Chi.mp: Not Just Another Data Aggregator

I previously talked about Chi.mp in regards to uniting your online identity. After getting a chance to speak directly to the Chi.mp team (Thanks guys and gals!), I gained new insight as to what the service is for. Chi.mp does have the ability to aggregate your data, but that’s not really what it’s for.  It isn’t competing with any of your current social networking sites.

My spellcheck tells me “aggregator” isn’t even a word, so it’s interesting that it keeps coming up in the course of my blogging and social media interactions. I think a little clarification is in order so that we may better understand the differences between many of the tools I write about here.

What’s an Aggregator?

An aggregator is simply something that gathers a bunch of separate things to form a whole. In the context of social media and web 2.0, we’re talking about gathering all of your online activity and content in one place. The best example of an aggregator is FriendFeed. It’s sole purpose is to let you dump all your online junk into it, where it will combine it into one stream of content.

Facebook’s recent changes, whether you hate them or love them, reflect a move towards being more of an aggregator.

Chi.mp is Not Another Club

Most social networking services that you interact with are like private clubs. You can set up your space in that club however you’d like and make connections with other members of that club, but once you leave that club your identity stays with them.

They dictate what your address is. Anything you bring into your space at that club is actually owned by the club. People outside of the club can possibly peak in the window, but that’s about it. It’s not your choice whether they can come in or not because you are not the club owner.

As a matter of fact, the club owners are making big money off of your content. There are probably ads all over your profile. Companies are paying to see what you and other club goers are talking about and sharing so that they can hit you with a related ad.

What the Heck Is It?

If I asked you what your website was, how would you answer? “Myspace dot com slash blah-de-blah”? Do you even know the URL for your Facebook profile? Still using AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail for your email?

For many of us, it’s important to have a cohesive brand or identity online. We buy domains and hosting so we can build a home of our own on the web. Something that we can say is ours and that we can customize for our own needs and the needs of our audience. This costs you time and money and also requires that you have some type of technical abilities.

What if I said I would give you your own domain for free? Any emails sent to your new domain will get forwarded to your real email address. I’ll make it easy for you to customize your shiny new home with themes. You can connect to and even import your activity from other services so you won’t have to worry about content creation.

This is basically what Chi.mp does for you. They give you a custom domain and a simple website that represents you on the interwebz.

Why People Don’t Get It

The average person has no clue what Chi.mp is. Most of us early adopters who have heard of it have already cobbled together some type of home on the web. We don’t see why we need yet another place to plug our feeds into, upload an avatar, and connect with friends. There is nothing for us to do there.

All these things are true. This site isn’t really about keeping you occupied, entertained, or engaged. It’s mostly about making sure your face on the web is on point. I’m sure we’ll see some new features coming down the road that may change this but, for now, here are a couple of features that may interest you:

Personas

If you’re like me, you do more than one thing. Usually, this means having more than one profile. With personas, you have granular control over what each specific visitor to your Chi.mp site gets to see. When someone techy like Wayne Sutton visits my profile, I can make sure he sees my “Techy” profile with all my geeky content. When Diddy pays me a visit, I can make sure he sees my “Music” profile with all my latest tracks and links to listen online.

Contact Management

You have contacts on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Gmail, Flickr and probably a bunch of other places. Wouldn’t it be nice to consolidate and manage those contacts in one place? Chi.mp imports your contacts from across the web, allows you to deal with them using their slick interface, and then syncs them up with the original service. How awesome is that?

Check It Out Again

If you have a Chi.mp account already and you haven’t been paying much attention to it, check it out again. Set up a couple of Personas. Start tagging your friends. Chi.mp has made a lot of changes recently in preparation for coming out of closed beta. Once that happens, it will be easier to see the true power of the site. Stop being a user and start being an owner.