I’m much more a ‘cat person’ – but there’s a lot to like about the new Doggysnaps website, launched by UK canine charity Dogs Trust. They’ve used the irPublish platform to build a remarkably good Flickr-like photo community, with comments and the added ability to give ‘treats’ (and hence bribe your way to a huge social network). They reckon they’ve had a commendable 13,600 dogs sign up since a soft launch last September.
Why is a charity doing this? ‘As a thank you to all you dog lovers out there,’ they say. There are ‘donate’ buttons on most pages, but it doesn’t get too intrusive. Visitor numbers keep ticking upwards, Dogs Trust boosts its standing in the pets world, and I’m sure a good few people click to donate or buy merchandise from the online shop. This is Marketing 2.0 at its finest.
Oh… and while we’re on the subject of dogs… they’re being trained to use cash machines these days.