Cool Avatars & Network Aggregation Profiles: profilebuilder

This profile can be embedded in a page, so that all information is visible (this is another flash profile, so the first images are screenshots, and the flash images will go under the cut to speed loading on the main page):

Click image to see larger:

or it can be quietly linked on a sidebar, like this:

Sharon Brogan 

Click that blue P, and up pops the profile (assuming you have flash enabled.)

I think profilebuilder has the most potential of any I've seen to be useful for both personal and professional/ business bloggers. It's the most flexible; it can be funny and quirky, or sleek and professional, depending on what you want to do with it.

Your profile is your online place, it's the place to put anything you want — such as your interests, activities and contacts. From now on, wherever you sign your name, you sign your icon with it.

Establish a consistent profile across the web;
Manage what people know about you;
Present the specific information that different types of people see;
Enable people to easily find out more about you;
Track when and where your profile is accessed.

You can make several different profiles -- or differing versions of a profile -- to link in many different places. You could have one, expansive profile for a personal page, that includes hobbies and family photos; and another, more circumspect, profile for a professional site that includes a resume and contact information, but doesn't highlight your MySpace page.

...you can add your Profil.es icon next to your name anywhere on the web, including your website, your email, social networking sites, message boards, etc. Your Profil.es are in your hands! [More linking options, including automatic blog and email insertion are coming shortly!]

The founder links his profile in a signature on his blog posts:

Boyan Josic, Founder & CEO 

This is extremely flexible. You can design your own channels and select your own content. It really seems that the sky's the limit with this.

So, if this is so cool, flexible, and useful, why aren't you seeing it everywhere?

I have some guesses, below the cut:

 

1. It's not very intuitive, which may be a consequence of how ambitious it is. I've had to think harder to put this together than with any other similar service.

For example: want a break between paragraphs? Hitting enter twice won't do it; you have to hit shift-enter. The user doesn't have access to the HTML, which is probably because they want it to be simple, but it means I can't figure out why something doesn't work as I expect it to.

2. The lack of intuitiveness, combined with slow (or no) response to help tickets probably means that lots of folks give up. I bet that they have tons of half-done profiles on their servers.

3. There are some profiles linked on the front page, but they seem to be the most recently created. This means that they are not complete; sometimes badly done; and sometimes not for general audiences.

They would do much better to select and highlight profiles that show what the capabilities are -- a few quirky and creative profiles, and a few slick, professional profiles.

4. The blog is seldom updated, and seems aimed at other techies rather than the every-person user. Possibly, since it's still in early beta, they are not ready for buzz just yet; but when they are, this blog should be the place to keep users informed and excited about the service. A forum wouldn't be a bad idea, either.

So:

Pros:

• Very flexible for both professional and personal use.
• Can potentially be used in a wide variety of places.
• Visually appealing.
• Lots of content in a small space.

Cons:

• Still in beta; expect bugs.
• Not visible to those who disable flash.
• Not intuitive.
• Poor response to help tickets.

This is one to keep an eye on; if it fulfills its potential, most everyone who has an online space will find it useful.

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