If the image can be anything the user uploads (as stated), then the image could be just that, anything. A picture of a dog, a tropical island, a golf course, whatever.

Seems like a very good idea to allow people to express/represent themselves and to find people with similar interests.

That said, I can totally see people using the concept to show the world their favorite fashion label, bands, car make, etc; and I see nothing wrong with that. If you like a product, support it.

I would not be suprised to see the same concept quickly implemented in many of the social networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook.

http://www.dateunknown.com

The Fonz is from Happy Days, and coolemundo and heyyyy were a couple of the things he said.

I forget sometimes that if some of you haven’t seen the reruns, you won’t know what the heck I’m talking about.

And Chris (#38), good point on using corporate brands and trademarks. It’s a catch 22 though. Generally the people posting these logos would be users of the brands, and forcing the HoN people to take them down would probably upset the very people raving/using their brands. Providing they are not posted in a defamed way, made fun of, tarnished, seen with Paris Hilton, etc.., they’ll probably get away with it.

As for hitting up these companies to be paid for it, it’s a stretch. There may be the odd company that has some extra money in their marketing budget for crap like that, but ultimately it’s the information they want and how they’ll use it, which they are looking at for revenue. If anyone comes across a company paying to be at HoN, hit them up fast for some of it before they come to their senses on that type of impression.

I never said there won’t be tried and true brands that survive and flourish in a change of business cycle.

What I was saying, is that this cycle of bling, brand culture, etc…goes through ebbs and flows and is due to change. Whether or not, Hong and his crew catch that or not is entirely another thing.

If he’s basing his current and future business model on gathering data, and either targeting ads or selling his data, that will only last so long. This cycle of materialism is reaching it’s peak for this time around is all my point is.

Hong states in his blog that Hot or Not will always be relevant because the word “Hot” has always been used (for hundreds of years….) to convey what is popular culture, and his community will be able to give them the power of that information. If I remember correctly the Fonz thought “coolemundo”, and “heyyyyy”, would last forever too! He must have been devastated when Bud changed all that with Wassssssup!

If as I suspect people will get tired of the materialism cycle, they too will grow tired of what Hot or Not stands for, and look for other communities to join. HoN won’t dry up and wither away, but they will not sustain their community at the heights he believes they will when the cycle changes.

really you should attribute the idea of doing the same thing but in a copyright violating way by using corporate logos - which is probably precisely why other social networking sites just do it with text.

-s

Actually a lot of europeans do. You can always spot the american tourist by his corporate sponsered attire.

True, the 80’s are back big time and with it comes the greed and ‘me’ culture that typified the era, but even in the grungy early 90’s people still tied themselves to brands, even if it was a little less obvious. Doc Martens stick out as standard-issues in that culture, as does flannel (even if no particular brand defined that piece of clothing). Then people also tied themselves to the brands put out by their favorite groups. Nirvana could be considered a brand, as could many other groups.

On the hip hop side there was a similar movement with Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang, and other ’street’ rappers. While today we think of it as bling, in the early 90’s it was pretty legitimate, the hip hop version of grunge music that had turned it’s back on hip-house like Heavy D and MC Hammer. The same applied, there were brands like Guess Jeans that made waves in a more subtle and affordable way.

True, with the ‘big 80s’ mentality returning we’re seeing people aspiring to things they’ll never be able to afford, but you can’t deny that in any era there are brands that have value. Even among the LES / Williamsburg NYC or Mission / Hayes SF hipster crowds there are brands that are held up high in the seemingly all-vintage style…you’ve just never heard of them

Also I think some of you are taking this way too seriously. When you wear Nike’s do you feel like a whore because there’s a ’swoosh’ logo on your feet? Or when you show off that shiny new iPhone are you acting as an Apple shill? It’s not as hollow as it might seem, it’s more like sharing things you like with your friends.

No one is going to add “Charmin” or “Dr. Scholl’s” to their profile. The industries you can expect to show up are:

- Luxury cards
- Alcoholic beverages
- Apparel
- Health/wellness brands
- Fashion Electronics: Apple by itself (sorry, no one else in consumer electronics is a fashion brand, only Apple is)

I know HotOrNot is only for lonely lovers, horny guys, 40 year old virigns, and pizza face guy who plays video games(Xbox, Wiis, PS3 ).

Being 38, which could be ancient to most of you, I’ve seen my share of changes in what’s hot and not. One thing which I would warn companies of, is that the “Paris Hilton nation” time, will pass.

Cycles are cycles and even business has them. I’m not suggesting a “bubble”, I’m only stating that at one time Donald Trump and his ego, were big (in the 80’s when most of you were born). Then it died, he took a step back (don’t say bankruptcy), and he went on to rebuild during the quiet years!

Fastforward to the last few years and he was big again, or at least his ego was. Cycles burn themselves out and seeing how sick everyone is of; Paris, Brittany, Lindsay, Rosie, and The Donald, I would say that time is coming.

You could argue that another crop will take it’s place, but history says there will be a gap in between the current and the next bling generation (Should I trademark that? Seriously, I kinda like it?)

Now onto the idea that brand bling (Can I use that for now Drama? Only for this conversation I promise.) is going to last - is a stretch. How much time it has left, I don’t know but it will fade away. So short-term there is an opportunity here, mid-term a crash and burn, and by the 20-teens back in spades.

Hopefully by then 45 will be the new 25, and I won’t feel like a pervert while surfing a (hopefully) better designed Hot or Not.