We were contacted today by WeDudes, an upcoming service that lets users create their own avatars and use them on MySpace, social networks, mobile phones and PDAs, instant messengers and email signatures. You can also send animated greeting cards containing your Dude.
Dudes are created using the DudeMaker, and you can see more dudes on the company's MySpace page. As users spread out across multiple sites and platforms, these universal avatars are likely to take off. The services perform best, however, when they can strike exclusive partnerships with the IM providers and the social sites.
In short, WeDudes are like hardcore WeeMees - add chainsaws, guns, goth outfits and bondage gear, plus an insulting speech bubble. The market is likely older than the WeeMee generation - teens to late twenties, possibly. They look incredibly cool, too, but the only question I have is whether WeeMees took off due to the anonymity they provide to young users - by the time those kids reach MySpace and Facebook, they appear to have lost all inhibitions.
Look out for the launch..uhh...soon.