Coolspotters Connects Pop Culture’s People, Places, and Things

A community for pop culture junkies, Coolspotters shows users the latest celebrity products, places, and brands. Clicking on the iPhone, for example, shows related celebrities (Britney Spears, Samantha Ronson), entertainment (Sex & the City), products (MacBook pro), events, brands, books, and art. Users can become a fan of the product, add a new associated item, upload photos or videos, and even add the product to a list. The site also works in reverse, allowing users to see the products used, clothes worn, and places frequented individual celebrities.

Gossip blogs, magazines, and TV shows have been identifying stars’ fashion, cars, and product choices for years. However, there are very few places on the web that aggregate that information. Coolspotters offers a unique concept- searching for products by the celebrities who are using them and vice versa- and they do it all with user-generated content.

WhataLovelyName.com Offers User-Friendly Baby Name Site

With its streamlined design and user-friendly site, Whatalovelyname.com offers expectant mothers (and fathers) a fun and easy way to search for baby names. Users can search through the requisite list of baby names based on ethnic and religious traditions, and also look through a comprehensive list of celebrity’s baby names.

The fun begins, however, when users can select from a list of dispositions- such as adventurous, happy, and strong, etc. A disposition can be selected individually, and combinations among dispositions can be created. Users can also search separately for boy names and girl names. Explanations for individual names can be found, as well as alternative iterations of the name, tags, and a link to Google search results. Names can also be saved to a user’s favorites. The sleek design distinguishes WhataLovelyName, making it a welcome change from the large group of busy, difficult to navigate baby name sites.

Yahoo Buzz! Adds Updates, Continues to be Female-Friendly Alternative to Digg

Yahoo Buzz!, which launched last winter, recently added new features, solidifying its role as a mainstream alternative to Digg, a social bookmarking site notorious for its "frat-boy" content. Like other social bookmarking sites, Buzz allows users to share links and vote on articles in a variety of categories. What makes Yahoo Buzz unique is its focus on the mainstream, focusing on categories like Entertainment, Politics, Lifestyle, and Health, among others. The recent updates on Buzz allow users to see the stories that people in one’s contact list are buzzing up. Also, Buzz votes are now part of user profiles, so users can see what stories a particular individual has Buzzed up or down, as well as stats like how many times someone has been the original person to submit an article and the number of comments they’ve left. Buzz also updated their commenting capabilities, allowing users give thumbs up or down to individual comments and showing threaded replies. All of these updates are strikingly similar to Digg’s functionality, positioning Buzz even more as a female-friendly Digg.com.

Mom Bloggers Review Products, Opening the Door for Direct Interaction with Brands

78% of moms who blog review products, according to new data released by Mom Central Consulting.

What does that mean for marketers and advertisers? Emarketer suggests that the proliferation of product reviews could make mothers who blog more receptive to contact from brands. Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst for eMarketer, claims, “Moms like to share advice with other moms because they remember how hard it was to find the right car seat, stroller or daycare for their own children. They want to pay it forward by giving recommendations and tips, and that gives them a sense of gratification.”

Williamson offers a three step plan for reaching out to mothers:

1. Anticipate their needs
2. Provide factual information
3. Encourage their interest in sharing with other parents

Very sound advice, although I would add a fourth item - follow up with moms to gather feedback and suggestions for improvement. Web 2.0 has allowed all consumers to become publishers, which in turn has opened up the conversation between brands and consumers. Smart brands will be proactive in opening up the conversation with consumers. People who are blogging about a brand’s products obviously feel strongly about them and they are more likely to hold a favorable opinion if they feel that the brand is listening to them.

Disney Launches Pixie Hollow- Social Gaming for Girls

Disney’s Pixie Hollow is the latest social network and gaming site targeted towards girls and pre-teens. Pixie Hollow has a fairy theme featuring the popular Disney character Tinker Bell. On the site, girls can create and customize a fairy, chat with other fairies, play games, and undergo tasks to earn badges for their “Leaf Journal”. Coming attractions for Pixie Hollow include the ability to embark on quests and host “Pixie Parties”.



The risk involved in creating a social network for young girls is apparent when considering what could happen to Disney’s reputation if something went wrong. Moderation and parental controls are therefore at the center of the registration process. Disney offers parents the ability to control chat levels and permissions, as well as the type of content girls can upload. User chat, the most compromising of social networking tools from Disney’s perspective, is extremely restricted. Users can type their own phrases but only using words from the Disney dictionary, or select from a list of pre-approved questions and statements. It's obvious that Disney spent a lot of time working on moderation, both from their own ideas and by taking cues from other social gaming sites like Stardoll. The effort has definitely paid off; PixieHollow's moderation is flawless.

Tumblon Combines Developmental Advice with Social Network for Families

Tumblon is a site for parents of young children, enabling them to record developmental milestones through stories and photos. Users can create a “Family Blog”, post status updates for each child, upload photos, and add stories. The social networking component is lack-luster, but what makes the site unique is the plethora of age-appropriate developmental information available for infants through elementary school-aged children. There is even a weekly developmental milestone breakdown for newborns up to three months.


Developmental resources are broken down into five categories with separate overview pages: cognitive, social & emotional, speech & language, fine motor, and gross motor. Each overview page offers an easy to understand list of milestones, suggested activities, and recommended articles. Additionally, Tumblon has a smart business model- suggesting age-appropriate books, toys, and gear. Even though Tumblon is only in Beta, there are already several links to purchase items directly from the site.

The social networking piece that Tumblon offers is unoriginal and has been attempted on a much larger scale (Disney’s Family.com, Gotkidsnetwork.com, etc.) but the high quality developmental information, combined with the clever business model, may carry Tumblon through.

Closet Couture Lets Users Organize their Closets Online

Closet Couture is a new fashion-focused community that takes social shopping to a new level. Users can not only create and view one another’s wish lists, pulling items from each other, but also upload photograph items from their own “real” closets. Users can create their own “Dressing Rooms” with their clothing photos, creating packing lists and photo albums. Merchants can also create profiles, uploading items from their boutiques and including pricing information in a way that is not only unobtrusive but offers real value to the consumers on the site.

In addition to the “My Closet” tool, Closet Couture offers forums, a style blog, and an extensive list of stylists and other fashion service providers. Closet Couture is off to a great start, but I would have liked to see the ability to share packing lists with friends, vote on other users’ looks, and create outfits for friends- functionalities that would allow users to take advantage of the collective style consciousness. Overall, though, the site provides a unique and relevant social networking community in the crowded fashion space.