Redfin founder intros Allyall; a new way to share photos, videos and Web pages

FridgeDoor co-founder Michael Dougherty admits that he sometimes has a tough time describing his company in one or two quick sound bites. That's partly because the 8-person Seattle startup, which today is launching a new service called Allyall, combines elements of so many different online services, from messaging to social networking to photo sharing.

But when you boil it down, Allyall is really a central online spot where friends, co-workers or other groups of people can share photos, videos and Web links all while engaging in a private conversation.  For example, a group of friends who wanted to plan a sailing trip could use the tool to share photos from past excursions, pass on links to interesting places to stay and chat with each other about logistics and equipment.

Dougherty, who previously co-founded Redfin and worked at Zillow.com, said it would be an abysmal experience to try to organize a group trip that way through e-mail.

"E-mail is a wonderful thing because everyone has it, but it is messy," said Dougherty, adding that it does not easily support photos, video or create an environment of collaboration.

On the other hand, Dougherty said many of the social networking applications like Flickr or Shutterfly are primarily built around the one way communication of showcasing photos for others to see.

From a technology perspective, Allyall works much like Evite. Once users click on the link in the e-mail, they are invited to a new online space where they can share videos from YouTube, Google or Hulu, input photos or chat about the topic at hand.

"It leverages e-mail but gives you a much richer canvas on which to paint," says Dougherty. Documents aren't part of the system yet, though it would seem to be a natural next step.

But as a small team FridgeDoor has had to focus, one of the reasons it has taken more than a year for the company to emerge.  It has raised about $850,000 from angel investors and Palomar Ventures.

A number or startups are playing in this arena, including Xobni, Xoopit and Zenbe.

FridgeDoor plans to make money with Allyall through add on services, possibly charging for extra storage capacity or photo printing.

One of the other areas where Dougherty sees promise is through what he calls "collaborative shopping" -- using Allyall to jointly shop for big-ticket items such as travel, cars or electronics. As part of that, Allyall would look to capture affiliate revenue by passing shoppers onto sites such as Amazon.com or Expedia.

Building off his experience in the online real estate world, Dougherty also cited an example of how a potential home buyer could use the service to track homes they find on Zillow or Redfin, post links to news stories about neighborhoods and then chat with an agent about the properties. Redfin, though, does not yet have an online affiliate program in the case someone makes a home purchase.