Take 1: Wallop

First, there was Myspace. Then came Facebook, a little while later. And now there is…Wallop?

Well, I know Wallop sounds like a pretty silly name; in fact, it doesn’t sound like a name for a social network site at all! But I remember the first time I saw it, and it’s all-exclusive invitation only service, I was already interested in it. After all, it looks a lot cooler than Facebook (let’s not even mention Myspace and it’s layout disasters).

In contrast to Facebook’s blue and white colour scheme, Wallop seems to be following Microsoft’s Windows Vista’s pattern – a pretty gothic, yet classy, glossy black. I like it! Reminds me of someone’s blurbs *wink*…

I’ve also noticed that there are no squares in Wallop – it all contributes to a very futuristic vibe. The avatars are circles, the friends list is a circle (which looks really cool, circled avatar arranged in a circle), and the page itself is surrounded by a menu that’s curved.

There are themes that you can change to make your page more “you”. Seems like a good thing; it’s not customizable to an HTML level like Myspace, but it’s a heck of a lot more customizable than, oh say, Facebook (not customizable at all, I’ll be happy to say). You can change your background wallpaper too – I just left mine a nice green gradient (I like black and green – looks like a pretty good combo, right?).

The coolest part of Wallop though, would have to be the uploads – you can upload pictures onto Wallop (yes, but Facebook and Myspace had that already); you can also upload MUSIC onto Wallop. Yes, your favourite music tracks can be uploaded onto Wallop and made available to the public audience or just your friends (or for you selfish people out there, you can make them available to just yourself). I’ve been listening to some songs that I haven’t acquired yet, and the quality isn’t too shabby, although you shouldn’t expect too much of it. It’s a very nice way to listen to a friend’s favourite music though; no more going to their house or borrowing their CD (or illegal downloading) required!

It’s GUI is actually pretty intuitive, and pretty natural. It is all flash-based (no HTML, which is a new concept in social networking sites), which makes it have a lot more eye-candy but take a bit longer to load as well (and you also need the Flash plug-in, which every one of you should already have). A lot more animation and effects (such as fading), which I can say are a definite plus in my book; it seems to be bringing the future of social networking.

Last, but not least – there is already a mod shop! A “mod” on Wallop is a little flash application that allows you to do various things; it can display a calendar on your page, or let you play some videos. Unfortunately, these mods do cost money (on Wallop, the currency is called “Wollars”); you do get 5 Wollars for free though, so you can invest in a couple of mods if you had to.

The only negative thing is that it’s kind of quiet; why? It has all these wonderful features, and it’s still quiet? What’s going on here?! Well, it’s invitation-only, so not everyone can just sign up when they want to. If you’re really interested in Wallop, you can e-mail me (check the contact page!), and I’ll do my best to get you an invitation as soon as I can.

Could Wallop be the future of social networking? It most certainly can; it’s definitely got a lot more potential going for it than oh, say, Facebook or Myspace. But don’t let me tell you about it – find out for yourself (how? read the preceding paragraph)!