This week in our tutorials, following the moodle instructions, we were placed into pairs and asked to research a popular site and a less popular one of similar interest or direction and compare the two. We (that is, Mel and I) ended up observing the world of interactive chat rooms-and focused our presentation on the popular teen based chat room Habbo Hotel and the ever growing 3D chat world IMVU.

Using Google statistics we found that Habbo’s popularity was significantly higher than that of IMVU at its peak in 2004. IMVU has yet to catch Habbo, but the possibility is in fact inevitable since Habbo’s popularity is in a state of decline whilst IMVU’s popularity is at a steady skyward climb. These statistics were supported by the site’s online count.

We visited Habbo Hotel: approximately 2000 Australians and just over 1000 Americans online. This was a stark contrast to IMUV’s 50,099 currently active participants.

History of Habbo:

Habbo was launched online in 2000, as social networking website promoted to teenagers. It was originally a creative project of Finnish designer Sampo Karjalainen and technologist Aapo Kyrölä who used it as a chat room for a Finnish rock band. In 2000 the market was taken mainstream by Dee Edwards of the UK, and by 2001 Habbo Hotel had hit the international market being translated into four different languages and appearing in a number of countries.

Collective Intelligence:

The site obviously harnesses social networking, though unlike in the fashion of web 2.0, I don’t believe the users contribute largely to the production and management of the site.

The limitations of rejecting collective intelligence means limitations on the site, it can ultimately only be enhanced by the corporate heads of the site and not the community. Because Habbo is directed at teenagers safety measures and moderation must be put in place, and we believe that this really inhibits the site’s creative growth. It can be no more than just a chat site, customise your avatar, buy credits with your parent’s money and then get over it. The lack of community imput will lead to the death of Habbo.

This is why I believe IMVU’s popularity is increasing. It is a web 2.0 friendly service where Habbo is not. IMVU promotes community involvement through the production of content. The community participates in the interface by creating content and “selling it” for online credits. The interface is thus enhanced and progressed (continues to maintain interest) through the constant stream of new items. The method of community imput has its advantages because the interface will always be a reflection of what the community wants. Its popularity is ensured.
The success of IMVU over Habbo also relies on the structure of the interface. You can very much compare these two programs with the Maxis PC game- The Sims. Habbo is much more like the original sims, can only be viewed from one angle, cartoon like, pixelled, microcosmic. Whilst IMVU is musch more like The sims 3, open world, detailed character customization, active content based community, heavily interactive (with object and avatar) and finally supportive of the customer. Although both are “pay sites” IMVU seems more worth the money.

And that is our little investigation concluded. It was really interesting to hear what the other groups had to present on their findings of the various different sites and the less popular counterparts. I found that the interfaces that thrived- ones like YouTube, Amazon, etc were the ones that were conscious of the community, involving them and benefiting them. The ones that encompassed the spirit of Web 2.0.