The hype is growing around the new social networking place for online marketers that launched on October 16: Gooruze. Basically, it is a direct competitor to Sphinn, except that their approach is much more Facebook oriented. Gooruze uses the same robust platform that already powers the successful Minti.com network.
Duncan Riley, a founding Gooruze of the network, explains the motivations behind the new social place:
"(Online marketing) isn’t exactly an under-represented vertical, and there are many, many good SEO and general online marketing sites out there. What does lack though is accessible content, particularly for folks who may be starting out or looking to upgrade their knowledge sets."Once you are registered on the site, the features available are hip but somehow basic: Profile, avatar, blog, groups, mini-feeds from others' activities, lounge to discuss with others. A little disappointing that there isn't a cool new 2.0 app released along with the launch of the Site.
Kristen Nicole from Mashable calls it the Digg for online marketers. I couldn't agree less. Sphinn is. Gooruze, as I've said, looks like Facebook, before it opened to the public: It allows to share ideas and projects in between the members of a very specific community with the latest apps integrated. Unlike Digg where a story goes up and then down, Gooruze is developed to handle constructive conversations and projects.
When the news hit Sphinn, it was as simple as:
"Gooruze is yet another new community for online marketers."An opinion well balanced by Patrick Schaber:
"like many other social sites, you get out of it what you put in."Anthony Jude Lawrence makes a good point on his blog: The network helps non-bloggers to reach a wider like-minded audience. The presence on the site can be punctual, or temporary. You are not expected to provide fresh content on a regular basis.
Andy Beard is probably the most pessimistic voice I've read. From his point of view, The features on the new networking site are a little complicated, not time-saving oriented, and the article publishing features are too limited.
Brian Solis, another founding Gooruze, came to my rescue to give the gist of Gooruze:
"Gooruze is a one-stop-shop for discovering and sharing professional advice related to all disciplines of marketing, advertising, Social Media, and PR. It is also a dedicated social network consisting only of your peers, all of whom, are online to help you learn, grow, and succeed."A dedicated social network. That's what I'll remember from this review. A place where online marketing projects grow... Socially.
It's a little too soon to draw conclusions. I feel that Gooruze is an exciting project. There's a lot of talk about it, and a whole bunch of cool people are joining in. I've registered but haven't contributed to any groups yet. I'm waiting for the first success stories to really understand what benefits online marketers will get out of this YASN (yet another social network).
The software development solution: Venus
