I’ll be quite frank: Sometimes, but not all of the time, I get tired of seeing new websites.  About a trillion new ones go up every day.  And I’m starting to get pinged about everything under the sun for “coverage”.

Let me just say that if it doesn’t look like it’s going to impact the kingdom, or if it’s not already, or if it doesn’t look like it could potentially be used, both strategically, philosophically, or provides a model for the Church… don’t waste your time.

You’ve got only a limited amount and make it count.

//rant off

So, WorldWideOpen is now in BETA.  I can’t remember but it was either @TonySteward or @DJChuang or … I don’t remember… that passed me this link.

First reaction: “Wow, is this a site that helps me build widgets?”

But, obviously not (and if you’re into tech and web for a while… a lot of widget-factories go all web 2.0-ish with bright colors, rounded edges, and a whole lot of blue…. bleh).

So, I gave it a whirl.

It’s got a profile, your church, service ops, news, resources… and a LinkedIn-esque “percent profile complete” bar too (which I liked at first when LI did it… but now it’s annoying).

Again, I’ll be honest.  I won’t be using the service any time soon, but if it continues to grow at a healthy rate, people begin to see the use of it strategically, and it builds out it’s partnerships with other larger orgs, then I think it could be a winner.

But what I’m really trying to find (and someone help me) is where it’s really “innovative”.

Is it another social network with a christian-swing and some added church-like add-value props and functionalities?

Or maybe (omgoodness, //venting on) it’s just another group that’s got some cash together, built another app and launched it without engaging with other orgs that are trying to do the same?

Let’s have some synergy…!!!

I suppose I’m wishing for more collaboration, more inclusiveness to the product, and a more open discussion about saturating the market.

It hasn’t reached critical mass yet, with less than 400 users currently hanging out (unsure of the usage though) but I do hope it grows.

I LOVE when I’m proven wrong.  And I’ll be thinking about you World Wide Open… go DO it!