Community site Tripod, a division of Lycos, Tuesday added
a new service dubbed Private Pods to its host of member services.
While it sounds like an old horror movie, Private Pods is a
free service designed to help Tripod members create private homepages and
communities.
The company is targeting users who are hesitant about publishing personal
information on the Internet for all to see. Builders can choose exactly who
will be able to view the contents of a Private Pod by specifying a list of
up to 101 friends, family members and/or co-workers who are permitted to
enter their Private Pod.
“The idea of members interacting based on shared interests has been driving
the tremendous success of Tripod’s ‘Pod-based’ online community since
1995,” said Bo Peabody, president of Tripod and vice president of network
strategy at Lycos.
“Our Private Pods operate from the same overall concept, but give members
more privacy, security and control over who views their content, and offer
a full suite of personal interaction capabilities, including private
message boards, private chat and photo albums.”
The Private Pods service is currently available, and the company is working
to launch a similar service, Private Webs, in the next few months.
