Others Online is focused on building the social web by introducing people to other people who are directly relevant to their interests and web activities. Unlike traditional Social Networks like MySpace, Others Online is not a website. Rather, Others Online is a people matching technology with a set of products that travel with the user across the web. A useful analogy may be that Others Online is to MySpace what STICKO is to YouTube -- You can take Others Online and STICKO with you wherever you go, because the content and experience belong to the user, not to a particular site.
Others Online shows users other real people, who are not only online now, but also directly relevant to the user and their interests. Others Online then allows the user to interact with relevant "Others" or explore their content. Others Online has patent-pending technology which discovers what users care about by analyzing their personal Web sites (MySpace, blog, etc.), browsing behavior, location and whatever else they supply, then displays people relevant to those interests. For instance, every time an Others Online user searches Google she'll see people relevant to those keywords, plus their online status, Web site and any other shared interests. Users also join Others Online to increase their visibility on the Web -- they simply indicate specific keywords, and are then promoted (for free) to other people across the Web in the context of those keywords.
Others Online products currently include a browser toolbar and a blog widget, and are supported by advertising narrowly targeted to users' interests, location and behavior. For privacy purposes, users have 100% control over the profile data associated with them, and all communications are double-blinded.
Others Online has 3 core values we want to share:
- Revenue generation
- Relevant people generation ("Find a Friend")
- Targeted advertising platform
To accomplish this, we should take a staged approach:
- Paid Distribution: We will distribute OO with CM, CVP, and HUE. In return, we get 50% of the advertising revenue generated from these clients.
- Integration: We will integrate OO into CM and CVP, allowing people to find others relevant to their interests and web habits. This also applies to our web based chat applications, perhaps even more than on the desktop. Using OO to implement the "Find a Friend" feature has the benefit of allowing us and our partners (Comcast) to get to know their users better. The "Friends" in question can be people, but they can also be groups, services, or other relevant web-based products
- Integration with AudioKey and STICKO: Others Online has the ability to generate keywords/tags/meta-data from web pages. AudioKey also can generate such data. Both AudioKey and OO can generate this data on STICKO based content. OO can turn this data into money. Especially when the data is associated with a user or small group of users over time.
- Integrating our communication technologies into OO products: Others Online is interested in people. OO uses communication technology to help tie together those relevant people. Clique is interested in communication technology. Clique uses buddy lists and the like to allow people to communicate. OO can use Clique powered communication tools to improve the communication capability within its products. As such, OO could become a distributor for our technology components.
- Adding OO to our web pages: This will enable people who come to our HUEHD or CliqueCom sites to be able to communicate with other relevant HUE or Clique enthusiasts, or Clique sales or support personnel.