Freezecrowd.com, founded by self-proclaimed “internet visionary” Eric Leebow, is a new social media website that has launched after 11 years of development focusing on bringing people together through pictures.
“The basis of Freezecrowd is for people to take group photographs and therefore come together,” said Leebow. “The success of Freezecrowd is dependent on interpersonal communication and is meant to personalize connections between individuals in photos.”
The website revolves entirely around pictures and attempts to differentiate itself from other social media sites through this focus.
The new social networking website also “offers many unique features such as speech bubbles for each individual to comment and a “Crowd Control” button, which shows all the connections made in the photograph,” said Leebow.
In addition, the site also has some features that are reminiscent of past and current policies for social media websites like Facebook.
“Freezecrowd is safe and private for users and is not open to search engines,” Leebow claimed, pointing out that it targets a specific college-aged audience by limiting the service to those who have an .edu address.
The launch of Freezecrowd and its chances of success raise concerns and questions over how much space exists in the social media site landscape.
Associate Professor of Marketing Sweety Law questioned the chances of Freezecrowd’s success, as its focus on photo sharing is already offered by Facebook and Google+ with both companies already having major advantages.
“In a nutshell, Facebook already has a captive audience of millions; and Google enjoys as much if not a greater reputation and perhaps more business success because of its search engine,” explained Law. “So it is well nigh difficult for Freezecrowd to unsettle such behemoths in brand names, unless it can come up with something really innovative that will differentiate it.”
Even so, Law pointed out that the opportunity exists because of conditions that he believes have left the social media space a bit more open to competition.
Facebook in particular has begun to plateau for several reasons according to Law, including the company’s issues with user privacy, lack of efficient and original innovations and competition with the new Google+ network, which could leave the door open for sites like Freezecrowd to find success.
Freezecrowd could struggle with exposure as well, and while Leebow may have gained some attention for his new website through his Youtube video, many CSU East Bay students like business major Alyssa Wescott have not even heard of Freezecrowd.
“I have never heard of Freezecrowd.com or Eric Leebow but I feel that limiting the service to those who have an .edu address will slow down the site’s popularity,” said Wescott. “Also the lack of a mobile app is obvious, especially when we live in an Iphone generation.”
Leebow first entered the media spotlight with a viral Youtube.com video he entered for a competition sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in which they offered “$100,000 in cash prizes for the most innovative, creative, compelling story.”