Monday, October 20, 2008

"So You May Not Want to Know This..."


I came across this article about a new, well, relatively new start-up called inSpot. inSpot allows you to communicate to previous sexual partners that you have been infected by an STD and that they should get themselves checked.

It's a pretty basic concept, you pick the type of pre-designed card you want to send, personalize the message, type in the email address of the person whom you want to send it to and send it. The point of the message is to tell your ex-partner that they should get themselves checked for an STD. More than 750 people visit the site daily and nearly 50,000 emails have been sent through it.

I don't think this is necessarily a bad idea, but I'm unsure how it could be effectively used to make money. The site has no ads on it. Yes, it provides a lot of information, and it provides a valuable service (and allows people to play malicious pranks on one another), but it does little to show how it can build sustainable revenue.

In order to be effective and increase it's longevity, the site owners may want to consider partnering with a non-profit such as planned parenthood or a government agency, to provide it with the funding and resources it needs to get it's message and idea out to the community.

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