Wal-Mart Tries Social Networking Again... But This Time With An Actual Social Network

from the well,-that's-better dept

You may recall (or, actually, probably not) that last year around this time, Wal-Mart decided to launch its very own social network as a back-to-school promotion, except it took out all the fun parts of social networking, and then put in fake kids who talked about the clothes they were buying at Wal-Mart. It was either entirely ignored or mocked by the few who came across it. After a few months, the experiment was quietly abandoned -- and almost no one noticed. This year, Wal-Mart is back in the social networking game, but at least they've realized that rather than copying the hot trend of the year, it might be better to embrace the leader. To that end, the company is launching a Facebook group to try to get college kids heading back to school to "design your dorm room together." It's still a bit cheesy, and may not attract too many users, but at least the company finally realized it needed to go where the real kids were actually hanging out. Maybe next year the company will realize that it helps to have an application that's actually fun or useful as well.

Filed Under: back to school, social networks
Companies: facebook, wal-mart