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| Welcome to aSmallWorld |
aSmallWorld, however, is a different kind of social network, the opposite of Facebook and Myspace. This site is not well known to the public and has under 800,000 members. It purposefully chooses not to advertise, as membership can only be obtained by invitations.
According to the founder of this community, Erik Wachtmeister, "members are people with large personal networks, frequent travel and highly active personality." In other words, the average person can not become part of this community. It is for society's elite, such as supermodel Naomi Campbell and professional golfer Tiger Woods.
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| Naomi Campbell is an active member on aSmallWorld |
aSmallWorld's website clearly expresses its exclusitivity through its web layout and content. When one visits Facebook, for instance, he immediately sees a form that allows him to join immediately for free. Clearly, Facebook is a very welcoming website. aSmallWorld has a very different welcome page. Instead of offering a registration form, it writes in large font, "We are a private community of internationally minded people from around the world." Because it emphasizes the world private and does not offer an easy way for membership, aSmallWorld is able to express its desire to allow only certain people to come in.
aSmallWorld's content also emphasizes its preference for people from society's upper class. By scrolling down, one sees features about socialites, exotic travel locations, and exclusive designer brands. It also offers reviews on five-star hotels, restaurants, bars, and night clubs. The average person has very little access to these kinds of topics, and thus, aSmallWorld easily turns them away.
Due to its philosophy, aSmallWorld has earned nicknames such as "Snobster" or "Friendster for the jet set." Although these names were meant as criticisms, the members of this community are likely to be proud of being known as an exclusive and elite circle.
See for yourself!
This is a very interesting post! Our society is so used to relying on social networking, that Facebook, Myspace, and the like become incredibly mainstream and popular, incredibly fast. Although the idea behind aSmallWorld seems to be somewhat pretentious, I do admire the fact of an "invitation only" social networking site. What would it be like to have an entire social networking site solely for friends and people you know? The site could definitely help stray away from the random friend requests from India we get.
ReplyDeleteI use Facebook once in a blue moon but I do like it for its ability to keep me in touch with many of my friends and acquaintances. While they have a right to keep the social networking site as a private "invitation only" deal, to be associated with such membership makes you appear as a rich snob. And for aSmallWorld to say they are "internationally minded" makes it sound like the rest of us don't give a damn about what's happening in the world. It comes off as elitist and it really isn't fair to the millions of people who work hard to make our world a better place without capturing headlines on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting! I had no idea that such a site even existed. I think it plays upon peoples desire to be a part of something exclusive. However ridiculous it may sound, it makes them feel special and important. We worry so much about who may be viewing our facebook pages, and it seems like a site like this could potentially solve that problem.
ReplyDeleteAs(s)-mall-world
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