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"ThisNext, which launched this morning, is a new social network for shopping.  You can add and recommend items by entering the product's URL, searching for items using ThisNext's database and web search or by installing the bookmarklet in your browser.  You can also create lists of similar products, add items to your wishlist and buy products directly from the site.  What's more, you can generate traffic for your blog by trackbacking the item pages (note that trackbacks from Blogger won't work for now).  The key feature: ThisNext uses an Amazon-style recommendation system to suggest what you should buy next (hence the name!).\nThe profile and networking features are pretty straightforward - you can upload photos, write an About Me section and add your favorite websites.  You can't make friends directly with other members, but you can add them to your list of recommended users, which displays their username and profile picture on your page - I think that almost passes for social networking.  In a feature that's similar to MyPickList and Favorite Thingz, your profile editor also has a field for your Amazon affiliate ID, allowing you to earn money when people buy items through your Shopcast badge.\nWhich brings us to the badges.  It goes without saying that you can get a ThisNext widget to post on your blog, although these seem to be javascript-based.  If that's the case, they won't work on major social networks like MySpace, Friendster and hi5, thus cutting off a major source of traffic (the only major network where javascript seems to work reliably is Piczo).  \nThisNext is a nicely-designed offering, but they're entering a crowded market - Crowdstorm (not yet launched), Kaboodle, Wists, Dealbundle, WhatsBuzzing and StyleHive are just some of the players in this active space.  ThisNext mashes up features from all these sites, but switches the focus to product recommendations.  Is that enough to make them stand out from the crowd?  I'm not sure.  In the end, it all comes down to how these companies perform over the long term - can they plug into other networks, retain the visitors they receive and build critical mass?  Those questions are impossible to respond to on day one, and it's much easier to sit on the fence until the answers become apparent.\n\nThisNext User?\nMashable's ThisNext profile is here - feel free to add Mashable to your recommended users list.\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2006/08/21/thisnext-launches-shopping-social-network/>