Layoffspace – Is This a Light In the Void?

Layoffspace, doesn't sound like a cheery destination does it? This latest diversion into the nether-niches just launched late last week to create a community where unemployed people can come together. The startup is owned by Spacemen Labs, a Pennsylvania Limited Liability Company and promises the “potential” of community action up to and including “life long connections at the click of a button.” Just when I thought I had seen it all (well actually I was awaiting the very next excursion into the weird), a site has been developed that promises to be as exciting as an AA meeting. The big news here is really that Layoffspace is probably more needed than we realize.

The Bad Stuff

I don't usually set right in with disparaging comments about sites, but Layoffspace really deserves it for two reasons; because very skillful people created a nice Web 2.0 site with an already “beaten down” target audience in mind, and because of their additionally Machiavellian appearing name. I don't know how personally other people might view this site, but for many people I am sure they do not want to feel like they belong to MySpace for losers. That is just the feeling I get from the combination of title, depressing and muted site design and the giant black cloud that hovers suspended above a whole niche that should not even exist.

Now for the Good Stuff

Layoffspace provides a network for people who have lost their jobs, provided they can still afford an Internet connection. The site offers a blog, chat, groups, support and most importantly a really extensive compilation of resources to help people caught in the turnstiles of unemployment. Allowances have been made for job posting and a calendar of events so that members will have access to potential openings and further networking and help in finding new careers.

This site is one of those places we wish was not necessary but where necessity often forces people towards. I cannot make a determination about the true intent of such a site, but I can categorize it with the upcoming beta “GraveSpace”, where people who are in the ultimate prostrate situation can leave photos and messages for their loved ones.

My Take and More Bad Stuff

This site is, of a necessity, a helpful and well organized Web resource for displaced workers. Given the probably 35 million illegal aliens in the U. S., the exportation of manufacturing jobs overseas in mass, a government that would climb a tree to tell a lie and an Internet that cannot support more millions of IT professionals sites like this should really thrive here.

A gloomy picture I know, but sooner or later I am 100 percent sure my “oil on canvas” rendering will ring true for those of you not staring into the bottom of a gopher hole. My readers realize that symbolism plays a large role in my alliterations about sites and the Web. The most indicative symbol of where Layoffspace comes from and what the intent might be resides on the Spacemen Labs services page where their last service listed is search engine optimization. Here is an SEO company with the altruistic heart of a therapy/unemployment agency for the downtrodden! Right, SEO and altruism are mutually exclusive terms in this regard and transparency is simpler when help organizations abound in the .org realm.

I know I will take some heat from these guys after posting this, but honestly I fully expect to see an online pawn shop on the site next to help unemployed people get rid of their hard earned possessions for 25 cents on the dollar. Sorry guys but you should have hidden the SEO service better, and “filling a void” does not imply sucking the last bit of life out of people in trouble under the guise of humanitarianism. Sites like this beacon: “Come here, bemoan your situation with us and populate our site with ad revenue potential with your last breath.”