DEMOfall 2006: Wallop

Americans spend Trillions on self-expression every year (think clothing, music, etc.). I’ve had a chance earlier today to see a demo of the product. There’s been tons of coverage in the blogosphere over the last couple of days so I won’t belabour it.

The interesting point that was made during the presentation is the meshing of our online and offline personas. What struck me the most about Wallop was the interface (co-designed by the Frog Design team). There really is no metaphor that nicely describes the site. Movement throughout the application is very organic. The most “forced feature” if there is any, is the method of creating conversations around things.

One of the most interesting features is the Radar. This is the visual map of your network. They are abandoning the friend of a friend model. The system uses an affinity model that brings people closer to you based on your level of interaction with the individual - either direct or indirect (through your network).

Some controversy seems to have dusted up over the Mods. These are small flash movies that can be created by the 2M+ flash developers in the world. Wallop is literally a marketplace for flash applets. They take a 30% commission for the sale and all pricing is dictated by the creator.

I give it a thumbs up.

technorati tags:demofall2006, demofall, wallop