Via Smart Mobs, there is a new website up and running called Public Mind. It's blurb says:
"Public Mind is a free service that groups people together who want the same thing.
Join others to leverage the Internet and get what you want!
*Suggest any new product or service
*Bring back a discontinued product
*Solve a customer service problem
Use the Web and other people to gather critical mass, demonstrate real demand, and get companies to take action."
It is in beta version at the moment, but worth a look. At first, I thought "What a good campaigning tool" for small organisations or someone with an idea. But it is mostly aimed at money-making: when enough people have signed up to an idea, then "companies and organisations" can come in to make it happen. Which is starting to get a little reminiscent of Lets Buy It and others, using collective power for a market purpose.
No bad thing, of course, empowering individuals by joining them as a collective, but why not empower them to solve the problem or put a product out or whatever, rather than bringing in a business to do it? On the Global Ideas Bank, the idea submitter can e-mail all the people who've signed up to their idea securely and privately to ask for advice or help getting it off the ground. It is they who control the process, rather than having someone else arbitrarily decide when a group is "big enough" to invite a company in to pitch to it.....
Still, if you want to see some outmoded product return, this could be your best bet for a while....
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