Wallop: The Flash-based, Invite-Only Social Network That Charges Fees
The strategy behind the new Wallop social network, located at www.wallop.com, seems to be to do the opposite of what every successful social network is doing. The network is invite-only which limits the number of users -- the developers of Wallop are probably hoping this will increase interest in the website. Wallop is also Flash based. Flash heavy websites are a big turnoff for many users. These could both be potential negatives for Wallop but, as MSNBC reports, the most extreme Wallop concept is to charge members for add-ons and decorations.
The company, which aims to compete with established brands like MySpace and Facebook, plans to sell graphics and other features people can use to decorate their personal profile pages.
Wallop says the plan to charge users for the decorations will supplant the advertising that supports many such free sites. The add-ons will initially cost somewhere between 99 cents and $4, said Karl Jacob, the San Francisco company's chief executive. The company will offer some elements for free.
Wallop has launched the Modder Network, which Wallop hopes develops into a thriving marketplace for Macromedia Flash developers to sell the Wallop Mods they create. Charging customers for add-ons and widgets probably won't work in today's culture of free Web 2.0 services but at least somebody is brave enough to try a business model that is different than the repetitive Web 2.0 models that all seem based on using Google AdSense. One thing Wallop does have going for it is the $10 million they have already raised.
Wallop was initially created in Microsoft Corp.'s research lab and was spun off earlier this year. Wired had an article about a Microsoft's Wallop plans from three years ago. The Wallop in that article is located at mywallop.com. The article is titled Will Microsoft Wallop Friendster?. The fact that it talks about walloping Friendster gives you a good idea of just how out of touch that article is today. You can read more about Wallop on Tech Crunch, CNET and GigaOM. For Flash lovers, Ryan Stewart is blogging about some other Flash based Web 2.0 sites.
The strategy behind the new Wallop social network, located at 
