The Next Web

Hellotree: use those family tags to beat Geni

Written on May 7, 2008 – 12:47 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

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Genealogy service Geni has some competition: Hellotree. This is a place where you and your family can build a family tree and keep each other up to date by sending private messages. Moreover, there’s also room for nostalgics, as you can post archive photos of those good ol’ summer days in the family garden.

The flash tree is pure eye candy and grows as you and your family members invite more relatives. Though I think it’s not enough, as Geni is HUGE. They have over 15 million profiles and are the definite market leader in this social media area. If Hellotree wants to build an audience like that, they should work on the integration of existing social networks. I mean, they already have the typical Web 2.0 appearance with all the gradients and big fonts. So why not offering all those Flickr addicts to take it beyond the ‘family’ tag?

Family tag on Flickr

If the API’s of services that have a family distinction in contacts support this, Hellotree might have found an angle to become a serious competitor of Geni. With a few clicks, people can already have their Flickr photos and MyBlogLog blogs included in their profile. Work on that, team from Hellotree, and a forest of family trees may lie ahead of you.

[via eHub]

API, family, family tree, geni, hellotree, social networks

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VideoInterview: Leah Culver from Pownce

Written on February 14, 2008 – 11:35 pm
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten,

Leah Culver is Co-founder and Lead Developer of Pownce.com, a social messaging application. We talk about Pownce growth, the recent ‘going out of closed beta’ launch, Valentines day, the much awaited Pownce API (news!), what Kevin Rose REALLY does at Pownce, her ideas about the Yahoo/Microsoft situation, a strange situation involving Leah, oranges and lots of booze, her (very open) ideas about privacy, her upcoming trip to Amsterdam (she will speak at The Next Web Conference), about Pownce’s popularity in France and the differences and similarities between Pownce and Twitter.

Sit back, relax and enjoy:

Want to know more about Pownce? First, try it out and then read these excellent reviews at Mashable and/or Techcrunch.

API, booze, kevin rose, Leah Culver, oranges, Pownce, privacy, twitter, Video Interview

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