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Interview : Ziki.com Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten interviews Gonzague Dambricourt from Ziki.com Published on February 14, 2007 on http://bomega.com

Boris: “ Can you tell me, in one sentence, what Ziki is?” Gonzague: “ In one sentence, Ziki is a way to manage your identity online. It allows you to centralize your content in one place thanks to RSS feeds. What was previously all over the web can be found on one page.”

Boris: “ Ok, so I have my information in LinkedIn and Flickr and you want me to connect it all on Ziki?” Gonzague: “ LinkedIn doesn't provide a feed but you can add it to your 'Other Profiles' list. Flickr, on the other hand, provides a feed of your pictures so they can be found right into your Ziki profile if you add the feed to your account.”

Boris: “ So what exactely is the benefit of having everything on one page?” Gonzague: “ We think it's a much better way to show what you want in one page then on ten different websites. That's the "identity management" part of the site.”

Boris: “ What is the single most important factor that will drive people to Ziki?” Gonzague: “ The fact that it is at the same time a social network and a website that allows users to centralize the content they want (and even to republish it into one feed). In my mind , it's an important factor. Moreover users can publish content from their Ziki very easily”

Boris: “ When did you start with Ziki?” Gonzague: “ Ziki exists in english since a little while and was recently translated into French. The service exists since 2006. (January if you want the month)”

Boris: “ You advertise for members (until you reach 10.000) on Google. How much do you currently spend on Google advertising for members?” Gonzague: “ To be true, I don't know the exact amount. We offer up to $10 per member”

Boris: “ How will Ziki make money in the future?” Gonzague: “ Ziki is going to sell services and allow people to sell their services. One of our services will be to help small companies to manage their visibilty & identity.”

Boris: “ You seem to be adding less than 1000 new members a month. Is that correct?” Gonzague: “ that is exact...”

Boris: “ That doesn't seem much for a social network, right?” Gonzague: “ That is exact as well. But as I said , we are not just "another social network"...”

Boris: “ No, is it correct that you are more like MyBlogLog?” Gonzague: “ In my opinion, we are not like MyBlogLog either. Why ? Because MyBlogLog is mainly done to promote blogs and thanks to their widget to show "who was on which blog" . While we manage identity . I think it is different...”

Boris: “ Right. Do you understand that it is hard for people to place Ziki? I myself still have a hard time grasping how exactely I will use Ziki. Is it just for promotion. Is it like Netvibes or LinkedIn? Somehow your main benefit seems... hazy” Gonzague: “ LinkedIn is a professionnal network. Netvibes is an online feeds reader. We are an identity management service with a social network. I cannot reveal everything about our plans yet by the way”

Boris: “ Yes, but tonight I'm having dinner with my friends and I want to tell them about this cool new service called Ziki. I can't say "It is an identity management service with a social network" because that won't sell. I need something better than that and I can't think of it yet. I'm sure your service has a cool element which I'm going to use. I just can’t explain it and I think that is also the reason that only 7500 people have signed up so far?” Gonzague: “ I would rather use the plural form : cool elements. The identity management may sound "uncool" and we know that. But we don't claim being just a ‘funny service’. Online identity is becoming more and more importance every day. When a friend is looking for you, no doubt he (or she) will ”Google" you. When you are applying for a job, this will surely be the same thing. What we allow through our service is better visibility (especially with sponsored links) and also a better way to show your content. It can it be your blog posts, your pictures, your videos or the last songs you've been listening to on Last.fm”

Boris: “ My last question: How are you funded and how do you see your exit?” Gonzague: “ We run on our own funds and our exit is not planned yet and if it was, I don't think that this would be disclosed”

Boris: “ Ok, thanks for taking the time to chat with me. I hope your message and key benefits will become more clear as you launch new features in the future and I wish you good luck with Ziki.” Gonzague: “ You're very welcome. Thanks for your time too, congratulations for your very interesting questions. It is pretty unusual to have this kind of remarks and it helps us a lot to improve. We also count on users' feedback. With the hope to hear more about you soon on http://Ziki.com ”

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