Whatsupedia is a new service that helps you find and share interesting links based on your specific interests. The site also allows you to comment on and discuss those links. The site works in two different ways:
- For content discovery, you can drill down into the links based on specific communities or categories. Currently, there are five: Profession, Interest, City, Culture, and Orientation. You can choose any combination of these communities to find exactly what you want. For example, something like LGBTQ+Hackers+Ruby on Rails+New York, you would only see links and discussions for LGBTQ folks in New York who like Hacking Ruby on Rails. Once you find a community you like, you simply Favorite it for later.
- For sharing content, you would choose your community and submit links you think others in the community will like. This helps you gain influence within that community as users vote on your links.
Whatsupedia is basically a Hacker News for people who may not necessarily be hackers. Its wider focus should make it of interest to a larger user base. The layout may seem familiar to Hacker News fans. It’s simple and clean with a focus on the actual content of the site. As you navigate the site, labels give you direction on what to do.
The idea for the site came about as the Founder, Jamil Abreu, was planning a conference in 2007 for Dominican college students. As Jamil puts it, “Facebook connects you to your social network, but what about the people interested the things you share that ARENT on your friends list?” A sentiment that many of us have thought at one time or another.
The site just launched, so go check it out and share some links. Tell us what you think here or speak with the founder via live chat on the site.