AlaTest site

Purpose

Alatest is a site that allows members to review the products they purchased. They have every electronic device from cameras to televisions. Creating an account on Alatest is a breeze. It takes a minute to sign up. As a member, you can also find reviews on other products. You don't need an account to view reviews. The site shares all the information with you when you go to the page. They have 7.2 million reviews from 1225 websites. They also provide a rating tool for those who don't have time to write a review. They have expert reviews along with user reviews. So if you are looking for the best buy, this site will help you with your decision.

Features

You can upload videos of your reviews. The site also provides links to other sites like Amazon to purchase reviewed products. When you look at a device, the site shows how many people looked at it and other devices they looked at. For example, I check out a Sony camera. When I had scrolled down the page, they had other viewers who looked at the same and other cameras. In a way, this expands your search for the right product. On the side of every review, they have different prices from other sites. So you can choose the best deal on the site without navigating the web.

Just like the other sites, they show different advertisements on the page. The site encourages members to upload pictures of themselves. For a site like this, pictures are not needed. This is a review site, so the only thing that matters is the reviews. Your homepage displays the last items you looked at. Since there are a ton of devices on here, this feature comes in handy.

ReverbNation pt.2

Audience

ReverbNation is a site intended for musicians, but they encourage non-musicians to participate in the promotions. As a indie artist, your fans are your vehicle. They can drive you to success or away from it. RN has made it possible for fans to help their artists in many ways. Non-musicians have something other than Facebook to be apart of now. They have a voice on RN just as the musicians. They might not get paid to promote their favorite artist, but they can say that they had a hand in it.

All communities can take part on the RN website. RN doesn't target any specific groups, they just want their site to be among the heavy hitters. Other networks have failed to ignite the underground world of music, but RN is destined to be the Facebook/Twitter of music.

Organization

The site is well organized. They offer many tools and options. These items are not hard to find on the website. For example, anything that is dealing with money is all in one column.

As you can see, RN has everything organized from Home to Account settings. Without this kind of organization, you would get lost finding stuff. At the bottom of the page, RN has even added all the links to make navigation easier.

RN is a worthy site. This can contend with the biggies. The overall experience is fresh and intuitive. Even though the site offers tutorials on how to use the tools, one can still use the tools without watching videos.

ReverbNation pt.1

Purpose

ReverbNation (RN) is a social interaction site for independent musicians. As you can see, the creator of the site combined a studio plug-in effect with the word 'nation'. Reverb is a plug-in effect used in recording. This is what the engineers use to add echos to voices and instruments. Musicians feel right at home when they come to this site. RN focuses on the independent careers of its members. For example, they help musicians earn money through on-line distribution. They help manage the money you make on-line as well.

Independent musicians can upload their songs, videos, photos, and widgets on their profile page. The site understands the difficulty of getting people to listen to your music. So they have combined their services with other networks. For example, you can post your RN song list on your Facebook profile as an application. This means that your friends can check out your music without leaving Facebook.

They have ads that they show on your profile page. Unlike Myspace music, RN shares the profit they make from the revenue with you. They call it Fair share. The more people you get to visit your site, the more money you make. I think this is really a fair deal.

This site helps musicians connect with their fan base. Instead of traveling and promoting, you can do all your marketing from home. According to their tool 'FanReach Pro', you can boost your fan base and live gigs with emails. They help you manage your fans with detailed tracking. They even have the social networks your fans belong too. You can even organize a street promotion team out of your fans. If you have fans willing to push your music, you can assemble them with the street teams tool.

Goals

In this depressing economy, ReverbNation wants indie musicians to rise. They are aware that record deals are hard to come by these days. Considering the fact that record sales are down, they know that the major labels are holding on to their moneys. As a result, they have created this site to keep dreams alive.

Other networks that allow musicians to upload their material are not fully dedicated to the artist like RN. Plus, other sites use artists to expand their advertisements. For example, myspace music manipulates their musicians by advertising through the playlist. If a fan clicks on your song, an advertisement will pop up before your song plays. This is wrong on all levels.

RN wants you as an artist to live your dream. They want to make sure that your music is heard and appreciated. The overall goal is to make money. They even allow members to invest in your music with donations. They are even willing to promote you and put money in your pocket. This shreds any suspicion of deception from RN. This is the site to use if you want to get your sound out there.

Black Planet pt.2

The members on Black Planet

Some of the members with dating profiles have seductive looking pictures than the personal profiles. For example, one of the members had a sexy profile picture. She had long hair that was all over the place, light makeup, and thin. She posed like a model for the camera. The picture does a good job luring in visitors. She had over 3,000 hits on her page. The members with personal profiles have more subtle pictures. You can tell that they are on there just browsing on the site. The ages vary from 18 to 50. President Obama has a profile on the site. His real profile is hard to tell because some members use his picture for their main photo.

Black Planet is a worthy site. This site is the BET of social interactions. When I first heard about the site in 1999, I thought it was just a dating site. But the site offers more than a dating service. BP offers everything for everyone. Every profile picture that is promoted has an age and location on it. This gives members a brief look at the person's info without clicking their page. This site has been around for a long time. Facebook and Twitter might be the heavy hitters in the war, but BP continues to stand strong. So if this wasn't worthy, I think the site would had collapsed ages ago.

Black Planet pt.1

Purposes

(BP) Black planet is a community site. This is a social interaction site intended for the African American community; but it welcomes every race with opened arms. They want to unite people all over the world. So if you are a homebody, you can meet new people without leaving your house. The site informs with News dealing with black entertainment and rumors.

Strangers can meet on this site and fall in love. BP shows how they connect strangers with testimonials from married couples.

They are able to connect this with their dating section of the site. They want to show people their compatibilities to other people with love charts. They base results from a series of Q&As to determine if two people are a match. They use percentages to match up people. The overall theme that they want to express is Love.

BP's Offers

They offer two kinds of profile pages. BP's personal profiles allow people to make new friends. Creating a profile is easy and user friendly. You can customize your page with background templates provided by the site.

You can promote yourself or your business with a profile page. You can upload pictures and show off your looks. They offer IM (Instant Messaging) for those who like live chats. The dating section of the site has a different set of features than the personal section. They offer daters to browse other daters based on preferences. For example, if you don't want to date people with kids, you can add it to your preference. They have member points that you earn from using the site. You can use the points to buy gifts and email them to other members. You can send crushes and add members on a favorites' list. In conclusion, BP wants visitors to have the best experience every visit.