Blellow: Wisdom of the Crowds through Micro-Blogging

February 12th, 2009 in News, by Head Honcho

Adding small increments of innovation to a basic idea can lead to terrific results. Take for instance, the development of micro-blogging.

Micro-blogging sites like Twitter and Plurk are a derivative of blogging, but it is more packed because of the limited number of characters allowed per post. Blogging in turn, is an innovation of journals, albeit the former is more informal and has more interaction with the reader. The journal, the grandfather of electronic correspondence, is arguably used by our predecessors since the advent of writing.

Blellow, a newly launched website, takes micro-blogging a step further. Your run-of-the-mill micro-blogging site is utilized mainly for information-dissemination purposes. Blellow uses micro-blogging and combines it with a collaborative feel - tapping into the wisdom of the crowd. In doing so, Blellow is cultivating an environment where anyone can take advantage of the talent of the whole Blellow community.

More specifically, the website is a social network that allows freelancers and professionals to collaborate, find work, and solve problems through a friendly and familiar micro-blog interface. As to how the Blellow platform can be utilized effectively, the website gives a great analogy:

The plumber problem, for those who aren’t familiar with it (but we bet you will be in a second), rears its ugly head when you attempt to, say, fix the kitchen sink yourself, without help and, usually, without the right tools. You go in with a smile on a Saturday morning, and you come out 10 hours later with a headache, bruised knuckles…and a busted sink. On Monday, you call a plumber, who repairs your sink in 15 minutes and for less than you spent on gasoline, pipe wrenches, and Band-Aids.

Blellow is like calling the plumber in the first place. Freelancers get a pool of vetted talent they can leverage, an IT department, ad agency, bookkeeping service, and more. And they get to spend time doing what they do well. Buyers get affordable, cream-of-the-crop freelancers, an easy way to sort through them, and a single point of contact, no matter how many pros are working on their projects behind the scenes. And they get to spend time doing what they do well.

And everyone gets to enjoy their Saturday.

But why not just use Twitter, you ask? Blellow CEO Mandi Leeman explains:

[B]ecause using a micro-blog for business requires the ability to target very specific kinds of people to help you with certain tasks, we’ve made the way you organize your contacts and target your message extremely flexible and customizable. So, whether you have a hobby, a favorite charity, or are working on a specific project, you’ll be able to let only those who will be interested & can help you out know about it . And likewise, contributing to the community and helping others out is also easier for the same reasons.

In fact, it has much more to offer than your ordinary micro-blog. You can join and form a group, in which people of similar interests can interact with each other, and from there you can get great feedback and advice from your peers. You can post a job or look for one in the special jobs board as well. And the site does not stop from there. It also facilitates face-to-face meetings among its members. While virtual teams can be convenient, nothing beats a gathering of people in the flesh to talk about various technical, professional and even personal issues. You can sign up for Blellow’s local alerts and get a heads up on nearby meet-and-greets, BarCamps, co working spaces, and more.

Blellow is still in its beta stage, but things look very promising for the site. With enough active members,  Blellow’s dream of collaborative micro-blogging can quickly turn into a reality.