GoAbroad is a traveler social network that launched at the end of 2007 and is very well crafted. As you can see from the list at the end of this column, we have covered many travel social networks. GoAbroad is up there with the best of them. GoAbroad helps you keep track of where in the world you have traveled to by allowing you to create a travel log (i.e. blog/journal) with your trip information. You can share your trips with others including photos and text. I assume GoAbroad will eventually offer the ability to import and/or link to video.

There’s a Google Maps mashup so you can find other GoAbroad members who have visited the locations you are interested in. There is also an option to create a group after you find other like-minded travelers. There are also resource pages for selected locations to help you before you arrive. A scrapbook (similar to bookmarks) allows you to mark pages that interest you for later viewing.

The social network seems to focus on students but anyone can join. In my testing, most of the profiles I looked at seemed like the people were not currently in school. One of the interesting parts of GoAbroad is that you can post a resume which will allow "advisors" to contact you about employment while in the countries you will travel to. When you open an account on GoAbroad, you can select whether you are a traveler or an advisor.

I’ve always wondered why Travelzoo and FlyerTalk haven’t created social networks like GoAbroad. They could have easily owned the space considering how popular both services are.

Check out our other travel social network reviews: TripSay, TravelMob, SoSauce, Driftr, TripAdvisor, TripIt and TripLife.

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Streetread is a financial news and stock quote aggregator that launched earlier this summer. Josh Lowensohn at Webware has a good review of the initial launch. Initially the Streetread service was only available on the Web. Last week they announced the launch of Streetread Mobile which provides a similar set of information on a mobile device.

The Streetread mobile app displays the latest news about a stock plus a quote and chart. You can jump to the full stories along with a tie into Google for news.

I think the app would be even stronger if you could set one-click home screen buttons on the iPhone directly to a stock in Streetread. There’s a mobile demo if you want to play with the mobile version before using it on your mobile.

Streetread was founded by Mike Stefanello. Mike is working solo and bootstrapping the project. Here are a few examples of the mobile application:

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I am not an expert in virtual worlds but on the news tonight there was a segment on Second Life which I thought was worth sharing. The NBC news anchor starts by saying, "The Dark Side of the Web…is Second Life". The segment discusses how parents should keep their teenagers away from Second Life because of all of the sex, porn, drugs, and suicide that occurs in the virtual world. I don’t know about you, but growing up in Brooklyn, most of those things happened on a near-daily basis. The doctor in the segment explains that if teenagers participate in an activity online, they are more likely to want to do it in real life.

Again, while I don’t use Second Life, my guess is that you can find these things anywhere online even outside this "dark side" virtual world.

(apologies for the poor video quality)

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Source:CenterNetworks

Last year we asked a number of startup entrepreneurs to provide their top tips for success. Today "DebtKid" on the LendingClub blog listed 7 mistakes made when he/she was building out his/her startup. Check out the full blog post for all of the details and apparently later this week will come 7 things done right.

Update: Top Dog Ted has a post regarding the mistakes listed below. Ted discusses hiring a friend and the points to consider.

Here’s the 7 things:

1. I Managed People like Michael Scott from “The Office”
2. I Hired My Friends
3. I Budgeted Like Britney Spears: Terribly
4. I Leased A Fancy Office While My Large Basement Went Unused
5. I Raised Money Before I Had Customers
6. I Mixed Business with Pleasure
7. I Assumed Everything Would Go According to Plan

I will get working on the next startup tips ebook. If you would like to participate, send me a note.

comScore is out with their June Ad Metrix analysis of the top online display advertising publishers and advertisers in the U.S. On the publisher side, Fox Interactive Media leads the pack with 52.3 billion ad views. MySpace accounted for 51 billion of the 52.3 billion hence my story title. Facebook came in sixth with 3 billion ads and Glam made the report in tenth with just over 2 billion ads.

On the advertiser side, Microsoft leads the pack with 5.5 billion ads purchased. In second place is the University of Phoenix with 4.7 billion ads - guess they have some open seats. Vonage and Netflix came in eighth and ninth respectively with just over 3 billion ads purchased. Experian Interactive is the company who pushes the dancing women/bear/monkey ads for Lower My Bills and the FreeCreditReport ads.

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Source:CenterNetworks

Moving from private beta to public beta today is ProofHQ. London-based ProofHQ is a collaborative editing suite that allows groups of people to provide feedback on a design or object. The service is similar to one of my favorite Web services, ConceptShare.

The concept behind ProofHQ is simple. You upload a design, graphic or object you want feedback on. Next you set who can participate in providing feedback and post the editing function on your blog or email participants to enter the ProofHQ site. Josh Lowensohn at CNET notes that, "what makes it a standout among some of the competition is its capability to integrate with other tools or workflows you might be used to." Josh points to 37Signals’ Basecamp project management service as one example. ConceptShare partnered with Corel and is integrated with some of their tools.

My suggestion to ProofHQ (same as my suggestion to ConceptShare last year) is to get out there and partner with creative agencies across the world. So many teams are spread out today and a tool like this could make revisions and design finalization quicker. While it’s not as sexy as a blog embed, the agency market is where the real money is. 

Here’s how ProofHQ defines their business plan, "ProofHQ offers tiered monthly and annual pricing plans based on the number of end users, number of proofs, and storage per month – including a free account for users who need only five proofs per month. Anyone can sign up today for a 14-day free trial for any sized plan." I think five proofs a month is too many. As I’ve written about numerous times, if you offer enough for most users for free, they will never upgrade and pay.

