[peterzakin]

I think the idea is that it could create an experience similar to Turntable in the sense that you can "socialize" with strangers in a safe way. Many of those strangers also may be famous or influential; there may be something valuable in an experience where you can virtually hang out with Mike Arrington.

It's cool having that kind of interaction on Twitter--and it's certainly more "human" on Turntable since you're all engaged in a common activity that occurs in real-time: listening to music. Unfortunately for Shaker (or so I predict) virtually hanging out (apologies for the oversimplification) is hardly the same thing as listening to music with other people. This sounds like a bet on a trend...

[jlees]

Aye, but it's a bet on a ten-year old trend. Remember IMVU? One of the stories from that is they believed it was going to be a great way to hang out virtually with your friends, but it turned out that users wanted to meet new people, not simplified representations of their real friends.

The closest thing I can think of is IRC, and the way that (at least, to me) nothing has really topped it in terms of real-time communication with friends in the last ten or so years. Do we need a more graphical version? Maybe; but I'd put my money on doing something compelling with mobile, not a Facebook virtual bar. I do like the way Shaker tries to augment the world with little touches like "You share a birthday", though. We need that on smartphones!

[peterzakin]

Could be a bet on timing. Maybe they think IMVU was ahead of its time...