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.