Here's how you can Phinkit

By: Sorab Ghaswalla, Aug 20, 2012

The 1st thing that you notice about Phinkit is the color scheme. The green is, well, different. Registration is not much of a hassle; of course, it is free. The other thing that grabs you once you have finished taking the initial tour is that a lot of thought seems to have gone into the development of this new Social Media Site to help it stand out from the rest of the competition.

Phinkit's publicly-stated mission is on the "value of the content rather than just acquiring new friends or contacts." The Startup, in Beta, allows users, called Phinkers, to post Content they find interesting enough to share with others. One of the many features of this Network is it allows users to post multi-media Content - text of course, images or even video.

Before I go any further, let me explain the meaning behind the word Phinkit. Somewhere, in another interview, co-founder Martin Lucas had revealed that while contemplating the various names he could have given to the Startup, the idea suddenly came to him to call it - Phink, think; twisting the perspective on the way people think, hence the 'P' instead of 'T', so Phinkit & Phinkers (not Thinkers). Martin or Marty as he likes to be called is the main guy behind the London, UK-based Phinkit (the other co-founders are Simon Jack & Ian Lackie) but today, just under a year after the idea hit him, there are 5 co-founders & a team.

Now, at the very core, the basic structure of Phinkit is like any other Social Site. But it's the added features that Martin claims, makes it stand out from the rest of the pack. When What's New On The Net asked Martin to spell out the differentiators between his Social Site & the rest, he responded, "It doesn't require a single connection to get your message heard, & you can use it as a social remote control for Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin & Pinterest."

One of the many in-built features of Phinkit is this - you can use it to post to all the other prominent Social Sites.

Phinkit, unlike many other Social Sites, is open to all types of business people, as it says, from cooks to fashion editors; from chief execs to small business owners. The goal "is to enable a wide diversity to 'find their voice'; to praise, vent, offer opinion, post promotion, give insight into what they do & ultimately anything else they are passionate about."

You can use the BFF (explained below) as your very own business concierge for help, ideas, feedback & everything else in-between.

In fact, you can use Phinkit not only to advertise your business but also to post employment requirements or to post jobs available, also.

At the heart of Phinkit is the Memex. The latter is the place for users to bring their ideas & even their business to life. The Memex is the place to find information - Content, posts & things you would to read about, & new people to connect with & discuss things with. The best of the daily Memex is chosen to be displayed as 'Editor's Choice'.

Another feature that caught my eye was the BFF or Business Friend Forever, or what is called the concierge service. Now, the basic role of the BFF is simple - it holds a user's hands & helps him understand the Network. BFF gives you handy tips & tricks on how to extract the best from Phinkit. So while there's also a Help section, the BFF is like a virtual assistant assigned to individual users.

If you do not want to be pestered by lots of sales people, you can use your BFF to help you put out a specific requirement & solution, in confidence. Simply press the BFF button & select the, 'Post a Solutions & Product Requirement?' tab.

So, the BFF even doubles up as your business concierge. It will then post what you need anonymously, collate all responses & continue to send them back to you until you have what you need. This means you get to select from a list & contact who you want – all anonymously so you have control, information and privacy!

Another feature allows users to voluntarily join the Phinkit Mentorship program where they can use their free time to mentor & share their skills with others.

Then there is Phinkit TV which are short video clips where the positives of Phinkit are explained, & tips given on how to leverage on its other features.

Phinkit's other features include the regular stuff like sending direct messages to other members, posting comments & liking posts which they call as "Give Some Praise" & are a series of Gifs showing High 5s or claps.

There's much more to this new kid on the Social Networking block but space constraints do not allow me to elaborate so you may go check it out for ourselves.