LivingSocial, a company that started out as a Facebook developer and is now creating social app across many social networks, raised $5 million in a series A financing that was led by Grotech Ventures. Steve Case also personally invested. (LivingSocial’s CEO and co-founder, Tim O’Shaughnessy, is a former AOLer who also worked for Case at Revolution Health).
The startup specializes in social apps that let people organize, review, and discover books, music, movies, restaurants, video games, and beer. (ReadingSocial, TuneSocial, ReelSocial, BrewSocial, etc). Since it launched in beta last February, the company claims to have attracted 6.4 million beta users, who have collectively reviewed nearly 80 million items.
That catalog of reviews may become a valuable database, but the apps themselves are not exactly the most popular. On Facebook, for instance, ReelSocial has only 1882 daily active users, BrewSocial has 6,353 daily active users, and TuneSocial has 3,249 daily active users. Perhaps the company can use some of that money to buy more users.
And what’s with the MySpace logo rip-off?
The intuitiveness of the social apps is well though out and do offer a way to extend the usefulness of other social applications. They do seem to be valuable for users needing to organize their media. Not sure how they will monetize their apps though.
Really, how many of these apps do we need? There are at least a few for each function. I would love to see one that works and IS different/set apart in both design and usage possibilities.
Our motto is: “A Hiring Manager’s primary job is not HIRING”. So we are here to help them out. Our job board site http://www.leapways.com is primarily aiming on Technology startups. We have a free service for both job seekers and employers. Apart from simple job posting, we have ened-to-end hiring solutions.
You suck — STOP SPAMMING
A big congratulations to the team at LivingSocial — they are a bright and innovative team who listens to their audience and adapts accordingly; what more could you ask for?
hey tc,
i think this is the second time in the past few weeks that the nyt has scooped you on a yahoo story and I haven’t seen a quick catch-up post in response.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07.....oo.html?hp
no coverage yet?
Hey confused
You are a moron — stick to the topic
“I would love to see one that works and IS different/set apart in both design and usage possibilities.”
Try LivingSocial’s stuff. You’ll find it fits the bill nicely.
Also cool to see a tool where everyone involved — users, the social networking sites, Amazon (and through them the publishers and authors) — benefits.
This is what it’s all about, guys — creating connections where once there was untapped value — not yet another SuperDuperWall.
hey, why did you remove the yahoo story?
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008.....ard-seats/
>> empty?
It’s really the first time that I cross this site, but didn’t found it so exciting. The item counter also seemed to me terrible and not real.
It’ll be interesting to see how they can really differentiate themselves from the pack, especially with the help of this new funding. I would agree that there are so many apps on the social nets with similar functions. It seems almost risky to invest 5 million into one of these apps. The management team must be pretty awesome. Good luck.
Mike
http://www.readtheanswer.com/index.php?RTA=web2
Congratulations guys!
Bob
Jobmatchbox.com
Nice spam Bob — you r site sux
This one isn’t spam, jmh. LivingSocial is a DC-based company and Bob is the go-to guy for placement at local startups in the DC area. Unlike the relatively sprawling SV scene, everyone more or less knows everyone here, so we’re happy and proud (and show it) when one of our own “makes it.”
On that note: congrats, guys.
Cheers,
Aaron
The dumbiest 5 million invested,gee you are at the mercy of the social networks who could one day just decide to cut you all off…….
LivingSocial’s apps are the same ugly, spammy app over and over: Make a list, rate some things 1-5 stars, maybe write a review nobody will read, and then go delete the half-dozen stories the stupid app put in your mini-feed.
As an added bonus, nearly every single page in the app harasses you to invite your friends. The app is useless in the worst possible way: it’s not even fun, unless you’re a competitive materialist out to prove that you own more CDs than everybody else.
I can’t see a bunch of losers competing on a beer drinkers’ leader board as a community worth investing 5 million in.
6.4 million beta users, with a number of visitors peaking at 90k!
http://grapher.compete.com/livingsocial.com_uv.png
What a joke. I think techcrunch should check their facts before writing up their stories.
The logo looks like MySpace’s
I can say this is a useful site, i always admire a startups who give meaning to community.
Nat
http://www.workersinc.com
Congrats guys!