Written By: Jesse Bouman
Rebel Mouse is a new social service created by former Huffington Post CTO, Paul Berry. Rebel Mouse aims to be the “front page to your life on the internet.” Instead of having a personal homepage (which many people are unable to build), Rebel Mouse can be the site that gives people a snapshot of who you are. Its public roadmap is very interesting and gives us reason to care about Rebel Mouse in the long run.
In its current form, Rebel Mouse aggregates your posts from Facebook and Twitter automatically to your Rebel Mouse page. Users are allowed to edit and curate the location of their content and highlight a post if they wish. Rebel Mouse’s visual grid display offers a unique method of story telling for individuals and brands. Soon users will be able to integrate their Instagram and Tumblr accounts to Rebel Mouse, further expanding a user’s ability to provide a quick look at their social presence. Each account is equipped with analytics, help you better understand your visitors.
In my opinion, the reason Rebel Mouse is worth keeping an eye on is because they are already thinking about brand integrations. They’re looking to balance the individual user and brand experience. Brands want to be publishers, but many of brands are not proficient at doing so. Rebel Mouse is looking to remedy this. And they’re looking to help brands monetize as part of their own monetization strategy.
Founder Paul Berry has stated the he hates display advertising and believes that Rebel Mouse will be able to monetize without them. Rebel Mouse’s visual story telling format will help businesses with their e-commerce sales, just as Pinterest is doing. There are also plans for sponsored posts, which is another less intrusive method of monetization, which is a tactic that is becoming increasingly popular.
The estimated price plan for Rebel Mouse is reasonable, which will appeal to a wide range of companies. Unlike Twitter’s sponsored tweets that can only be afforded by a select few, Rebel Mouse’s plans start at $3 a week. Custom URLs will cost $3 a month and around $20 for a brand to host an iOS app through Rebel Mouse. There will always be a free option of Rebel Mouse, but it’s refreshing to know that this is an affordable tool for small businesses.
There is a lot of growth impending at Rebel Mouse, so it’s difficult to know exactly what the best use of Rebel Mouse will be. But it’s a great product that provides value to individuals and brands. It’s definitely worth signing up for and testing out.
Jesse Bouman is the founder of Demeter Interactive. He is a stubborn entrepreneur, budding philanthropist, social media nerd, and technology geek. When not at his desk blogging or tweeting, he can be found at the beach, in a coffee shop, exploring LA’s hidden treasures, or playing a game of kickball. You can follow him on Twitter at @JesseBouman
