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Name: 3Degrees
Quick Pitch: 3Degrees is web-based application that lets you meet your friends' friends via Facebook.
Genius Idea: Leverages the power of your Facebook social network to help you find people, activities and events through friends you trust.
Whether you're looking for a new friend, a date or a connection to a job at your ideal company, chances are you already know someone who can help connect you to that person.
To help you find that connector, Brian Scordato created 3Degrees, a web-based application that allows you to search for your friends' friends via Facebook to find interesting and compatible people in your area. The site enables its users to harness the power of their Facebook friends to meet new people and expand their social networks.
"So much in our lives is based on our networks – whether it's an introduction to a potential boyfriend or girlfriend, an influential employee at a company we'd like to work at, or simply a new friend with similar interests," says Brian Scordato, founder of 3Degrees. "Our networks open doors to new relationships and opportunities."
Users can sign into 3Degrees and view their extended network for free by logging in with their Facebook account. They can then search for people by location, interests, relationship status or keywords, and 3Degrees will generate a list of people within their extended network who match the criteria.
The results are limited to friends of Facebook friends and includes only profile information that is set to be public.
If you find a connection that matches your criteria, click "Get an Intro" to send a message to your mutual friend to ask if he or she thinks the two of you would be a good match. If it is a match, add the user to one of your "Buckets," which lets you group and organize your connections.
"The majority of relationships, whether friendly, romantic, or professional, are forged through introductions by mutual friends," Scordato says. "Often all it takes is the social proof of knowing the same person to jump start a conversation or relationship – the "You work with John? I went to college with John!' moment is powerful!"
Privacy is not an issue on 3Degrees – only friends of friends can view your profile and if you want additional privacy, click the "referrals only" link to ensure that 2nd degree connections can only reach out to you through mutual friends.
Recently launched in December 2011, 3Degrees also has an activity page which lets users search for events posted by members within their extended network. To make taking online connections offline easier, the page lets you see who is attending, how you are connected to even lets you join the event.
The site also offers sponsored events, in which people with similar interests and networks are invited to participate in activities they enjoy with people they will get to know. Users can also post activities and invite their networks to participate.
Scordato plans to base 3Degrees's business model off targeted advertising and Groupon-like specials with interest tags. Users with similar interests will find the specials in their feeds and 3Degrees will earn a certain percentage of each transaction once a deal is used.
3Degrees, which currently has 300 registered users and has raised $80,000 in funding, is not the first startup to incorporate friend-of-friend interaction with networking and job searching – Identified uses Facebook to provide users with real-time, interactive feedback on how companies evaluate their professional information online.
Image courtesy of iStock, alexsl
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
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