobile to mobile. Any user can grab and release bubbles or modify another user's bubbles. Popular bubbles thrive. Unpopular bubbles die.The bubbles are only available in the real world and only on smart mobile devices.

Microsoft's Social... What?

Yesterday it was discovered that Microsoft purchased the domain socl.com and the rumors and speculation have been spreading fast. Some blogs are saying that it is Microsoft's attempt at creating their own social network to compete with Facebook and Google+. That is highly unlikely.

I am sure Microsoft is downplaying their plans a bit, but I don't think this is intended to compete with Google+ or Facebook. If you are building your own new social network you would not be able to login with another network's credentials. It almost seems to be a sharing and networking tool. Maybe Q&A and/or a marketplace.

Keep an eye on Florian Rohrweck's blog as he does excellent research and has started looking into this.

Does the SOCL Project from TNTLab have anything to do with it? Is the name of it really OPEN (as seen top right on screenshot) and Tulalip is one part of it? Maybe they will change their name to MicroSocl or MicroSocial in the future. We may never know the intentions of Microsoft Research until they, if ever, officially release it or give more information.