I Link You

social networking around fashion

It seems like the trend in social networking is division of labor. Become as specialized as you can! It's interesting to go through social networking sites devoted to new parents, dog owners, cat owners, food lovers, etc.

Eventually, I ran into this social community called LookSpark that heralds fashion and personal style. As a devoted follower to celebrity fashion and couture (don't be fooled by my lack of inspiration in my other blogs... I do have other things to do besides blogging), I decided to spend an hour and explore to see what the site has to offer. With the somewhat cheesy motto, "Style is a feeling. Express yourself," the site serves for fashionistas to share their takes on the fashion world today.

The buzzword is "spark." Each entry or comment made by you is a "spark." Like any other social networking site, you can vote on different "Sparks" across many categories and tell other users what you think of Paris Hilton's latest fashion bungle/trend. You can discuss with other users on the topic of the "spark." Also, you can share "sparks" with your friends and gain their input.

Some of the more interesting categories include "Deals and Steals" where users can share their finds online or offline with others on the site. Another category is "What am I wearing today?" which calls for lots of sarcastic jokes and obnoxious hilarity. The "Style Term of the Day" is actually one part of the site where I learn a lot about fashion. I never knew what a "heel counter" (def: plastic cup within the upper which cups the heel to reduce excessive rearfoot motion) or "escarion" (def: light shoes worn in the 16th century) until I ran into this site.

The community itself is very easy to use and navigate. There are not that many "wow" functions or anything out of the ordinary. The reason could lie in the audience where they may not be that tech saavy, but it seems to focus more on content and sharing rather than next-gen applications. There seems to be a lot of "sparks" that get put up every day, but not many users reply to them which begs the question on whether this fashion community is targeting a market that is too small.

I guess we'll see what happens. I'm running out of ideas for gifts for my family and friends, and clothes are usually at the top of the wishlist for many of them.

posted by Koh @ 2:26 PM