Social media sites turning up ten a penny

Wait for a bus and then two come along at once? Well same thing today but with social media websites.

Firstly Smarta.com is billing itself as a information resource for business. Essentially providing social support for your business or future business projects. With the official launch in November 2008 you can check out the blog and register for updates as they come. I’m going to keep an eye on this one as it seems to be backed by some big names like Vodafone and various UK Government agencies.

The next one is called GetCloser.com which is social media site built on your music and film tastes. It’s produced by HMV and isn’t getting the best of press. I’ve had a discussion with Scott Boyd at Fused Nation and he’s got some valid points about how this service is basically a cynical customer profiling system. While I agree about HMV’s motivation for this website I have to say I actually think it’s a very clever way of getting excellent quality data from your customers - you’ve got to respect that.

Are people willing to trade a window into their World for a few nice features on a website? On the whole the answer is yes - people are far too free and easy with their information in my opinion. The law can cover data protection but if people want to hand their personal information over to every Tom, Dick and Harry then they should learn not to be so naive. In the same way that regulation of social networks for children should take the lead from parents protection of your data should start at home.

However other aspects of GetCloser’s marketing of this site are darn right stupid with their marketing agency spamming forums with beta test invitations. Yeah I’ll sign up! Not!