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Building Conversations with Namesake

namesake logoBased out of Los Angeles, California, Namesake is a social startup that has the mission is to build trust through conversation. According to the company founders, Brian Norgard and Daniel Gould, conversations are one of the most important tools we have as humans to learn, progress and connect. Prior to Namesake, Brian founded Newroo (acquired by FOX Interactive Media) and Ad.ly.

A Website for Conversations

Namesake has been compared to Q&A sites such as Quora and Aardvark and to reputation management sites such as PeerIndex and Klout. However, the founders are quick to point out that Namesake is different.

Unlike Quora and Aardvark, Namesake does not focus only on questions and does not want to become a formal repository. Users can post anything ranging from how their day went to videos.

Unlike PeerIndex and Klout, Namesake does not focus only on online reputation management. While the platform allows users to endorse other users in areas of expertise, there is no single measure for comparing online reputation among all users.

Namesake focuses on creating conversations.

The Future of Namesake


According to traffic data from Compete as of 06/27/11, visits to Namesake.com peaked on September 2010 with about 21,000 unique visitors and then started to drop. However, the Namesake team has implemented a couple of useful features that are bringing users back.

1. On February 2011, users were enabled to start conversations through 3 ways: public conversations, private conversations, and invitation-only conversations. In private conversations, the only individual who can invite people to a private conversations is the starter of the conversation. In invitation-only conversations, anyone invited to these conversations has the power to invite others.

2. On May 2011, users were enabled to write a summary for a conversations with 10 or more comments. This feature is a helpful way to add context to an ever growing conversation thread.

Try starting and taking part of conversations with Namesake at http://www.namesake.com.

By Damian Davila, online marketing and Internet news blogger. Follow him on Twitter at @idaconcpts.

Posted in Social Media Tools and Social Startups. Tags: , ,

12 Replies

  1. Amenda Jul 4th 2011

    I know this can be very helpful to all bloggers…I hope you continue to post some more of this…

  2. Thank you Amenda, glad you found this tool useful. Currently there is a really interesting conversation on Namesake with Mike Prassad, founder of GirlGamer and the guy who started the LA food truck craze by popularizing KogiBBQ.

    http://namesake.com/conversation/andrewskotzko/todays-namesake-conversation-is-with-mikeprasad-founder-of-girlgamer-and-the-guy-who-started-the-la-food-truck-craze-by-popularizing-kogibbq-well-be-discussing-emerging-trends-how-to-actually-make-social-media-pay-and-more-lets-dive-in/

  3. Hi Damian…I want to try this tool because I have also heard it from a friend that it can be really useful…I hope it will really be…

  4. Hello Damian, thank you for sharing this tool. I will try this out.

  5. Hi Sue and Yen Sant,

    Glad you liked the article. You can find on Namesake at:

    http://namesake.com/idaconcpts

    I look forward to see you on Namesake.

  6. Hi, Damian,
    I will pay them a visit, to improve their stats, why not? I also support their misison, as it is true that conversation makes us closer and develops us in communication progress. Namesake must be a good idea that needs support.

  7. Hi Kristina, the service is interesting as long as you have a nice following on Twitter or Facebook.

    Also, check out Klout. Klout quickly reacted to Namesake’s popularity by adding the “topics” feature. It is a very similar concept.

    Hope to find you on either network.

  8. I will try this tool, thanks for sharing this Damian..

  9. I have learned plenty of information through this blog…Thanks for sharing it to us…

  10. Amazing how sometimes one is completely ignorant about stuff. Till today I had not heard about namesake at all. It is completely new to me.

    Based on what you say, it does seem like an interesting service. I will check it out.

    But the USP seems to be diluted when users are allowed to post anything and everything.

  11. @James Hope you like it!

    @ Cindy It is interesting to see how conversations develop. There are some pretty interesting (and useful!) ones such as this one:

    http://namesake.com/conversation/andrewskotzko/todays-namesake-conversation-is-with-mikeprasad-founder-of-girlgamer-and-the-guy-who-started-the-la-food-truck-craze-by-popularizing-kogibbq-well-be-discussing-emerging-trends-how-to-actually-make-social-media-pay-and-more-lets-dive-in/

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