Gravity could make virtual chugging a reality

Gravity is a new social networking site that could prove extremely useful for charity campaigning and fundraising. A number of charities and sector organisations, such as Whizz-Kidz and UK Fundraising, are already there.

The site allows users to start conversations on any subject, and to “orbit worlds” and one another based around their interests, rather than following feeds. If you can get past the jargon it’s a bit like working a virtual room – you drift around from conversation to conversation, introducing yourself to interesting people and like-minded enthusiasts, dipping in and out, taking and giving bits of information. As Rob Dyson, PR manager at Wizz-Kidz reports on his blog, it’s a little addictive.

There is a lot of potential here for charities with stories to tell; unlike Twitter, there’s no limit to the number of characters users can type into a post, so charities could throw open discussions about their causes with people who care enough to make the effort to join in. And it’s tempting to futuregaze: Gravity makes virtual chugging seem possible and realistic.

For those struggling to keep up with content on Twitter, Buzz, Facebook and the rest, the urge to dismiss Gravity as one more thing to worry about must be compelling. But, as TechCrunch reports, the site has a lot of investment behind it. It’s been set up by former MySpace executives and other experts (or “engineering ninjas, product gurus, and business futurists”, as they describe themselves), and it is aiming high.

There aren’t many Gravity users because so far access has been by invitiation only, so be warned: it feels a bit like arriving early at a party. But this week the site began offering public invitations, which means anyone can request to join so it could start to get busy. It might be worth staking a claim now.