This all works through a combination of a Firefox add-on (Get Glue), AdaptiveBlue’s contextual technology, and analyzing your existing social networks on services like Facebook, Twitter, and Friendfeed. In turn, if you’re visiting the Iron Man page on Wikipedia, you’ll see which of your friends from those sites (who have also installed Glue) have explored Iron Man content, with options to see additional metadata like comments, reviews, or "likes." Additionally, Glue wants to help you discover new people, so you’ll see other members of Glue who are interested in the concept you’re viewing. This screencast explains how it all works a bit more in-depth:
In addition to launching Glue, AdaptiveBlue has also announced $4.5 million in Series B funding from Union Square Ventures and RRE Ventures. The company previously raised a Series A from Union Square in early 2007. AdaptiveBlue’s first product, BlueOrganizer, also utilizes the company’s semantic technology to recommend similar content when browsing the Web, also via a browser add-on.
As for Glue, it’s a very cool concept. Instead of thumbing through your friend’s reviews of different products across sites, or aggregated on a service like Friendfeed, Glue brings them together and puts them all in context while you're browsing the way you typically would. However, even moreso than many other services, to be really useful, Glue is going to need to have a big-time user base. While it may work OK with a small network of friends when viewing really popular movies or music, in places where reviews are most helpful – the long-tail of content – the Glue experience could be a bit sparse until your whole social network (and beyond) has signed up.
