MingleNow is a place-centered social networking

MingleNow is a place-centered social networking site that will offer real world incentives for online activity. Incubated by advertising company BlueLithium, MingleNow will launch a limited beta early next week and open to the public at the end of this month. I’ve been waiting for this to come to fruition for some time and I’ll be interested to see if it’s well received. If the real world events and incentives end up being something people are interested in participating in, then this could do well. I imagine that if top MySpace users, for example, told the world where they’d be on a Saturday night, a fair number of people would likely go there too.

Unlike other social networks that are focused on people, MingleNow will be based primarily on locations like bars and other venues. Nearly 900,000 physical locations will have dedicated MingleNow pages at launch and users will be encouraged to upload photos and stories from those locations. Users will also have fully customizable profile pages. MingleNow emphasizes the viability of its service for events promoters. Users who bring in friends and populate the site with photos, stories and reviews will receive points towards real world discounts, early event notification and VIP access to select events. The service will kick off with public events at venues around the US this fall. …

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