I would call it TalkAboutIt but that name is taken. It's a social site
where you can talk to another person about whatever. Talk...not type.
Audio...not video. You start by maybe choosing a topic from a tag
cloud. Maybe it's obama, or prius or atheism or ufo or calculus or
patriots. You get hooked up with another soul and you talk. Like a
phone call. It's relaxed. Unscripted. No prep work. No post-production.
No pressure. After you finish, both of you can opt to share the call.
And it gets published.

A lot of people go to this site just to
listen. Generally in the evening. It's relaxing, like comfort food.
They eventually settle on a handful of people they like. Kindred
spirits. Like listening to Bill Maher sit down with Larry King. They're
our favorite uncles. We let them into our living rooms.

And so
you can develop a small following. But small in Internet terms might
mean a thousand people. It's the Long Tail. Imagine a high school
gymnasium packed to capacity. These are your adoring fans who plug in
every night knowing that another post from you will lullaby them to
sleep.

What can be more satisfying than this? The baby-boomers
now have nothing to fear. Good company and genteel conversations will
see us through old age. We'll never be lonely again.

This one-on-one, strictly audio format has many advantages over its
cousins -- podcasts, youtube videos, skypecasts, etc. We gave
podcasting a chance, didn't we? Hosting a podcast is just too much
work, so not that many people do it. Those that do, often just ramble
or act crazy, or try amateurishly to emulate radio shows. Yawn. It's
usually just zany. Like youtube videos. We really can take only so much
zany. We want compelling content. We want drama. We want genuine.

Two people. Now that's compelling. No script. Now that's drama. And
it's civil. It's intimate. It's genuine. But not four people. Group
chat on the Internet tends to degenerate. Skype had (has?) something
called skypecasting where anonymous strangers would wander into the
discussion and usually spoil things. That doesn't happen when it's just
two souls. Especially if both are hoping that the other will opt to
share the call.

Video, like podcasting, is also too much work. You have to look good
for the camera. Lighting is important. You have to be somewhere
presentable. And in most cases all you get out of the deal is a talking
head. Not worth it. And the talking head only draws attention away from
what's said and the texture of the voice.

The site I'm working on uses a thumbs up system. You can thumbs up but
not thumbs down. Your thumb ups are
completely public. The person you thumb up will be notified. People
you've thumbed up will show on your profile. The number of thumbs up
you've receive will show on your profile. Based on thumbs, the site can
recommend people for you to listen to, just like amazon recommends
books. And you will be recommended to others.

The site will make use of de.licio.us style toolbar buttons for your
browser. This way you can start a talk-about topic for the page or blog
entry you are reading. There will be facebook and OpenSocial apps that
link you and your posts to other social networks.

Mobile will be supported. I'll be able to talk and/or listen as easily
at a rest spot along my hike, as I can from the lazyboy in my den.

That's it in a nutshell. The devil is in the details. I think it's
killer. But that's my humble opinion. Please share your comments. Tell
me I'm crazy.