NetSquared, an initiative of TechSoup.org - collaborative

What's Your Favorite Innovation in this Process?

Cauzoo — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:36:33 -0400

Hey all- it's been so exciting to read all your blog entries, see your slates, and (of course) check out your proposals (it has also been a lot of reading!).

I was struck by this earlier comment:

"Typically these project evaluation processes are ceded over to a small committee of evaluators chosen because of their individual qualifications and expertise. And usually there is another layer of administrative evaluation, assessing the legal status and financial competence of the institution."

How Do You Use Social Networks to Build One?

Cauzoo — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:58:38 -0400

Project Screenshot

Supporting organization

Cauzoo

URL

http://www.cauzoo.com

Location

Los Angeles

Project Description

If you're building a social network, mailing list, or other social tool, how do you break through a crowded market? With MySpace, Facebook, and a host of new niche social sites popping up, how can you beat the competition?

Simple- you don't. You work with them to go places you never could before.

Cauzoo.com had a problem that most new sites had- gaining traction in a crowded field. For us, the challenge is making clear that we don't want to supplant MySpace or Facebook, but supplement the social experience by adding a new angle. Undoubtedly, most of your non-profit sites are the same. You aren't asking for all a person's time, just a bit of their attention. But how can you do this without scaring them away? In addition, how can you make a better site from it?

Our answer was simple- instead of fighting the competition, we promoted it.

If you look at the bottom left corner of a sample profile page, you can see "Social Me", an exciting example of our tool. We know that people have countless different social identities- so why not use them? It helps our users recognize that Cauzoo is a place to show part of yourself, not all of yourself. That lowers the barrier to entry and clarifies our concept. Secondly, it simply makes for a better site. Our pages have more utility if users know more places where they can reach their friends.

The great thing about "Social Me" is that it's not our idea- we used code from the Open Source site here- http://dbachrach.com/showyourself/. It wouldn't be tough to figure out anyway, but this is a good reference point for some of the social networks out there that your users might have. Naturally, we're not sure how many sites/non-profits this will help, but we'd love to definitely take a step to say one thing: you are on Social Networks for a reason- promoting them!

San Francisco Zero

sfzero — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 20:32:01 -0500

Project Screenshot

Supporting organization

Playtime

URL

sf0.org

Project Description

"SF0 is a collaborative and immersive game set in San Francisco. The goals of play include meeting new people, exploring the city, and participating in creative non-consumer leisure activities."

The game seeks to be an open structure, a context for interacting with the city and the people who live in it. Players are asked to engage in a variety of collaborative activities (also known as "tasks") relating to different aspects of city life. They are also given the opportunity to create activities for other players. Although the game interface is web-based, actual game play almost always takes place in the real world.

The site combines elements of social networking, blogging, messaging and file sharing to produce an effective mechanism for collaborating on projects of any kind.