I don’t hide the fact that my new project, Spot.Us, is inspired by other sites. Sometimes the best innovation is plagiarism. While my focus is on journalism – sites like Kiva.org or DonorsChoose have proven that micro-donations can work. At Spot Us’ blog you can see some of the sites I’ve been studying in the right hand column.
One site that has had my attention is "ThePoint.com" which is playing off "the tipping point." It’s a bit different from Kiva, Spot US or Donors Choose in that there isn’t a specific niche it’s trying to answer – you can start a campaign on ‘The Point’ about anything you want. It’s strength is in the way it works: Collective action only takes place AFTER the tipping point is reached.
I was referred to ThePoint by several people. Hat tip to Muhammad Saleem for being the first and for introducing me to Andrew Mason, the sites founder. Below is part of our AIM interview.