Reader Eric Rdz asks my opinion on POPstick Outburst's "Social Network Marketing" concept. And adds, "Is it good or just a nice dream?"

Would you join a social networking community primarily built to supply a continuous feedback loop to a major vendor for a specific brand?

Hm… Attract a group of individuals, encourage them to build a community, expose them to a variety of products, engage them in near or real time on as many levels as technologically possible: IM chat, video, contests, surveys—and then feed this information back to a major brand vendor, also in near or real time.

I'd like to ask Popstick CEO Danny Kastner, and the new Outburst CEO Steve Dworin: What are the lures, the incentives, and the glue that you believe will make this program both 'POP' and 'stick'?

According to the POPstick Outburst press release:

Social Network Marketing is a novel marketing technique that emphasizes interactive communities centered on a company’s brand. By fostering peer-to-peer communications and incorporating content provided by individual members, subject matter experts, and the sponsoring vendor, these virtual communities inspire customers to interact with vendors’ marketing teams in the same way they would communicate in social networking sites such as Friendster or LinkedIn.

From my quick review of the POPstick Outburst Demo—Live Audience offers what are now fairly typical features among YASNS, some with different names like—pocumentaries—which are basically uploadable movies; blogs; threads (ask questions & receive answers real time); local events; web chats; reviews of past events; interactive maps (to find local gatherings); related topic experts (search across the US); relationship views (business, personal, and geographical); user profiles (personal data, blogs, photos, and pocumentaries); directory view (shows user relationships); brand community dashboard for vendors (delivers live results to help marketers understand customer needs and ‘brand attitudes’ in real time).

In this demo Danny Kastner says that his Live Audience technology will help a vendor to increase sales by turning customers into ‘rabid brand advocates.’ And Steve Dworin ends with describing ‘social network marketing’ as a means of strengthening the bond between products and customers to ‘make the cash register ring.’