AGLOCO = Infomediary

Hope you all had a great holiday I had a nice two week holiday trip - relatives near Nice.

I did two Google searches today - first was AGLOCO - 820,000 pages - that is a lot of pages.

Next I did AGLOCO and infomediary - 290 pages - pretty weak as a percentage of 820,000 - obviously people are more interested in recruiting new members than they are in what makes the whole thing work. (By the way - this blog was the #1 result in that search which shows how few sites really have much to say on the subject - there were 7 ads however.)

I then did two more searches - infomediary and Google - 18,000 pages (this blog was #4 on that results page - which shows again a weak Google infomediary connection.

Next - infomediary and Microsoft - 23,000 pages - several talking about the MS Passport as Microsoft's infomediary play. (This blog was not there on that search.)

The conclusion - AGLOCO is a very attractive member machine - but most people are joining without the knowledge of just how powerful AGLOCO can become. So they are in for a good surprise.

Vision #1 - Free is Too Expensive

This is more like the AGLOCO battlecry than a vision. Although the way they write about it, it becomes a vision not just for AGLOCO but all user supportted Internet communities. -

To me this includes Google and Yahoo. They have made fortnes on other peoples work. The Infomediary can correct all that.

1. Free is too expensive

A free service is always great. However, if Members produce what becomes the core value of the company – as we have seen with recent online mega-deals - then we believe Members should receive a good portion of the financial benefit that the company derives.

AGLOCO = A GLObal COmmunity

Vision #2 for AGLOCO is almost a restatement of the name. AGLOCO could not make a stronger commitment to being worldwide than putting it as their name. Launching in Mandarin and English is also no small effort.

It will be interesting to see how the population of AGLOCO breaks down country wise. I may make some statements on the status of the Internet on a country be country basis.


2. A global community

The internet unites the world across cultures, borders and languages. AGLOCO wants to bridge the divide in global understanding and promote itself as a cross cultural, socially aware and responsible community.

AGLOCO and Community Responsibility

This sets a high moral standard for AGLOCO as an Infomediary. Infomediaries can be set with agnostic settings for content - i.e. anything goes. It would appear that AGLOCO will use community feedback to set the standards here.

3. A community with a shared sense of responsibility

We stray away from advertising and products that are socially unacceptable. We strive to create an active and socially responsible community.

AGLOCO - mainly self policing

Vision #4 is the Wikipedia model. Since Wikipedia is not owned by anyone – it is therefore owned by everyone. And people on Wikipedia do not ‘mind’ and actually many enjoy adding to the free collective knowledge on the Internet.

AGLOCO is not owned by anyone, but rather everyone (everyone who is a member). That sets up the same dynamic as Wikipedia. Members of AGLOCO actually own the company and when they see others trying to vandalize it or defraud it, they will come forward to ‘defend’ it just the same way as Wikipedia ‘members’ do. With people volunteering to do various jobs in protecting certain parts of the community.


4. Members that own the community should help promote and police it

A user that owns part of the community has more incentive to promote it and keep it free of malicious software and ill-intentioned individuals. We believe that the overwhelming majority of our Members will want to reach out to friends, family and colleagues, as well as protect themselves from scams and pitfalls on the Internet.

I like the title of this vision

I like the title of this vision - am not as impressed with the text.. I think it is good as far as it goes, but I think it should go further. An infomediary is more than financial. It is about community, member safety and utility. These things can be just as important as money to some users and it should be included in the vision statement if AGLOCO is to truly become the Infomediary it can be.

5. Every single Member benefits

Every Member should benefit in his or her way by joining a trusted community. Whether earning money while surfing, or giving that money away to charity, we believe the platform should represent what the Internet should be: a source of benefit for a large section of the population.

AGLOCO and Trust

Trust is a mandatory requirement for an Infomediary. In order to be trusted AGLOCO must continuously meet the trust expectations of its members. I think it is important that they put this issue as one of their ten visions for the company.

6. Trust is everything

The AGLOCO platform can be a gateway for an array of other services developed to provide both monetary and service benefits. Whether early virus and phishing site alerts or simply a trusted information exchange, Members should benefit from such a community.