Social Networking Applications

The second category of presentations at Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator, Social Networking Applications, has finished.

Here is a quick overview of who presented and their "big idea":

Cubeless - Southlake, TX

Cubeless desribes themlseves as a practical social network for businesses that allows people to collaborate with one another about work. Sabre uses Cubeless for its employees, allowing them to network and communicate with one another. They target their media to large companies. Employees of a company that uses Cubeless can post questions to get real time answers, collaborate on upcoming projects, and create profiles.

The judges did recommend that Cubeless work with HR to get incentives in place. They also wanted information about how people are sharing this information right now to make it possible for them to move from the current networking area they use to this new networking area for employees.

HourVille - Austin, TX

HourVille started their presentation by using a masseuse (aka - a persona) to show how she is struggling to get clients, book massages, and charge clients. HourVille went on to mention how they can help her with these problems. HourVille allows service providers to create their own site, offer a book schedule with booking, and allow clients to pay for the service offered to them online.

The many questions that the judges rapid-fired at HourVille resulted in a better understanding of their product by many. This is pretty much a virtual, easy to use shop. HourVille focuses on the individual worker who charges hourly and needs to get their name out there.

Wakoopa - Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Wakoopa is a downloadable application that shows you what applications you use and how long you use them, and also allows you to share your applications with your friends. It promotes unknown applications to people who might be interested in them. You can also get recommendations while sharing what you think.

The recurring question from the panel was “How will you make money?” The answer given was that the data on application usage can be bundled and sold to software companies so they can generate usage patterns.

Weardrobe

Palo Alto, CA

Weardrobe, a social networking tool based around how people wear their clothing differently, really got the attention of the judges. To give an example of how Weardrobe works: If someone saw a great T-shirt, but weren’t sure how its going to look on someone, they can go to this website, search for that t-shirt, and see how other girls are wearing it (as opposed to seeing it displayed on a model or mannequin).

This site at the moment is only for girls. Also, brands can help “drive the buying decision” by seeing how their clothing is being worn. For clothing brands, this is a deep look into what your customer does with your clothing the moment they put it on. This site did impress the judges, and they gave good recommendations to Weardrobe.