LinkSpank.com - Old Friends, New Stuff

LinkSpank takes advantage of most of us do periodically throughout the day: share links with friends, peers, coworkers, family, etc. but in a controlled environment that: entertains, connects friends in an activity based on their normal web behavior, rewards them for that behavior, and takes some of the monotony out of the cubicle culture. Users who "join the spank" accumulate points and status for the links they share, called spanks. You can spank others already signed up with the LinkSpank system, outside email addresses or Facebook friends, so it's not a walled garden. As users go about their normal link-sharing day they build status within the system, which is determined by how well they share and how well each person is received by recipients, or how many actually open links and/or push them on to their own network. Point leaders win periodic contest prizes provided by site sponsors who pay to be in front of this crowd. Other benefits to the site include being a great way to procrastinate as well as being a way to keep from procrastinating. Getting all of your friends on LinkSpank keeps their email forwards out of your daily workflow by consolidating them into a daily or weekly digest.

“Avoid working a normal job. Give everyone out there -- in their offices, the houses, the submarines -- some freedom from their routines. Create an online activity that is smarter, funnier, and more enlightened than the crap out there.”

As users share content with one another and build status, LinkSpank learns who the opinion leaders within their peer groups are. It's an entire ecosystem that provides incentive, enhances and improves sharing. Spankers win stuff, and the "spankees" discover better content.

Wouldn’t it be better if they showed some kind of preview of the site so people don’t have to sign up to get to know it?