Social gathering

Social network sites like Facebook and MySpace are so popular there’s suddenly the need for “aggregator” sites. Those are sites that aim to help people who belong to three or more social networking sites. “The number of social networks has exploded so significantly that people find themselves attempting to keep track of many different profiles on many different Web sites,” says Carla Thompson, a media technology analyst for Guidewire Group, based in Dallas.

Several contenders for the killer-aggregator role have sprung up, including one based in Seattle, MyLifeBrand.com.

Currently ready to move from early to beta stage, the free Web site aims to become the solution for social networking users who are managing too many logins, too many links and not enough time.

The ultimate goal is network interoperability — having all those connections within reach on one Web site.

MyLifeBrand CEO Jeff Jani says his staff has surveyed Web users and learned they think it’s hard to track friends across three or four social networking sites, not to mention sorting through different tools required at those sites when sharing video, sending photos, trading messages or blog posts.

“We think we’re the next evolution of the social community on the Web, helping people do all that from our site, which becomes a social browser,” Jani said.

MyLifeBrand has been designed so that users can quickly access their personal profiles on many sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, Orkut or Bebo. Other aggregator sites are similar, but the difference, said Jani, is that MyLifeBrand lets the user “visit” those sites but without leaving the MyLifeBrand site. That’s important in keeping users loyal to MyLifeBrand, rather than starting there but heading off too easily, he said.

The startup has about 20 workers; the corporate office is in Seattle, while developers and other programmers are in Southern California.

Analysts like Thompson say one thing in MyLifeBrand’s favor is a snazzy user interface and a simple tabbed arrangement to guide people among networking sites. “That’s what I like about MyLifeBrand — they have built a nice-looking, full-featured site that allows you to access all networks from one space,” she said.

So far the startup has relied on funding from family and friends. Jani and Danny Scalisi, the firm’s executive vice president, are meeting with venture investors for the next round of funding.

One other appealing feature investors seem to like is MyLifeBrand’s ability to both connect and to build new communities, said Scalisi.

If a person wants to create a social group devoted to a Spokane college alumni group, MyLifeBrand lets you, said Scalisi. Each person’s profile page shows the full array of networks one wants to manage — from big sites like Facebook, to something a person just helped launch last week.

“The result is you have a one-stop dashboard that connects you wherever you want to stay in touch,” he said.

In between the MyLifeBrand audience of users of MySpace and “micro” group of those creating-their-own groups is another target audience of niche networks, said Jani.

Along with the big sites, thousands of niche networks have small but flourishing communities, primarily on newsgroups or as subgroups on Yahoo forums, said Jani. MyLifeBrand will be a way for managers of those networks to prosper, said Scalisi.

The firm already has deals with niche networks like Angling Masters (at www.anglingmasters.com ), Navy Seals ( www.navyseals.com) and Platinum Studio’s Drunk Duck Web-comics site ( www.drunkduck.com).

“The main thing those groups like is that they can customize the look of MyLifeBrand for their purposes,” said Jani. “It’s not branded around us. We give them the ability to brand what they’re doing their own way. That’s very appealing to those groups.”