On their Facebook page, the Empire Avenue folks asked what their next connected service should be and whether it should be Tumblr. Tumblr is certainly popular, but it has many of the challenges that blogs in general have for Empire Avenue. If they can deal with this, I think Tumblr would be good.
I don’t know which one would be best for Empire Avenue, but here are some thoughts:
- GetGlue is getting increasingly social. Plus, I have 233 followers there even without an EAv tie-in so it must be a reasonably popular place. It would appeal to a broad audience. A movies-only alternative would be Flixster which is a very popular site.
- A site like Crowdrise would be awesome. I would love to see something that encouraged people to support causes more. However, it doesn’t work great internationally I think. Meanwhile, partnering with a very social nonprofit like Charity Water would be truly cool, but I don’t think Empire Avenue should pick a single charitable partner at this point.
- I haven’t used GoodReads, but encouraging people to share the books they love would be a positive thing in positioning Empire Avenue and move beyond just the social media wizards.
- Not sure about the API links to Reddit or Digg.com, but they are sites where good content is rewarded. If Empire Avenue could tie into that – that would be cool.
- Disqus would encourage conversation if the API works for Empire Avenue, but I recognize setting up Disqus would be complicated to many people.
- I’d give a big thumbs-up for Stumbleupon, but it’s another site that I am not sure how it would tie-into Empire Avenue. That said, if you haven’t tried Stumbleupon, you should.
- Somewhat surprisingly, Meetup.com is a top-ten site among social networks. Encouraging people to connect face-to-face is never a bad thing. It would probably kick-start Empire Avenue meetups if it was connected.
- I was very surprised to see how much traffic Scribd gets. I like the idea of people contributing serious articles to this or Slideshare, but would Empire Avenue folks abuse it? Is the appeal broad enough despite the traffic numbers, or might connecting these services help bring in a different type of member?
- I know a lot of people like music services such as Last.fm, but there are so many now. I don’t think one rises above the pack.
- Connecting a site like DailyBurn or LifeKraze would encourage us to be better people, but I don’t know if they are popular enough. Again, I don’t know what links they provide to their sites either.
- If Empire Avenue was going after more international members, it would connect a social network like Bebo, Badoo, Orkut or Qzone. These sites are among the biggest in the world even if they are not that well known in North America. However, with the exception of Bebo, these would present language challenges for the development team.
- I was surprised to see that Tagged.com has 100 million users making it a top-ten social network. It’s designed to help you meet people which seems like a good thing.
From just a very personal perspective, I am tempted to say I would like to see Empire Avenue connect a service that would help my fundraising work like, but I don’t think any that I have mentioned would make a major difference. A year ago, when I was addicted to Empire Avenue, I would have said DailyBurn because it would have helped get me more fit. I would love to see Empire Avenue add a charity site, but as I said, I am not sure the time is right. Given that, I think today, I would pick GetGlue. I say this simply because it is a site that I find myself drawn to. I enjoy checking in with shows more than I do checking into locations.
What service do you want to see next? Feel free to answer below or on Empire Avenue’s Facebook post here.
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