Webmunism Releases Social Networking Features… Or Should I Put It Socialist Here?

Earlier this month Delta Taph published a post about Webmunism. Last week I received from them an update on Webmunism passing to the next stage of their beta.

As you might remember from the previous post (or from your own use of the website), Webmunism is a blend of search engine and multimedia gallery which automatically categorizes photos, videos, audio albums and books into groups called Webmunes. Below I have pasted a screenshot of a webmune called Travel.

So what’s actually new in their beta? Sure enough, it must be social networking. And of course it is. Registered users now become Webmunists and are able to communicate with their comrades. It is not necessary to join Webmunism (for example if you prefer not to be called “Webmunist”), all the search and categorization functions are available anyway. And that might prove useful: I have found 34 and a half thousand of different webmunes ranging from anime to cognitive science. And all these are searchable and browsable.

But if you are interested in the social networking functions, finding comrades and customizing your Webmunism to show your favorite webmunes, you will need to sign up.

Me personally I have enjoyed the registration process itself. After choosing a user name and a password you are logged in right away and directed to a page with 9 images (I had a newborn baby, some ruins and a sunset among them). You are offered to rate every image from 1 to 5 for the system to determine what your preferences might be and offer you some webmunes to join. After you rate them (it took me only a couple of minutes) you receive a list of webmunes to uncheck those you actually do not wish to join. I chose some about traveling and New York buildings. But actually this list seemed to be too long and I guess it will be getting even longer with the number of Webmunes related to newborn babies growing.

But anyway I think when more users register as Webmunists, it will be interesting to find people sharing your passions here. They gather high-quality content from all around the web, they give you an opportunity to share your opinions with people who share the same interests. Why don’t you use it? But do you have any ideas about what all this Soviet-style theme is intended for? Is social networking supposed to be easier in a classless, stateless society of equals? Or does it mean that we are having a new political movement on the web?