Interview: Buzka – Social networking for subject matter experts

My third and final interview at the ANZAtechnet Conference was with Raphe Patmore of Perth-based Buzka. His product blew me away! If you are a subject matter expert, information marketeer, frustrated blogger looking for a quick way to snarf content or otherwise interested in building a vibrant online community of clients by offering structured access to information, then you really must check out Buzka. But wait! There's more! As well as being a handy-dandy way of collating content from the far reaches of the internet the Buzka "Spot" you create (for free!) will drive your Google rankings sky-high. Check it out. Search on 'Chinese Stuff' and in the top 10 listings you'll see Wei's Chinese Stuff Spot - a Buzka site. Other examples of Buzka sites can be found by using the 'Search' button or browsing this listing of Interests. A couple I liked were this Guide to London and this guide to Learning French. Don't make the mistake of dismissing Buzka as a simple 'bookmark publishing' app or another Digg. I was recently impressed by the flexible social networking aspects of Ning - which allow information brokers to build a client base. But it seems small scale and somewhat walled off. Not so Buzka. The true power of the product (listen up, NSA members) is by investing a couple of grand for a private label version, like this very cool surfing site. Nice, huh? Look at all the user generated content on 'Your stories', and the extensive catalogs on 'Clothing and Accessories'. I can imagine many niche markets responding well to filtered, organized information on a Buzka Spot - who knows, they might well value the expertize of the person delivering this information enough to stick around and see what else you have to offer. Enough of my rambling. To hear Raphe discuss his product, well, you know what to do...