“Four score and seven years ago” (or thereabouts) we launched The Round Up for Digital Influentials and we already have more than 500 industry thought leaders and opinion makers reading our little list! Given the environment and the world around us we decided to go with a patriotic edition of the Round Up featuring the Red Click, Blue Click title (and that was all we could think of this week, plus it rhymed)!
It’s June 6th and now we know who we get to vote for in the general election for President of the United States in November. That being said, this list has already gone global so we’ll avoid all mentions of preference in politics and just acknowledge that there’s a big decision to be made in the coming months! Until then, if you find some down time in between work and researching your personal politics online, check out a few of these up and coming companies! They may be of interest to you or your clients, or maybe they’d be of interest to a friend of yours! Forward these sites along and let the companies know what you think of them!
Now, let’s get on with it!
Kosmix (http://www.kosmix.com/) is a site that I first discovered about a year ago and in the last few months I’ve heard their name come up in conversation at least 4 or 5 times. There’s a buzz about this newly redesigned search/directory site. They have a very well organized results engine that focuses on Health, Auto and Travel. If you’re looking to expand your ad buys and go after any of these 3 primary targets, consider Kosmix and see if they work for your campaign.
Meebo (http://www.meebo.com/) is another company that we’ve come across recently and they profess to be the ultimate online communications tool (and I think they deliver quite nicely). They bring together all your instant messenger services into one single location, but they also power discussions and live chats on a number of syndicated sites. Their model may include using the conversational data to deliver targeted ads in the same way that Gmail does currently, so check them out and see what you think!
Kanye Travel Ventures (http://www.kanyetravel.com/) is a site that we read about and we can’t believe it truly exists. This is, believe it or not, a travel site started by Kanye West. Yes – that Kanye West! The guy with an ego the size of California and the hit parade to match. He put some money into a travel site and I have to say it’s pretty bad. I’m not highlighting it here as a good site, I’m highlighting it as an example of a good idea gone bad. Celebrities should not start general interest sites that having nothing to do with their core image or business. ‘Nuff said on that.
Speaking of good ideas, check out Google Sites (http://www.google.com/sites). I know that some of you won’t like it simply because it’s Google, but it’s another killer idea from the killer company that is leading the online industry. They allow you to create group websites and little corporate intranets for your small business. It’s not unlike Google Page Creator (http://pages.google.com/) but who said you can’t have competition inside your own company, right?
What do you do online if you’re a mom? Well, you go to Café Mom (http://www.cafemom.com/) of course! Moms are an under-serviced group online, at least when it comes to the larger sites. There are lots and lots of smaller sites but if you’re trying to reach Mom with targeted content or an ad campaign, they don’t make it easy. Sites like this one are starting to service this need and they do a great job of it. What’s really funny is that this one was started by Andrew Shue (yes – that guy who used to be on Melrose Place). Oh, and if you want another one, check out Posh Mom (http://www.poshmom.com/).
Want to know where all that VC money is being spent? Check out the Deal-I-pedia (http://www.dealipedia.com/). This site tracks all the various M&A activity and venture funding in the marketplace. It’s pretty granular and seems updated regularly, so see if any of this info meets your needs.
Well – that’s it for now. We tried to cover a wide array of business types this week and I think we succeeded. Until 2 weeks from now, have fun! Stay cool! And register to vote!!
And if you want more witty writing or commentary that will teach you about online, check out two of our blogs from Catalyst:SF at http://www.treffiletti.com/ or Jim Nichols at http://oldestliving.blogspot.com/.
Thanks!
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