CrowdFound: fascinating web site, but is it search

By Stuart Corner
Monday, 08 October 2007 18:58

Opinion and Analysis

On the other hand, CrowdFound contends that the majority of social networking websites are people-centric and as a result not conducive to topic-specific "best of" content results.

In contrast, "CrowdFound's social networking functions are topic-centric and interface directly with the specific categories." CrowdFound claims that "this direct topic-based interfacing will allow users to rapidly identify other users' interests in a particular topic and then communicate with each other in a topic-centric community."

There is no doubt that CrowdFound, just launched and still in beta, has some really interesting stuff There's a version of the Simpsons intro, made with live actors. And there is a brilliant demonstration of the Photosynth technology ,  acquired last year by Microsoft, in which a three dimensional virtual tour of the outside of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has been created from thousands of images gathered simply from Flickr. But it's hard to see where CrowdFound comes in useful for anyone searching for very specific information on a topic that is not hugely popular or particularly current.

CrowdFound is presently self-funded but the founders say they are seeking early stage / seed investors. It plans to raise revenue through topic and geography specific advertising, through the sale of topic-related goods and services, and from companies wanting users to provide information such as in a market research surveys.