Networking: Where There's a Hit There's a Writ

The brotherly clots behind the very inferior connectU are apparently claiming 100% of the very superior facebook because, they claim, it ripped off their "unique" idea back in 2004. BBC Clip (launches player).

Said clots asked facebook genius to write them some code for their already derivative idea of a networking site. Don't know if any money and/or equity was involved if he delivered. But anyway he didn't. Or at least not the full shilling. But later he did do his own site. In fact he registered a domain at around the time he was trying to do the work for the brothers grim.

His site has 31 million adherents and continues to spread like wildfire. The brotherly clots claim a respectable 70,000 users - like a larger facebook group or a few hours' new recruits. Not much more than Iain Dale.

My feeling is that if they'd had the detailed ideas and hired a coder and had a decent marketing plan they'd be in a better place. The suggestion that this was "their" idea of an online community and sub communities is far fetched. Because when it comes to generic, public domain and unprotectable ideas, well this is one of them.

Incidentally their site was both unsearchable and unjoinable this morning at 10 am, say 5 am west coast time. In any case it appeared to be for students only. In named colleges in the USA only. Very inferior.