Morten Marquard

On August 15th imeem launched yet another social network, adding to a list of many networks such as LinkedIn, Orbit, OpenBC, Ecademy, Skype, Friendster just to name a few.

But these guys seems to be taken a different approach - at least technically. Rather than a traditional Web 1.0 approach creating a new portal on www.imeem.com, they have taken a Web 2.0 approach looking into P2P technologies.

A key question is whether this model has any commercial relevance? To me the answer is yes! Probably not in the setup launched by imeem initially, as they mainly focus on supporting private end-users.

But a b2b network, based on the imeem model might prove very valuable. Collaborate with peers in another company is a pain - experienced by more and more people. Emailing documents forward and backwards is breaking any digital process, thereby slowing collaboration and hurting project productivity. Streamlining simple cross-corporate processes such as document sharing, discussion forums and task sharing will be very valuable - and can be offered today leveraging technologies already in the marketplace.

Who will be the first player to launch a commercial product is still to be seen.

I have worked on a concept and prototype showcasing this for quite a while now. Leveraging popular business tools such as Word, Excel and Outlook is a prerequisite for success - as these tools are the foundation is of most business user today. Sharing documents, tasks and discussions in an easy project oriented model from inside these tools is user friendly and therefore drives adoption - a key barrier to all new technologies.

Want to discuss and share knowledge - give me a buzz

Posted by Morten Marquard at 12:13 am