I've never really been into social networking sites until I started working for one in July 2006. Even though this Nordic adventure hasn't been what I expected from it due to a lot of reasons, my interest in these sites has remained. As long as MySpace has it's near-monopoly in the social networking arena and hasn't been defeated by any successful competitor, others will keep trying to beat them. Some try by looking better, others by using a better interface, yet others by offering more interesting features to their users. Competition sure is stiff in social networking. New initiatives are popping up out of nowhere and many will surely not win the fight against the giant. It's like a comment from someone I read somewhere earlier: They're like Wal-Mart. You can't beat them and they'll always be there. This however doesn't mean there's no room for some other social networking sites. In the Netherlands Hyves has proven to be extremely succesful on the local market and they're currently trying to expand to the rest of the world.

A new kid on the block

Most social networking sites suffer from something that make them almost unbearable to look at for most web designers and developers: Horribly markup, shitty customization features and most important: butt ugly looking profiles.

Enter Virb.com. A new project by Unborn Media, well known from the succesful and awesome looking music community PureVolume.com. Virb is all different. Virb is all about slick looks and ultimate customization. After having spent a couple of days on this community I decided to restart my blogging activities on this site by writing a review about it. I'll throw in some invites as well so keep reading!

Beta

Like almost any new service these days, Virb is still in beta. This usually means you can't get in just like that. You need an invite. Luckily I managed to get one a week ago which is why I can write about it now. I don't really know how many members the closed beta community consists of now but I estimate a couple of thousands. I hope Virb will open it's doors to the general public soon because I can't wait to see what kind of impact they'll have on the social networking scene.

If you don't have an invite you aren't gonna see much more than this.

A clean interface

Everything on Virb looks clean and slick. Some people may even argue it looks a little bit TOO clean. If I had to describe it I'd say that the general interface on the site has a typical 'web 2.0' look. The interface is easy to use, there's javascript / AJAX stuff where it makes sense and I have yet to discover the first glitch / bug in it.

This is what you'll see after logging in to Virb. A clean and easy to use interface.

Lot's of functionality

Even though Virb is still in Beta and heavily under construction it already offers a lot of functionality. Pictures, music, video's, blogs, messaging, groups, browsing, all functionality one would expect on a social networking site is already there and working quite smoothly. It's possible to create both normal user accounts as well as music/band accounts suitable for promoting your own music. User accounts can help promote their favorite bands by placing a personal player in their profile with their own custom playlist.

While a lot of services try to keep all functionality inside of the community, Virb is also working on integration with your own existing weblog. Flickr integration has been implemented this week and seems to be working perfectly. What I still miss is better ways to browse other peoples content and easier ways to find new people. It definitely still lacks portal functionality which would give the site a more lively feel. There's a search page and a browse page but it still feels rather limited compared to many other social networking sites. Let's hope these things will improve in the future.

Customize, customize!

This is where Virb really shines and where I got extremely excited about this particular social networking service: You can customize your profile with hardly any constraints. This has already resulted in the most amazing profile pages I've ever seen on any social networking site. On Virb, users can fully customize both the CSS and the markup for their profiles. Needless to say that this results in an astonishing amount of creative freedom when it comes to what users want to let their profile look like. For the less challenged there's also a basic styles editor to change colors and backgrounds.

No frills CSS and HTML edit fields. Let the creative juices flow freely.

The Big Buzz

Virb has generated quite a lot of buzz in the (web design related) blogging scene. I've already spotted many well-known bloggers with a profile on Virb. Needless to say this makes Virb's closed beta community a great place to hang out for geeks and designers. Of course this will all change as soon as it opens it's doors to the world but for now it's quite nice indeed.

Of course I had to give Virb's customization extravaganza a serious swirl, resulting in the profile you see in the screenshot below. It's a fair start but a lot more is possible if you're willing to spend more time on it.

This is what my profile looks like on Virb.

This is the profile I created for my girlfriend.

Closing notes

I'll admit it, I really like this community. I like it more than any community I've been on, especially because of the amazing customization features. This of course doesn't mean Virb can manage to conquer a substantial share of the social networking market. It all remains to be seen whether they'll make it or go down like many others. However, the team behind it seems to be a bunch of people who know what they're doing and with some serious experience in the field. I can't wait to see what this baby is gonna do! I'm sure interesting times are ahead of us when it comes to social networking.

Invites

I've got 5 invites left for virb. I'd like to give them to those who are willing to give the CSS customizability a serious go. So if you get one you better come back and let me know what piece of art you've created. Please don't ask for one if all you want is to look around. It's nicer when people actually do something with their invite. I'll post your screenshots below this posting if you let me know the URL to your Virb profile.

If you want an invite and you're interested to kick some CSS / Design ass on Virb please leave a comment. The first five will receive an invite as soon as possible!

See you on Virb!

Last but not least I figured it would be nice to link to my virb.com account for those who are already there.

See you on virb.com!