One of the emerging social networks I studied during my recent "think week" was Tagworld. The site, which has over two million members, combines photos, blogs and tagging and is primarily targeted to young adults. Tagworld grew like a weed in the first half of the year, although they've since leveled off as you can see from these two charts: one from Google Trends and another from Technorati.
What interests me most about Tagworld is their willingness to collaborate and share data with marketers. Although the social net is fairly new, they were able to strike a deal with New Line Cinema to give their community a significant role in co-marketing Samuel L. Jackson's upcoming Snakes on a Plane flick. Members essentially created a song that will be used in the movie. This partnership put Tagworld on the map and it looks like it will pay off handsomely for New Line Cinema too. The movie doesn't come out until late August, but already the early buzz rivals that of Pirates of the Caribbean, as you can see from this Google Trends chart.
Tagworld is now gearing up to take social networking and movie marketing to the next level with the addition of real-time video chat. The feature enables all members to see who's online and then initiate a live video chat either from a downloadable desktop client or web-based interface.
Again, Tagworld looking to their win-win partnership with New Line to drive use of the new feature. Tagworld today launched a Samuel L. Jackson Video Chat contest that invites members to leave a video comment up to a minute in length to earn a chance to chat live via video with the star himself.
Tagworld's approach is a model worth emulating for lots of Web 2.0 start-ups: 1) align with a major media company, studio or marketer, 2) together launch programs that empower the community to achieve something they aspire to, and 3) launch new services through promotions with your partners to drive use.
Tagworld is on to something big. I urge everyone to take a look at how Snakes is being marketed. If the Blair Witch Project was a watershed moment for movie marketing during the Web 1.0 period, Snakes and Tagworld are setting the standard for how films will be co-created and co-marketed with audiences in the Web 2.0 era.
Technorati Tags: Movies, Snakes on a Plane, Tagworld
