I believe every new startup is going only in one direction using word “Social” – post this update on your social network. In my opinion true power of social network is to bring your network to place where you are and allow them to interact with each other in various ways.

Use asymmetric social networks like Twitter to influence visitors on a given web site. I think its no-brainer that you will value opinions of your friends and people you follow over any random person.

Since when do investors put people into position of CEO that have reasoning on this level?

By this token, I can vaguely describe any site foo as being “more social”, having a “tie in to Facebook”, and allowing for creative use of widgets.

Does that mean my site Foo is any different from the others out there?

How about finding a problem first, and then working hard to provide a solution? This blerp thing looks like it’s got it backwards to me.

The other big difference is that you can blerp with virtually any widget online (not just text), whether it’s a video widget from YouTube, a Rock You widget, a polling widget, a Google widget, and even widgets that you create yourself.

Steve
CEO of RocketOn

http://www.wire...s/2001/04/42803

I’m not sure that the layered approach espoused by Blerp is ideal because integration with the site and the publishers is a huge advantage. Sites need to become more collaborative and they need to become conversational.

Once they become conversational they can flow out onto social networks that exist rather than creating these layered new ones.

Robin – I am envious of your age.

It’s also in early beta but seems to be more about live chat.

So I hope these people either a) are familiar with the long line of failed startups based on this idea and have figured out where they all went wrong, or b) have determined that the timing is finally right for this type of app.

If memory serves, the first app of this kind was Third Voice back in 1998/9. I think it was venture backed and attracted a fair amount of users, but couldn’t get enough traction to make a go of it.

Content cannot get more “Web 2.0″ than this, although I think this will be exploited to the “maximum” by internet marketers.

http://en.wikip....org/wiki/Gooey

“Gooey allows people who are simultaneously browsing the same Web sites to communicate with each other, creating big chat rooms in portals and thematic websites. Gooey was acquired by CNET and closed in 2000.”