Introduction: What is Fregobo?

Hello, and welcome to the blog on what could be the next facebook killer.

Fregobo is a name that I conjured out of thin air in my new blog on SEO yesterday - see http://search-engine-optimum.blogspot.com/2011/07/establishing-baseline-whats-in-name.html.

I was talking about how so many top websites have names that are either totally meaningless or have no obvious connection with what the site is actually about - e.g. Twitter, Mashable, Spotify, and so on.

Despite the name being picked at random, it was almost inevitable that it would refer to something real. It's hard nowadays to find any random collection of letters that is truly meaningless. So I Googled. At first Google responded with "showing results for fergola. Search instead for fregobo". but after I showed it that I really meant business, by clicking on the fregobo link, it relented and I got "8 matches".

My apologies if you are one of the handful of people that are surnamed Fregobo. I didn't initially set out with the intention of taking your name;  but at least the domain name fregobo.com is still available, or it is at the time of this writing, as are lots of other potential domain names such as fregobo.net and so on. Also, if you can convince me that you really are a fregobo then I would be very sympathetic to the idea of handing this blog over to you, though obviously that will change if it turns out fregobo really is "the next Facebook killer".

Now here's the kicker: you might have missed it when it was spelled out in the previous paragraph, because that was addressed to people surnamed Fregobo of which you are probably not one, but the domain name fregobo.com is still available. I reserve the right to change my mind if it's still available in a month or so, but for now I have no intention of registering it or any other fregobo-related domain name myself. Why not? Well it is after all just a name I chose at random. It has no intrinsic value, any more than "spotify" or "twitter" did before those services were launched. That might change, but only if somebody else gets involved. Fregobo can never be a Facebook killer while I am the only person blogging about it. So it's up to you, dear reader, to start the ball rolling. If at the time you're reading this Fregobo isn't already more famous than Facebook, it might be that the domain is still up for grabs. If it truly is the "Next Facebook Killer" then it could be worth billions, but I'll let you have it anyway because that's the kind of guy that I am, generous to a fault.  So, what are you waiting for?

In the meantime, what I intend to do here is blog about what "The Next Facebook Killer" needs to be like. What functions does it need to have? What unique selling point? I'll be inviting readers to contribute suggestions in the comments. Whoever gets the domain might want to check in here regularly for suggestions as to what to do with it.

Here's hoping that fregobo truly is  "The Next Facebook Killer", or something equally amazing. Good luck!

Martin Gradwell (MTGradwell on twitter and elsewhere; also martin at dallasmatthews dot co dot uk).