What is of this new phenomenon that is Pocodot? Pocodot.com seems to be yet another social networking site for the masses. There has been much hype over the social site as of late, as per some statements from Sidharth of Logote.com. The marketing and advertising of the site has seemed to be both through an ethical avenue as well as through tardy viral spamming. YouTube being at the forefront has seemingly false advertisements regarding hit pop stars like Lady Gaga. As I just had to sign up and try for myself, there surely is a “dot” by the name of “Lady Gaga” that is registered on the website. The YouTube viral videos talk about the millions of dollars accepted by the hit singer Lady Gaga for the acceptance and registration to the hit site. This was clearly a method to promote the site, but some may see it as a dishonest and distasteful approach. For one, there is no picture on the pop star’s profile to verify ownership. Sure anyone can set up a fake account and attach one of the many pictures of a celebrity to it, but the fact that we do not even have this draws even more concern as to “the real Lady Gaga.” Perhaps it’s just a bad route to marketing at the hands of those wishing to promote the new social site, as also mentioned in the Logote article. In addition, with this new social networking site, you can get more likes and followers from Buzzvoice and other websites. Buzzvoice has been one of the reliable platform that provides social media users the chance to have more followers and likes.
Besides this minor mishap in advertisement, the social networking site that is Pocodot.com seems to have an appealing and user friendly platform, with just about all of the fix-ins as any other social networking site. The templates seem more generic than other social sites, but I guess one has to remember that this social site is still in the beginning stages. There are also a lot of users or “dots”, in which the site likes to refer to registrants as-hence Pocodot.com, that have no uploaded profile pictures either. This is one of the things that raise questions as to the validity of the website. However, in its defense, if one was to review the terms of use and privacy disclaimers, the uncertainty of the site’s authenticity may change, as it has been well written and contains much of the politically correct jargon as with many other terms of service and privacy policies. I did however notice about two typos, that I am sure will be corrected in the future. I mean, who doesn’t have a typo here and there in there written material?
Pocodot.com Features:
As stated earlier, the site has a rather easy to use platform and interface that makes set-up quite swift. The features are however, limited which contributes to a speedy sign up process. After getting registered, one is then taken to their profile page, where they can interact with other dots and interact in a similar manner as with Facebook or Myspace.
Tabbed List To Left:
- Home
- Profile
- Media
- Search
- Apps
- Settings
Adjacent to this tabbed list is a profile picture of you, with editing features just below, along with your favorite quote followed by demographic information about you. Further down is your featured picture again with options to view the photo album. There is even an insert as to the activity of the picture(s), such as last time updated.
News Feed in Middle:
- Activity
- Requests
- Contest
- Dots Requests
- Notifications
- Messages
This itemized list is set up into tabs from left to right and is followed by an update feed text field just below. This is very similar to that of Facebook and Myspace in its structure, with options just below the update text field that gives dots the choice on how to present the information, such as whom to share it with, links to include, photo and or video events. Below this is the activity of your stream, along with the activity of other dots in your stream. Again, pretty much the same theme as with Facebook and Myspace.
Further into the site is a couple of miscellaneous differences. These differences share a similar theme to Facebook and Myspace, but is simply presented differently. For instance, there is a tab called “Doodle” and “Story” in which allows dots to either aimlessly doodle information, likes, dislikes etc. or to tell a story of some sort to share with other dots. These two features merely seem like an addition to the normal activity stream of other social networking sites, but simply categorized as a separate entity, perhaps to add distinction and uniqueness to the social site that is Pocodot.com.
So the question is-as an addition to the social networking world, can Pocodot.com make it? Facebook and Myspace are already very well established social networking sites and many other people may not see a major need to link themselves to various social sites that present the same concepts, or at least the same generic features. This may then become less of a fun tool to use, but more of a job at maintaining and keeping up with. One may even wonder as to the reason for having connections with the same group(s) of people on multiple social sites that all serve the same purpose. This may become more stressful in the long run. However, another aspect of the social site is that it is new. If for no other reason than this, many people may engage in the site where it may gain popularity and many dots or users whom are simply curious. To perhaps make it against its highly established competitors, Pocodot.com may have to better its features and offer more than what currently meets the eye. It would seem that this may be the goal of the producers of the social networking site if they want to become a legitimate competitor. Pocodot.com would have to offer something that no one else has to offer and this will have to be the main focus in order to lure dedicated and loyal fans, rather than short term spectators.
