真正“懂你”的社交网站

    你的社交网络了解你多少？是不是太多了？谷歌（Google）的无孔不入和Facebook的无所不知让很多人感到害怕，但是曾在迪斯尼（Disney）和惠普（Hewlett-Packard）担任过市场高管的迈克尔•曼登豪却认为，在用户的个性特征上，社交网络可谓一无所知。他说：“这些网站是用来聊天、分享、发现和交友的，它们从来不问关于你这个人本身的事，它们不知道你是个什么样的人。”

    针对这个问题，曼登豪专门于去年11月推出了一个名叫ArchetypeMe的社交网站。曼登豪相信，用户想要的是一个更智能、更“懂你”的社交网络，可以根据你的个性定制内容，而不是根据你的朋友或是根据你的职业。这个网站目前仍处在内测阶段，它的宗旨是“重新定义个人搜索和个人品牌打造”，让用户和最感兴趣的事物联系起来。曼登豪说：“大家总是听到企业拿‘个性化’说事，但我还没见过真正个性化的产品。”

    为了实现这个目标，ArchetypeMe既有点像Facebook，又有点像瑞典著名心理学家卡尔•荣格，还有点像电视购物频道QVC。换句话说，它不是我们常见的那种典型的社交网络。这个网站是曼登豪与化妆品企业家克里斯蒂娜•卡利诺一同创办的。当时，卡利诺找到曼登豪，提出了这样一个设想：是否可以建立一个社交平台，以一种更加个性化的方法推送内容、推广产品——即通过人类的心理原型或行为模式来做社交网站。

    卡利诺之前曾创立过两家护肤品公司，而且研究过多年心理学的“原型”理论。她的这个灵感是2009年一次给自己衣橱里的衣服归类时诞生的，那时她正经历着自己的“原型危机”。当时卡利诺刚刚失去了对第二家公司的创造性控制。她说：“我那时就像一个失去了国土的女王。”她说，在一大堆的西装、孕妇装、创意时装里，“我看到了我的‘原型’”。同时，她也看到了多年来她尝试过的许多并不那么适合她的角色，而且觉得，其他人也应该通过自我认识来帮助自己做决定——不管是在买鞋、家居装饰、事业还是在情感上。

    曼登豪也渐渐对社交网络内容筛选的不完美以及算法的种种限制感到失望，因此与卡利诺一拍即合。他说：“唯一真正试图了解你的网站就是婚恋交友网站。”

    卡利诺与曼登豪会面的时候，曼登豪正在一家名叫Revolate Holdings的公司担任合伙人、总裁兼首席运营官。这家公司是2011年创立的一家私募股权公司，旗下拥有纽约的Lipman广告公司。这家公司不仅对创业公司进行投资，还利用内部市场帮助这些公司做推广。曼登豪现任Archetypes公司的CEO，卡利诺则担任公司的常务董事长，Revolate公司的大卫•利普曼和安德鲁•斯佩尔曼也是Archetypes公司的共同创始人。Archetypes是ArchetypeMe的母公司，旗下还拥有一些出版、制造和品牌推广公司，现在这家公司已经募集了1,900万美元的资金。

    How much do your social networks know about you? Too much? While many fear Google's creep and Facebook's omniscience, Michael Mendenhall, a former marketing executive at Disney and Hewlett-Packard suspects social networks are clueless when it comes to users' personalities. "Those sites are about chatting, sharing, discovery and connections," he argues. "They never ask you about yourself. They don't know who you are."

    Mendenhall's answer is startup ArchetypeMe, which launched in November last year. Mendenhall is betting users want a smarter, more-knowing network that will customize content, not according to your friends or profession, but in light of your personality. The website, which is currently in beta testing, aims to "redefine personal search and personal branding" by connecting users with what's most relevant to them. "You always hear personalization, but I have yet to see it," says Mendenhall.

    To that end, ArchetypeMe is part-Facebook (FB), part-Carl Jung, part-QVC. In other words, the site is not exactly your typical social network. Mendenhall founded the site with cosmetics entrepreneur Cristina Carlino when she approached him with an idea to build a social platform to distribute content and market products in a more personalized way: by archetypes or patterns of behavior.

    For Carlino, who previously founded two skin care companies and has long studied archetypes, the Eureka moment came in 2009, in the midst of her own "archetypal crisis," as she sorted clothes on her closet floor. At the time, Carlino had just lost creative control of her second company. "I was a queen losing my queendom", she says. In the mounds of clothing -- business suits, maternity wear, creative garb -- "I saw my archetypes," she explains. She also saw the less suitable roles she had tried on over the years and decided others should be empowered in their decisions -- be they about shoes, home decor, careers, or relationships -- through self-knowledge.

    Carlino's idea resonated with Mendenhall who had grown frustrated with imperfect content filters and the limits of algorithms while working in Silicon Valley. "The only sites that really try to figure you out are dating sites," he says.

    Carlino met Mendenhall when he was being recruited by Revolate Holdings to become partner, President and COO. Revolate is a private equity firm founded in 2011 that owns Lipman, the New York advertising agency. The company invests in startups that it helps promote with its in-house marketing. Mendenhall now serves as Archetypes' CEO; Carlino is the company's executive chair. Revolate's David Lipman and Andrew Spellman are also Archetypes co-founders. Archetypes, which is the parent company of ArchetypeMe as well as publishing, productions, and branding companies, has raised $19 million in funding.