TipsBase is a new social network centered around sharing tips and tricks about a wide variety of topics, counting on user-generated content to populate the community site with interesting tidbits on why and how to do (or not do) certain things. The team behind the website likened it to a ‘YouTube for tips’, but that’s quite the overstatement.
TipsBase says it’s different from the crowded space of How To websites and other social networks where tips are shared via message boards and the likes, by providing a centralized platform where registered users can share short, practical advice about any topic ranging from business, computers and video games to fashion, pets, gambling and health. There’s also a social layer on top of it, where you can do classical social networking stuff like befriend people, subscribe to their tips, comment on articles, send direct messages, rate content, etc. This is similar to what Tipstrs is all about.
The team is convinced that users will benefit from the fact that TipsBase covers so many categories, but I tend to think niche communities or websites dedicated to tips and tricks about a limited set of topics work better. There are better resources for finding tips and tricks about video games, for instance, and I’m not even going to consider looking for tips on health or personal finance on a general website like TipsBase.
They’re also going to have a hell of a time moderating incoming tips (see second screenshot for example). Having your community flag spam and adult material is one thing, but I think the quality of the tips is what would make users come back for more, and there’s no way to assure that when all it takes for people to start sharing tips is providing their e-mail address and picking a password.
