If you've got a few minutes, we could use your help and input.

We've started a new section of the blog titled In the Lab / Up Our Sleeve where we will occasionally highlight some of the great new features and applications we are working on and ask for your feedback.

We think you'll like this one, but want to hear from you on the direction we're taking. (We want to get this right!)

Above is a brief video depicting one use of our upcoming video adget (in final beta testing now).

The basic concept:

• Advertisers want to sponsor your media.
• Throw in Internet videos, blogs, social media, and DVRs, it is now impossible for them to guess what you want to watch.
• So why not let them sponsor your downloads?

So, please (pretty please), take a look at the video, and then answer these questions in the comments below.  Also, please also feel free to add any other thoughts or suggestions you have.

• How would feel about advertisers who are willing to sponsor your downloads and other online activities and micro-purchases?
• Would you tend to buy (legally purchase) more media from online sources like iTunes, Amazon, and others?
• Does the concept of your attention as currency make sense to you?

 Thanks everyone! 

Team YouData

P.S.  We know that everyone would like MORE ADS!  They are fun aren't they?  They're coming!  As our MeFile population continues to grow, and as consumers like you give advertisers a better way to reach them, we are starting to really get the attention of more and more smart advertisers.  Let's keep it going!  Please help keep spreading the word about our little experiment.  The more MeFiles we have, the more ads we all attract.  We at YouData are extremely grateful to all of you early MeFiles for believing in what we are doing here.  Thank you for helping us fix advertising!

(Thanks Steve!)

From time to time, we'll be posting updates like this on how things are progressing in this free-market experiment called YouData.  Below is the first report from the lab.  After you give it a read, please take some time to leave your questions, suggestions, and comments.  We want to hear what you're thinking, and what we can do to improve the system.  Your feedback is taken very seriously.  Thanks!

First, we want to sincerely thank you all for your support, feedback, curiosity, and mostly your patience, as YouData's little attention marketplace gets its legs.  We are THRILLED at the response the system is getting from consumers, advertisers, and content providers such as web sites and blogs.  It's still early in the game, and we have a long way to go, but so far it looks like this thing just might work!

-------------------------

At its core, YouData is a marketplace, a free economy of sorts, pairing the supplier of a product (you and your attention) with an interested buyer (yes, advertisers are now your customers).  Thus, your MeFile participates in a free market beholden to the natural economic laws of supply-and-demand.  When there is a general surplus of demand for attention (more ads than MeFiles), some of you will see more ad offers at a higher price, as advertisers compete for the limited supply of attention.  When there is a surplus of supply (more MeFiles than ads), some of you will see fewer ad offers and lower offer prices.

As the the graph above illustrates, recently MeFile growth has exploded.  While the number of ads in the system continues to grow steadily , MeFile growth is currently outpacing it.  Thus, supply is currently outpacing demand, and the existing number of ads is spreading more thinly across a growing supply of MeFiles, resulting in a temporary period of less ads for less money for some MeFiles. 

The good news is that this condition is only temporary, and the advertiser/demand side will catch up.  Seriously - advertisers are loving the product that you are delivering, and more and more advertisers learn each day that you are "open for business" and providing the best attention product available.  The more MeFiles in the marketplace, the quicker the marketplace attracts more and larger advertisers - so this is a GREAT "problem" to have!  (Keep those referrals coming!)

Of course, we all want the number of advertisers using our new marketplace to grow as quickly as possible.  So what can we all do to help accelerate the growth of that green line? 

At YouData, we have a few tricks up our sleeve that we will be announcing over the next few weeks including:

• Increased marketing efforts designed to create more awareness among advertisers
• Adding more people to YouData's own internal sales force
• Continue forming key partnerships with third-party agencies and consultants to help sell more ads through the system
• Arming the population of MeFiles with tools and methods to help get the attention of advertisers

 So stay tuned - we are just getting started.  This is going to get exciting!

Be sure to give us your thoughts in the comments below.

And thanks again for helping us fix advertising!

:-)
Team YouData

It is brilliantly done!  It's like a high-production-value, video version of our own Dear John Letter to Advertisers (please go sign it, if you haven't yet).

But you have to wait for the real punch line at the end - when the logo and website URL come up.  You won't believe who created it - or at least paid for its creation.  (Hint: it is a company that is brilliant at defining/recognizing problems, but when it comes to solving them with innovation - not s'great.)

Enjoy!

Photos are below since the online version did not include photos (click the images for larger version).

First, we want to sincerely thank all you MeFiles that believed in what we are doing enough to send your friends and family over to start their own MeFile. The reponse has been overwhelming, and we appreciate it very, very much.

Now, we want to start rewarding you for helping spread the word about our little MeFile experiment - up to a dollar ($1.00) at a time, paid out over time. It's not a lot, granted, but hopefully it is enough of a token to express our gratitude for sending your peeps our way.

You can find all the details of the program by logging into your MeFile. We've added a new tab named... wait for it... Referral Program. The new tab includes instructions, links, email templates, and real-time payment and referral activity monitoring.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Thank you for you continued support and for helping us fix advertising!

Team YouData

PS: You're reading this at YouData's Corporate Blog. Bookmark us or subscribe to our feeds as we post updates and announcements.

• Vision
• Your Body

Be sure to check them out under the "Your MeFile" tab at youdata.com and tag yourself!

We'll be posting several new surveys over the next few weeks and will let you know as they come online. Remember that as you better define your MeFile with your own information, your ad offers get more targeted and your attention becomes more valuable.