Spring Break
Two ECs Launch First Online Service to Send Karma
Clare Boland (OF), Contributing Writer
Issue date: 5/1/06 Section: News
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Looking for a way to thank your classmate for buying you that morning coffee? Did your neighbor make the perfect comment in class? Now, two ECs have built a social networking service to track those good deeds!
Jon Pastor (OH) and Michael Mettler (OH) recently launched Karmadu (http://karmadu.com), a totally free social currency that lets people record and rank everyday actions in their daily lives.
Karmadu members can send 'karma points' to friends along with a message to recognize a good deed, as thanks for helping with homework or a job, or just to recognize a particularly cool friend. Members can compare these karma point totals to other friends or groups. Additionally, members can rank other people's actions. Karma is public, so members can agree that a karma point is karma-worthy by 'jumping on' to give the recipient bonus karma points.
Mike and Jon came up with the idea during a field study earlier this term. While working with Tom Eisenmann, an Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit, the two cofounders began studying network effects and social interaction on the web. The two made a list of various ideas before choosing to build and launch Karmadu, which took about a month to develop.
The 'Karmadudes' are hoping that the HBS community will share Karmadu with their friends. "Karma is an intuitive way to describe interactions between people" said Jon. "We felt these interactions occur all the time at Harvard.
armadu has built a community that matches how people live their lives in the real world. It is a natural way for users to reward friends for good deeds, or just for being an awesome person. Members get karma points from friends, and anyone can compete and try to accumulate the most karma".
The inherently social nature of a university setting led Mike and Jon to conclude that Harvard was a perfect place to launch the service. "Unlike other social networking sites that are static and profile-based, Karmadu is transaction-oriented and highly interactive" said Mike.
Jon Pastor (OH) and Michael Mettler (OH) recently launched Karmadu (http://karmadu.com), a totally free social currency that lets people record and rank everyday actions in their daily lives.
Karmadu members can send 'karma points' to friends along with a message to recognize a good deed, as thanks for helping with homework or a job, or just to recognize a particularly cool friend. Members can compare these karma point totals to other friends or groups. Additionally, members can rank other people's actions. Karma is public, so members can agree that a karma point is karma-worthy by 'jumping on' to give the recipient bonus karma points.
Mike and Jon came up with the idea during a field study earlier this term. While working with Tom Eisenmann, an Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit, the two cofounders began studying network effects and social interaction on the web. The two made a list of various ideas before choosing to build and launch Karmadu, which took about a month to develop.
The 'Karmadudes' are hoping that the HBS community will share Karmadu with their friends. "Karma is an intuitive way to describe interactions between people" said Jon. "We felt these interactions occur all the time at Harvard.
armadu has built a community that matches how people live their lives in the real world. It is a natural way for users to reward friends for good deeds, or just for being an awesome person. Members get karma points from friends, and anyone can compete and try to accumulate the most karma".
The inherently social nature of a university setting led Mike and Jon to conclude that Harvard was a perfect place to launch the service. "Unlike other social networking sites that are static and profile-based, Karmadu is transaction-oriented and highly interactive" said Mike.
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