Of all the things MySpacers (and other social networkers) do on their voluminous web pages, one of the most popular is commenting on the photos that other MySpacers post of themselves and their friends.
"Nice pose, Barbie237!" might be a typical response to a photo. "Can I be added to your friends list??" This sort of thing grew out of sites like "hot-or-not" or the unfortunately named "rate-my-rack."
We should've seen this coming, but now a startup is hoping to make big bucks on the social-networking/photo rating hobby. Zivity, a social-networking site that invites users to rate "sexy" photos submitted by other users, said this week that it had raised $1 million.
The San Francisco-based startup is helmed by chairman and co-founder Scott Bannister, who helped launch IronPort Systems, an anti-spam company bought by Cisco for $830 million.
Zivity says it will have rules about what kinds of photos can be posted. Nude pics are OK, but models must prove they are 18 or older. They must submit a W-9 form, so they can get paid. The company stated this in a press release:
Powered by Zivity's innovative, patent-pending voting system, Zivity is the only media company that lets its members distribute royalties. Zivity members determine what photos are published on the site by casting votes for models and photographers who submit appealing content. In this way, it is the members who distribute the royalties and who ultimately determine how much models and photographers will earn for their contributions.
I'll be keeping an eye on Zivity and its "patent-pending voting system," because I think they'll have a hard time keeping out the fraudsters and the con men (and women.) On the other hand, who knows what site will be the next social networking wonder kid? ? Stay tuned.
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