Everyone knows the "Like" button on Facebook. It's one of the best known features on the social network, allowing surfers to show their friends that they liked the content that they show on their Facebook page. Most people have the 'Like" button available even when they are elsewhere on the web.
Start-up company Dapsem is taking this ability to encourage their friends to a new level. The company was founded at the beginning of the year by its CEO Hamutal Meridor (daughter of government minister Dan Meridor) and VP technology Benny Vaksendiser "in an effort to offer a platform that will allow friends to indulge each other and to show their appreciation," explains Meridor.
"Giving daps is the knocking of fists together as a sign of respect or achievement" continues Meridor. "We're always encouraging each other -- writing emails, saying thank you, writing on someone's Facebook wall or calling them on the phone. We're offering a single platform that allows you to do all of these things easily.
Dapsem is a free iPhone application that allows you to send up to 3 daps a day to friends, which the application imports from Facebook (via Facebook Connect). In order to send a dap to a friend, you type in the name, write the reason you're sending the dap, add a location and /or image if you want to, and share the application with your friends on Facebook or Twitter. And yes, it's possible to respond to daps from other users.
Is is really necessary to have another way of showing appreciation when we have "Like" on Facebook? Meridor thinks so. "Like is passive," she says. "It's to show a minimum of participation. We're providing a way for people to say "Like" to people and what people do." In addition, the application shows a list of people who've received the most daps, which will encourage users to be active.
Soon dap will be supported by a web version, on the web and will interface with lists of friends on Twitter, so that it will be possible to dap with Ashton Kutcher or Bar Refaeli. "In the future it will be possible to dap things other than people and things they do," says Meridor. The company is planning to develop an API (application programming interface), with the aim of allowing other developers add more layers to the basic service.
The application was launched three weeks ago, and Meridor says that, "we're happy with the rate of downloads, which are coming from all kinds of places around the world." The two founders financed setting up the application themselves with an investment in the tens of thousands of shekels, and they are currently involved in a first round of finance from private investors.
What's the business model?
Meridor: "We'll form collaborations with advertisers. Surfers talk about brands in any case on the various social media, for better or worse, and brands understand that they have to be part of this talk and respond."
For example, it will be possible to send a dap for a new flavor from Starbucks or a new product from Apple, and to be rewarded in some way by the advertiser. "Our platform allows users to share with others that they like a certain brand, and that will represent a kind of advertising platform formed on the basis of surfer content."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 25, 2011
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