mediajunk

What do Trulia, Faroo, Viewdle, Yap, Ponoko, Xobni, Argoo, Kerpoof, ZocDoc, Mego, Wixi, Ceedo, Orgoo and Zimbra have in common?

No, they're not vermicious knids from Loompaland (good guess though). They are Web 2.0 companies.

Why such strange and, let's face it, ridiculous names? Three reasons:
1. The obvious dot com names have been taken long ago.
2. Success spawns copycats. Startups look at successful companies with wacky names like Google, Yahoo (I can never bring myself to put that ridiculous exclamation mark at the end), YouTube, Bebo, Facebook, etc. and decide "I gotta get me some of that" (© Dilbert).
3. They're all idiots.

As someone who owns websites with names like Mediajunk and FooSchool, you may argue that I am a hypocrite. To which I would blushingly retort that my domain names have a semblance of comprehension (i.e. at least one word that already exists) in my website names.

As Pronet Advertising points out, there's a good reason why Froogle was eventually renamed Google Product Search. The latter makes sense.

A lot of companies try to create viral online campaigns, but generating buzz is difficult. You've got to tap into the zeitgeist; give the punters what they want.

Burger King have got it right however with their "Simpsonize me" campaign, which has become a bit of a craze lately.

I gave it a go ... and I've even ordered my Simpsonized mug on a mug!