Here is a recent article I posted to my personal blog at AdamSchultz.com and thought I would share here.

Gooruze Is Crack for On-Line Marketers

So after being invited by a couple of different people to the beta for Gooruze and then not joining, I finally caved last night and logged about 2 hours on the site.

The tech is solid, nothing too spectacular but good. It's a scalable social media app that focuses on incentivising participation with an action based scoring system.

With about 3 total hours logged, I'm already #20! (Gooruze member standings)

Now as a social media marketer I have seen all of this before in a number of different verticals and I know that the most important aspects of a community are 3 fold.

In order to insure success you need:

1. People with a shared passion (interest isn't enough)
2. A clear UI
3. Participation Incentives

But what's different about Gooruze that has me acting like Tyrone Biggums?

1. They are focused on MY passion. On-Line Marketing.
2. They targeted the right people in the industry to be a part of the founding community members to seed the site before even the beta launch.

That being said, I'm hooked.

I can't not track my site wide ranking as I ask, comment, and write the time away. Now that I am up to # 20 though, who knows how long I will be able to keep it up as more and more brilliant online marketers join this new platform.

I am already talking to the founders about licensing options of this app for a couple of my clients who have a need for mobilizing a passion centric online community. I will keep you posted on some of the details as things move forward.