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July 28, 2005
Dodgeball
Key Points and Interesting Facts (taken from site)
Started in 2000 as the "Friendster For Your Mobile Phone," Dodgeball was relaunched as a Social Network Application in May 2004 and quickly picked up 1300 subscribers an by January 2005 there were about 15,000 subscriber (up from 8,000 in Sept 2004, and 5,000 in June 2005). Based in New York City, in October 2004 70% of users were those based in NYC. In just one year of existence Dodgeball had 16,000 users and is based in 22 U.S. cities. The target population are those who are anywhere between 21-35 years old, live in large cities, are social and mobile, have a network of friends that they want to stay close to. Dodgeball was recently acquired by Google in early May 2005.
Business Model-uses SMS, not charged by the software
The service is free and the founders hopes to bring in revenue from sponsorships and text-messaging services. Before being taken over by Google; Dodgeball's latest sponsor was ABSOLUT vodka. Absolut “sponsored” a nightlife channel. The deal involved Absolut getting a special spot in the Dodgeball network where people could associate with the brand as a “friend” in the same way they would with people they know. This type of advertising provided something of value to dodgeball users-– sending location-based messages containing information on parties, drink specials, etc… that relate to the brand.
Summary and Personal Commentary
Dodgeball uses 2 degrees of separation. The service can filter out certain friends from receiving text messages and allows users to find friends without them knowing you are searching for them. An interesting feature that most other MOSOSOs lack is the "crush" option. One can browse photos of dodgeball users online and choose up to 5 crushes, crushes are notified when they are within 10 blocks you and encouraged to stop over and say hello.
With Dodgeball there are problems in different cities due to varying geography. For instance, the New York dodgeball experience is different than Los Angeles dodgeball experience because the cities have different geographic layouts (ie: 10 blocks in NY versus 10 miles in LA). Currently, Dodgeball is not using LBS technology which is inadvertently creating problems. Users must specify their location when sending a message to the Dodgeball server. This is one extra step the user must do to be located. Receiving a list of all the possible locations a person can be (bars, clubs, parks, or landmarks) is relatively easy. The problem arises when someone says they’re at Joe’s Pub. Do they mean Joe’s Pub in New York? San Francisco? Los Angeles? This is the reason Dodgeball launches the service in each individual city. Dodgeball must associate each user with a “home city” so the network can make assumptions on where they are located, tracking the zip code of the cell towers eliminates the problem. However, if LBS technology were integrated with Dodgeball, users would automatically be located with x,y coodinates. LBS technology not only gives the precise location of the user, but creates efficiency in the location process--there is no need for the user to type in that they are indeed at Joe's Pub.
Eliminating the problem of geography and increasing efficiency is the idea behing LBS.
Posted by adriana at July 28, 2005 12:34 PM
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