One of the newest networks on the web, Chime.in entered the online world last October in San Francisco during the Web 2.0 Summit. The idea was produced by Bill Gross, a social media entrepreneur who has created around 75 startups.

Unlike the usual social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, it focuses solely on uniting people sharing the same interests. Another thing that sets Chime.in apart is that members can profit from sharing ads with their followers (which is also possible on Twitter).

In colloquial English, the phrase ‘chime in’ means to add your thoughts to an existing discussion. Applied to this virtual network, it means that you can always add your thoughts to existing conversations if you have something interesting to share.

Registration

The registration process lasts a maximum of 10 minutes and is completely free – there is no cost to join Chime.in, nor does one have to be invited to join the network. You simply choose a nickname and a password, and your membership is confirmed via e-mail. You do not need to register with your real name if you prefer to remain anonymous.

All you really need to join Chime.in is a working e-mail address. In addition, you can connect Chime.in to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, spreading your information through different social networks, thus increasing your exposure and communicating easily with different audiences.

If you are an online business, this option is very cost effective, because it saves money and time. With only one click you can post your updates to three different audiences. This type of multi-network integration is growing rapidly, as the abundance of popular social sites can make it very difficult for business to keep all of their accounts updated without spending copious amounts of time doing so.

How Does Chime.in work?

Chime.in is not a social network, at least that’s not how they think of themselves. As defined by its creators, it is rather a network of interest, where any member can share, build communities around favorite topics, and connect with like-minded people. The achievement of Chime.in is that you can automatically add to a post: a photo, video, text and polls. The limit is about 2,000 characters.

The main list of interests covered includes books, media, home, architecture, photography, movies, hobbies, and sports. At any time you can add your own new interests to the list and easily identify people with similar interests. This ability to instantly network with those sharing your interests is the crowning achievement of Chime.in. Although you can search members by interest on the other popular social sites, Chime.in has built their entire concept on this type of networking, and seems to be very effective at facilitating it. Other networks are for friends first, and finding people with similar interests is secondary. The fact that Chime.in is built around encouraging this type of interest based community gives users the permission they need to feel like it’s okay to connect with people you don’t know if you share an interest with them. In contrast, Facebook seems to actually discourage users from sending friend requests to people they don’t know personally.

Your posts of interest on Chime.in can be sorted by likes, shares or comments. At any moment, you can find which are the most discussed topics and to join the global conversation. This makes Chime.in exciting for users, as the potential to connect with a large base of people you have common interests with is right at your fingertips, and any social awkwardness around reaching out to make new connections is alleviated since this is the primary purpose on Chime.in.

Thus, in comparison with the usual social networks, it allows an increased level of interaction and resources management. This successfully minimizes the usual hesitancy seen on other social networks where it is complicated to organize connections based on interest. In the case of Chime.in, common interests are the fundamental basis for organizing your network.

Build Your Community

You can create your own storyboard and open access other people’s storyboards looking for common interests. You can then subscribe to any topics of interest, and continue with the process of viewing users’ storyboards.

Another perk of Chime.in is that you don’t have any limit on followers. The whole system is very user friendly and you do not need special technical skills to manage your account and use it efficiently. Once you take a few minutes to see how navigation works, you can start searching interests and making new connections.

You also have access to a message center through which you can send and receive private messages. You will be automatically notified as to whether the messages are from people you follow or not. You can create a comment and share an ad with your followers, and will earn 50% of any revenues generated from the ads you sponsor. This may be considered a great achievement in comparison with other social networks. Facebook uses your profile details to expose you to relevant ads, without any direct benefit for you. Google, who has Adsense as its advertising platform, failed to integrate it in its social network Google+.

Chime.in can currently be accessed through Android and BlackBerry apps. In addition, the Chime.in update can be added to your website or blog.

Why Chime.in?

Chime.in goes beyond the usual idea of a social network where you keep in contact on a daily basis with friends, relatives and acquaintances.

Here, you can access interesting content featured by real people. It is a place where you can learn from others and share your experiences and ideas.

The options are diverse and can be shared by individuals, academics, members of the business community or freelance writers. Shortly after the official launch of the network, big companies as Universal Studios and Disney decided to create membership on Chime.in.

Less than a year after the launch, Chime.in is still a relative newcomer. The quality of the network relies on the quality of its members, and its value is grows with each member who joins the community.