A new startup out of Philadelphia has launched and their goal is to help you create a reputation. Anthillz creates profiles based on testimonials and reviews written by colleagues you trust. There’s also the ability to write reviews of users based on their work performance. The profile contains a photo, basic skills information along with links to Web sites and porfolio information.

To add a review of a person on Anthillz, you create a "Trusted Colleague" relationship. To complete the process, both you and the colleague must write reviews of each other. This is different than most other systems which allow one-way reviews. While I get the idea of writing two-way reviews for colleagues, how would that work in a client-consultant relationship? I want my clients to leave reviews for me, but should I be forced to leave them a review just to get mine to show up? 

Anthillz allows you to enter your LinkedIn profile address but I’d prefer that the profile was included directly on the page. Anthillz should aim to create the most overall in-depth profile possible if they are to compete with LinkedIn.

From a marketing perspective, reviews should be sent back to LinkedIn and linked to the Anthillz profile. This could be a way to get LinkedIn users to learn about what Anthillz has to offer. I’d also like to see a user widget so I can place my latest reviews and ratings directly onto my Web site. This would help users spread their profile and also spread the Anthillz name.

I like the direction that Anthillz is going but to win at the ratings and reputation game, they need to make sure that they offer enough tools and services for a user to want to show off their Anthillz profile over (or next to) other services like LinkedIn.

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If you live, work or play in Manhattan you know that finding a bathroom when you need one is typically not easy. Most signs say either "no bathroom" or "bathroom only for customers" and those bathrooms you do find are normally filthy and probably carry more diseases than a rat. Most NY’ers have their bathroom list in memory. I know that most Starbucks have bathrooms (although there is normally a line) and most McDonalds have semi-clean bathrooms. Outside of those 2 companies, it’s hit or miss.

A new startup launched last week to help with this problem. The site is named Diaroogle and their mission is simple; help people find a clean bathroom when they need it. Enter an address and find public restrooms with ratings and photos (yuck).

There’s a mobile app because when you need to go, you need to go. Josh at Webware says the mobile app lacks a map and any GPS-style positioning so you will be typing with your legs crossed. Clearly in this case the mobile app is what will make or break Diaroogle.

The Google Maps integration works but I would prefer that the bathroom list auto-update as you pan around the city and/or zoom in. Similar to how Yelp handles the map movement.

Currently Diaroogle is in Beta and only available for Manhattan so if you want to use it, move here. They do have plans to expand outside Manhattan. Competitor MizPee is currently the leader in the public toilet space.

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AOL has announced the launch of a new flash-based instant messaging application today. AIM Express allows you to do everything you can in the normal AIM client inside of a Web browser. In my testing this morning, I found it to work very well. As you chat with more people, tabs show up on the top of the application so you can jump back and forth. Everything is contained inside of the one Flash application.

I wonder if they could port this to a desktop app using Adobe AIR as it would allow everything to be contained inside the app instead of opening windows for each current chat. The new AIM Express also allows for text messaging using SMS for friends that are offline.

AOL also announced the launch of an updated Windows Mobile client. The new client includes ads from AOL’s Platform-A division.

Other companies in the Web IM and chat space include current CN sponsor eBuddy and Meebo.

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Source:CenterNetworks

Moreganize is a Swiss-based startup that looks to help you organize groups using surveys. Example uses would be to find the perfect time for a group meeting or which movie everyone in the group is interested in viewing. There are also some basic project management services including a to-do list.

The site is easy-to-use and if the survey is used for an event, schedule invites can be automatically sent to the attendees. The service is available in German and English although I would suggest they make sure all of the content is available in English. I see a good bit of words and phrases in German even on the English version.

They also need to look at making it easier to create a survey. There’s no link to create on the homepage and while the text says "no registration required" the only link to get started is for "free registration".

Update: Our Switzerland connection Corsin Camichel tells me that the biggest competition for Moreganize comes from switzerland itself: doodle.

Here’s a Moreganize sample where John Sample attempts to get feedback on which type of movie his guests would like to watch:

Check out Mark Gibbs’ review of Moreganize at NetworkWorld. And check out our coverage of other event-planning services including MyPunchbowl, Renkoo, Center’d, Coordinatr and GoLark.

TravelMob is a new startup doing for group travel what Evite does for group events. TravelMob CEO Adam Smith notes that the service includes customized trip homepage, the ability to invite people and manage RSVPs, upload important trip-related files, create a photo gallery, see top tours for your destination, and plan via message board. Going with the 2008 flow, TravelMob has a Facebook-style newsfeed so that trip attendees can be updated as others add information to the site.

I planned a trip using TravelMob to Las Vegas and found it the service easy-to-use. TravelMob is tied into the Sabre travel booking system so you can book air, hotel, car directly inside of TravelMob. If you book outside of TravelMob, there’s an option to add booking details. There’s an option to, "Jump on this Flight" so you can fly with other members of your travel group. I love Web apps that launch with a business plan. Selling bookings is just one way TravelMob can generate revenue.

TravelMob needs to go through the app and spell check and tidy up – no reason to lose points on the dismount when the execution was good. I would also vote for linking to other sites for information on the selected destination. This will help the entire group get familiar with the location before arriving plus it can help with marketing as well. I’d also recommend that TravelMob work with conferences - this would be a great tool for people to coordinate conference trips.

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