Sneakerplay, the sneaker-based social network which has been in private beta for the past few months, has opened up so that anyone can browse the site.
As mentioned previously on Mashable, Sneakerplay is an incredibly simple network that lets you create a profile, add pictures of sneakers and put two pics head to head using the "battle" feature. They've also landed a promotional deal with Nike Air: Nike has its own profile page where they're promoting the new Nike Air Max sneakers (this is the same thing as MySpace marketing). The profile includes promotional videos, wallpaper for your desktop, a list of stores where you can pick up your new kicks, and the ability to embed the videos on your profile or external sites like MySpace and Piczo. It seems that some niche social networks have enjoyed success with promotional campaigns - VentureBeat mentioned that Dogster has an agreement to promote all Disney's dog-related movies, for instance.
However, they're trying to maintain their exclusivity by keeping profile pages private - you'll need an invite to gain complete access. I only have five invites, and the founder has requested that only sneaker fans sign up - please only request an invitation if you plan to use Sneakerplay.
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