A new social network named Trusted Opinion came out of private beta over the weekend. It has the single worst logo I’ve ever seen ( a circle with a check mark and some unreadable text), and a name that suggests they are a bland reputation based service like TrustedID. But actually they’re a new recommendation-based social network that has integrated both Flash and Ajax components very nicely.
Your network of friends is viewed through a rotating, solar-system like visual module built in Flash. Direct friends are closest, then their friends, etc. For now, the only activities supported on the site are movie reviews (via an Ajax tool). If a friend or friend of a friend really likes a move, you’ll see it as a recommendation. Recommendations from people further out in your network have less of an effect.
Trusted Company will branch out into other recommendations soon. In part of the demo (linked from the home page), they show slots for books, jokes and restaurants, in addition to movies. The goal, the company tells me, is to turn Trusted Opinion into a universal rating platform for all manner of goods and services.
The service overlaps with a number of other social networks and other startups. The recommendation/review sites like Yelp, for example. Fast growing Flixster is also a competitor, although Trusted Opinion is going to more effort to push movies that are recommended by friends.
I won’t judge Trusted Opinion just because of the horrific logo and a corporate name that includes words that can actually be found in the dictionary (with all of their vowels intact), but it’s clearly going to put off the hipster 2.0 crowd that’s looking for ever more extravagant design and creative, made up names.
Trusted Opinion can’t really be said to be headquartered anywhere. The company has one employee in Silicon Valley (famous “mommy blogger” Melinda Roberts). The founders live in Israel and Germany, and the development was done in St. Petersburg, Russia. They’re mostly self-funded to date.
Borisssima
we had a similar service at sprinj.com, the service didnt pick up because it was too broad. its a good idea to restrict to a specific set (movies)
The most important question is how many people Trusted Opinion could get to join it’s socal network! And I am also curious about how they will make the first a few people to join their network.
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http://www.MillionReturn.Com — Return $1m from 1 page! How?
Doesn’t Netflix already effectively do this for movies? Might have been wiser to try something else.
for the record…TechChrunch actually has the single worst logo ever.
crunch*
Yes, netflix does this, but apparently they do not have the magic spinning solar system of friends.
You mean the Magic Spinning Solar System of Friends™
“Invite your friends and pick their brains!”
It should be renamed into Sylar Networks.
It reminds me one of the the flickr api, the friends-ring, however, the logo is definately ugly, like those from download.com or dell.com to tell you the software is safe to use @@
Hey Ray, comment number 3…
are you having trouble with your spelling? You list your url as:
http://www.MillionReturn.Com
But your title to your post calls it:
Ray/MillionReurn.Com
And the title to the page calls it:
title>Million Retuter
If you’re going to be an Internet Huckster, you need to be a little smoother!
Based on your empty web page grid, it looks like you’re a huge success too!
NOT ANOTHER SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE
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http://www.dobizo.com
The logo is both attractive and relevant
I am not really sure how far they will go with this idea without some cash to burn on marketing. Anyhow this is just an another so called social networking site.
Thanks, #11 Bob Kabob, I made mistakes…
Thanks for you reminding me, I have corrected that!
I know my English expression is horrible… I am Chinese, I can’t write in English well … So if you find any other bugs, please let me know.:)
I just start to spread MillionReturn.com to the world and I hope you like this ‘2.0′ idea of mine. And if you like it, would you like to give me a digg??
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http://www.MillionReturn.Com — Return $1m from 1 page! How?
who likes the creative made up web 2.0 company names? i think they’re irritating. i thought the only reason people chose them were to find an unclaimed domain name.
and why do they have a photo of Paris Hilton in their spinning universe on their homepage? Is she part of the VC group?
I find it refreshing a very pleasant that the domain name can be found in the dictionary. It’s not the greatest name ever, but it’s a logical name
i tried to register. so all you can do is recommend movies? Didn’t Flixter do this about 9million members ago?
There’s also beamalot that does something similar: rate movies, books, dvds and it shows you similar users, recommendations, friend recommendations, etc.
The logo is symbolic.. It is a stamp of approval, pretty straight forward and relevant for the service..
ok. based on #21 recommendation, I now think that beamalot gets the title of most simplistic logo and overall design (no offensive intended. it’s just a simple design)
I bet they will have a problem with uptake. There seems to be no immediate compelling value for a new user.
This site seems like a pretty decent idea. I completely agree with the logo however. It kind of reminds me of that one company that makes billing software that resembles Microsoft Money.
I found this blog via My Blog Log and just love it. I just joined the community.
It’s the first FDA approved website.
This is not anything new nor is it revolututionary……. The most trusted social network in terms of recommendation is YELP.COM…..
it brings a small smirk on my face to know that a great majority of these startups won’t live to tell the tale
Re: name and logo, here’s one that’s worse (considering the context):
http://www.brandingblog.com/
Yikes!
http://www.thumbwarz.com
perhaps the most simplistic approach yet. no registration. just votes!
Eriking said: “Re: name and logo, here’s one that’s worse (considering the context):
http://www.brandingblog.com/
Yikes!
I don’t know . . . the Branding Blog logo is by no means, uh, good, er anything like good. But the trusted opinion logo is just so, so wrong for this context!
@ #26
If you think Yelp is the most trusted recommendation site on the web, then I have some beachfront property in Oklahoma to sell you.
@Mark
“for the record…TechChrunch actually has the single worst logo ever.”
Nope. We do http://www.consensusbest.com
Yes, I am biased (being the Community Manager for TrustedOpinion.com), but I think our service outstrips others like Yelp for one simple fact that was not mentioned in Michael’s post: TrustedOpinion.com improves relevance and avoids commercial bias by weighing the opinions of your friends higher than those of a stranger!
The more people you and your friends invite into your network, the more useful and comprehensive your top-rated lists will be. TrustedOpinion.com will give you a personal list based on your friends’ favorite selections.
Trusted Opinion works by counting your friends’ opinions highest, followed by their friends’ opinions, and so on down the chain. To better “tune” your recommendations, you can adjust the “expertise level” of friends who may have, for example, great taste in movies but horrible taste in restaurants. The more “expertise” you give a friend, the more their ratings will influence your recommendations.
That is the ugliest interface I have ever seen!
“TrustedOpinion.com improves relevance and avoids commercial bias by weighing the opinions of your friends higher than those of a stranger!”
I would disagree that relevance for me in movies or anything else can be known because someone is my friend or, even more pronounced - a friend of my friend’s friend. The results, however, would be better than random selection.
vshake also has interesting network visualization
Can we send startups directly to the deadpool? As noted, there’s very little here to compel the average user to join.
Doesn’t sound like a service I’m interested in. If I want to know what my friends think about a movie, I pick up the phone and ask. I don’t care what strangers think about movies they’ve seen. For technology news that’s not so serious and boring visit http://www.techcrunchme.com
I actually kind of like the logo.
>> Your network of friends is viewed through a rotating, solar-system like visual module built in Flash
By the way, Wallop uses the same layout to display relationships between users, and they call it “radar”. There’s several layers in that radar, and every one dictates its own type of relationship.
>> If a friend or friend of a friend really likes a move, you’ll see it as a recommendation.
I don’t know whether it works in the web or not, but in off-line life I have been often finding myself in strange situation — when I like some movie a lot, it has been rejected by almost every of my friends. However, this could be only my taste issue