(Credit: MTV Networks)
Who said you couldn't bring the Web to TV? Slide's absurdly popular social-network application "SuperPoke" is coming to a new platform: MTV Networks' VH1, as part of a promotion for its new reality show I Love Money.
In a cross-promotional advertising deal, "actions" related to VH1's schlocky reality shows Flavor of Love, Rock of Love, and I Love New York will appear in the SuperPoke arsenal. In other words, you'll be able to post things on your friends' Facebook and MySpace profiles along the lines of "Josh has gotten romantical with Rob"--a reference to Flavor of Love--assuming the friends in question have installed SuperPoke.
'Yay! We're going to be on TV!'
But wait, there's more. SuperPoke will be invading your television. VH1 plans to hold a four-day-long "SuperPokeFest," in which 10,000 of those SuperPoke actions will be chosen via lottery and shown on-air.
Slide has had a couple of recent issues with the fact that one of its other applications, Top Friends, had a security hole in it; SuperPoke does not appear to have had such problems, so you can happily sheep-toss your way into oblivion. And if you're a chronic SuperPoker who's desperate to be chosen, fear not: VH1 has the courtesy to inform you in which time slot your SuperPoke will appear live.
Set those DVRs! The whole thing starts Wednesday! You'll be so uncool if you miss it!
At the end of the four-day Max Levchin lovefest, VH1 will premiere I Love Money, which contrary to the name is not about venture-happy Silicon Valley guys in khakis and blue button-down shirts. It's an "all-star" program featuring past contestants from Flavor of Love, Rock of Love, and I Love New York, and it gives a dozen contestants the chance to win $250,000. Which is totally small potatoes compared to Slide's reported $500 million valuation.
In other news, I'm going to go throw a sheep at whoever came up with this corny idea.
Slide founder Max Levchin talks with Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li at Web 2.0 Expo.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)SAN FRANCISCO--Max Levchin made a name for himself as the co-founder of transaction system PayPal, one of the Web's foremost utilitarian services. Then he made a name for himself again at the helm of Slide, which isn't exactly in the same space. Its flagship product, "SuperPoke," has become the poster child--er, poster sheep--for criticism of social-networking developer applications as a silly fad.
On Wednesday, after his keynote at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, I asked Levchin if he thought there were actually a chance for some social applications to emerge that are useful rather than goofy.
"There's definitely opportunity to build utilitarian, or pure utility, apps on Facebook," he said. So I asked him to give an example.
"Alcoholics Anonymous," Levchin said, without hesitation. "If you're trying to recover as an alcoholic, there's no easy way for you to join an anonymous group on Facebook. So creating an anonymous group type on Facebook for something that people have to get off their chest but don't really want to reveal their identity (in doing so)...it's pretty utilitarian. Grim, but utilitarian." Currently, Facebook's API doesn't permit developers to anonymize the social-networking experience.
I expressed my surprise with how little time it took Levchin to up with that kind of idea. He shrugged. "Maybe it's because I grew up in Russia."
Throw me a sheep, darling.
Does "owning" a friend on Facebook sound more appealing than merely poking him?
Three new applications take the "poke" button on Facebook further.
Kathleen's wild 'n' crazy poking application lets users send a customized poke. The first step is identifying the "victim," followed by "method of attack" (impaled; nuzzled; duct-taped with, for example, a rusty spoon; chocolate-covered raisins, and so forth) and place of attack (eye, outer space, lung, teeth). This application works with Facebook but is separate from it--a big turnoff.
XMe lets its users change the default verb that appears under the photo on their profile. Elsewhere on their profile page, the XMe application allows friends to fill in their own verb to "X" the profile's owner.
Of the three new poking apps, SuperPoke has the best balance of features and design. It lets Facebook users "bite," "pinch," "own," "marry," "worship," or "throw a sheep at" friends. It doesn't have the flexibility of XMe. But it is a lot less aggressive about forcing itself on your friends when they use it to not-poke you.
Although Xme is the most popular poking application on Facebook, SuperPoke is the best of the bunch. It maintains the original vibe of the "poke" button, while adding just the right amount of creativity. It also integrates nicely into the Facebook platform and doesn't require that a person install the app on their own profile in order to Superpoke you from your profile. XMe, in contrast, won't let you use it to nudge someone whe has the app on their own profile unless you install it, too.
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