Idea Hub: revised

To build on the initial idea of the “Idea Hub” website:

How the site differs from existing forums such as Yahoo Answers and Ask.com:

More multimedia – right now, Yahoo does not include pictures or videos for any of the feedback posted on the site. The multimedia elements will be extremely advantageous because a number of

Focus on ideas – other sites focus on advice and conversations – not solely on ideas. The Idea Hub will be for people to share ideas – not advice or just their opinion on something. If someone needs an idea for a party, corporate slogan or logo, recipes, gifts, etc – a myriad of topics.

Corporate involvement – now, with the number of companies building social networks, it only make sense to encourage their participation on the Idea Hub. Hallmark for instance can peruse the ‘holidays’ category and offer suggestions to those who need ideas for Mother’s Day. Safeway can offer some recipe ideas for someone who needs ideas on their next holiday party. Of course, any user can share ideas but the corporate involvement will make the Idea Hub different from other forum sites on the Web.

Understandably, the topic categories will need to be regulated and kept to a smallish number. This will avoid clutter and keep the site organized. The site will start with a small number of categories and could potentially grow from there. These will include:

Recipe ideas (food and drinks)
Hospitality ideas (party planning, etc.)
Holiday ideas (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother’s Day, etc.)
Gift ideas (significant other, wedding, anniversary, birthday)
Corporate branding ideas (logos, slogans)
Design ideas (home décor)

Content regulation:

While the site is in Beta form, all content will be moderated by a small team.

This team will also be responsible for building awareness about the Idea Hub. They will build a profile for the Idea Hub on Twitter and Facebook to engage audiences. Because the success of the site is dependent on the number of users who contribute, this awareness building will be the most important element of the initial launch. To encourage corporate involvement, the Idea Hub will rely on social networks to engage with companies on their own social networking sites and blogs. If for instance a user is looking for advice on a particular recipe, the Idea Hub moderators can go onto the Food Network’s Facebook page and encourage their experts to offer feedback.