RedHat launches Mugshot social networking service

RedHat has launched an open source based social networking strategy named Mugshot. It is a social-networking initiative which helps to connect people through common interests in music and video. Mugshot is not designed to compete with others offering the same kind of service, but its main intention is rather to compliment existing social networks.

The site for the Mugshot service, www.mugshot.org  is currently available only by invitation. The site mainly contains two services called link swarm and music radar. Through Link Swarm, people can chat about their favourite music favourites and Web links. Using music radar, people can get the content they want from iTunes or Yahoo Music. 

The people behind the Mugshot project are also working have a same kind of service for TV shows, called TV Party. Donald Fischer, project manager of Mugshot says, "You don't have to request to be a friend, like you do on other sites, because this application tracks who you are communicating with."

Mugshot differs from other social-networking sites in several ways. It alerts the users by means of "bubbles" when they are contacted by other people. The users can collect information about their favourite songs and they can also get the help of widgets to publish that data in their choice of contents.

"This technology can collect information on a person's listening preferences and patterns that can be shared with others, letting them know what people like, or what may be a one-hit wonder," Fischer continued.

Mugshot is a completely open system and has both server and client codes. It works on both Windows and Linux based computers.