jobing nabs partnership with arizona state social network
April 16th, 2008
ASU is Talking.com, a social networking site for Arizona State University students and alumni, has partnered exclusively with Phoenix-based Jobing.com to provide job content for site members.
Jobing.com CEO Aaron Matos is an ASU alumnus and the organization has been partnered with the ASU Alumni Association, providing an online job board for quite awhile as well.
“Jobing.com has enjoyed a strong relationship with ASU, working closely with leaders to provide valuable resources to students and alumni,” Matos said. “This partnership allows us to serve ASU in a truly unique new way and we are thrilled to be involved with such an innovative project.”
ASU is Talking.com is the flagship site for parent company, IsTalking LLC, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based company that develops social networks for college students. It was founded by major league baseball all-star Luis Gonzalez and business partner, Anthony Conti. The ASU site was launched less than a month ago and touts 10,000 members. More info here.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
*YAWN* IsTalking LLC. missed the ball game on social networking for Colleges. It’s hard to imagine another social networking site for colllege kids being able to effectively penetrate that market and be a viable business. EVEN with the whole Alma Mater/affinity group approach. It will be far too costly to leverage the College users group and make viral. Not to mention the extraordinary ’switching costs’ associated with trying to move one’s profile and network from Facebook or Myspace. It’s true that social networking is going the direction of smaller, affinity groups with collective intent. But IsTalking LLC’s biz model is *lame*. What’s the incentive or purpose? If you want to meet, connect or stay in touch with people from your Alma Mater stay active on Myspace or Facebook. OR better yet just go to LinkedIn. Much easier.
And the jobing.com angle? Providing job content for crappy little social networks, who users are probably not that advanced, is not very interesting. Not to mention how sustainable is that?. Guess those work at home jobs need to advertise somewhere.
Bottom of the ninth down by 3, two outs and two strikes…
April 18th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Big Deal…
Guess you have not heard that Facebook and MySpace do not use or have plans to use Open Social…Do you even know what that is? The “Niche” markets are where ALL social networks are showing the most growth. Obviously, you are not well informed about the social market. To call a new innovative solution with a purpose “Lame” is just plain small minded. You would have been the one to “Pass” on the Facebook creation in the shadow of Myspace. Not much light under your rock…
April 18th, 2008 at 12:06 am
I think it is a great idea to focus the network on a campus. I have seen the product at a community group showing and it is quite advanced. They have a great plan, which is not driven by $$$. Kudos to them for actually creating a “working” product. If you know anything about the software industry, not many even make it this phase.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hey Social Master,
Are Facebook and Myspace even making money? Clearly you have bought into Silicon Valley/Tech world social networking hype. I agree that the Niche markets are where social networking is headed, in fact I said as much “It’s true that social networking is going the direction of smaller, affinity groups with collective intent.” My point was that College kids don’t click on ads on social networking sites and they don’t drive revenue unless it is through subscriptions or $ for applications. Check this http://valleywag.com/tech/social-networks/facebooks-users-turn-up-their-noses-at-its-ads-277750.php
So, their ‘innovative’ solution is not really all that innovative. If you are counting on X’ers and Boomers for ad revenue from a social networking site good luck. When you figure that one out, let the rest of the world know, because some of the best minds in the biz are still trying to figure it out.
And oh BTW, what is the ‘purpose’ of IsTalking LLC in your enlightened mind all ‘knowing’ Social Master? And the multi-million dollar question, how are they going to make money? They are a business, right? No clicks or low clicks= no ad revenue. Saying you have ‘eyeballs’ on ads only gets you so far these days. You have to convert those eyeballs to activity. Look at the predicament Yahoo and Aol are in for an example. Plenty of eyeballs, very low ad revenue per eyeball. Charging colleges (who are notoriously cheap) for creating social networks is not going to get Luis a serious return on all those D-back stacks he’s invested. So, who pays the bills?
If you want to go over the history, fumbles and numerous blunders of Social networking (Jobster, Friendster, open Api’s, etc) over a low-fat, skim milk latte I am happy to engage and then we can see who has the most light under their rock. ;-)
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 am
Big Deal,
I am heavily involved in acquisitions of new media/interactive startups and had a chance to meet both the owners at Flash Forward. I do the R&D for a very active VC firm, so I know the market (past and present). The intriguing thing about istalking is that they are not driven by the bottom line. Both partners are “well off” to say the least. The dollars and cents of the project seem to be the last thing they are thinking of. Now, I agree, business wise that seem crazy. But if you can build a product based solely on the QUALITY without having decisions based on ad revenue…That is the equation for creating a great product. In fact that is the very foundation on which the new ventures from Rupert Murdoch and Microsoft are being created. RM has invested 400M into a “think tank” company whose sole purpose is to create and nurture new interactive products; Without the pressure of ad revenues attached. This is what makes great (organic growth) products. I would be willing to stake much on the fact that the lighting in my environment surely is brighter then under your subterranean dwelling. ;-p
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:20 am
SocialMaster,
Ahhh, “I do the R&D for a very active VC firm, so I know the market (past and present). “, how telling. You are an Analyst for a VC firm, that explains a lot. It appears like most VCs and their underlings, you have fallen victim to the social networking hype machine. Remember when YouTube made it big and every VC firm in SV had to have an online video play in their portfolio? Or risk being laughed at by their peers at Pinkberry? Perhaps an even better example, Napster? Every VC was in a froth to fund companies w/a file sharing play. How did that end up? Perhaps you would be willing to tell us exactly which ‘active firm’, so we could verify your ’street cred’ on the funded.com? LOL.
There is no doubt Louis is successful and it would appear (if you read the PR hype on their website) his partner has had a modicum of success as well. But, that does not mean they will be able to translate that into a successful web property, in the social networking vertical. No more so than it would mean, Mark ‘The Plagarist’ Zuckerburg, could learn to hit a 90+ mile an hour fast ball and big league curve ball.
The key to successfuly creating a viral expansion loop is making it easier for people to conduct everyday ‘offline activities’, online. That is why Ning has experienced success, they’ve taken the offline concept of affinity groups/clubs, ‘insert your passion here’ geeks and given them simple software they can utilize to ’seek’ one another out and ‘gather’.
As for your statement “build a product based solely on the QUALITY without having decisions based on ad revenue…That is the equation for creating a great product.” Even you must admit that’s quite a ‘noble’ view point for a self professed VC Analyst. ;-) I agree, but only to a point. The most successful example that comes to mind is Craigslist. However, MANY have tried and most have DIED, operating under that premise. When the bills come due, somone has to pay to keep the light on. Eventually, even those with ‘deep’ pockets get tired of throwing their personal wealth down a hole. Unless it’s a VC throwing around other people’s money like a druken frat boy spending his monthly allowance.
As for RM, the whole idea behind his “think tank” is to prevent having to pay for over valued web property like Myspace. He is following the VC model, find wide eyed, smart, entrepreneurs, throw lots of cash at ideas and follow the hype to recoup his money. Without the pressure of ad revenue attached? How laugable. Why did the benevolent dictator RM ‘can’ Mike Barrett (former Marketing head @ Myspace), for his inability to reach aggressive revenue targets? Because he (like most REAL businesses) wants to, no needs to, make $$$ on his investments.
So, at this point I say we can continue to go back and forth or agree to disagree. I vote for the latter. Tho’ I’m sure Cheezhead, would love the dialogue to continue. Let’s check back in a year and we will see if IsTalking LLC is the next Craigslist or the next Friendster.