iBotanika: Social Network For Gardeners
The big social networks have most of us covered for our main social needs – but many of us have specialized hobbies and interests that are largely marginalized on the big sites because in the broad scheme of things they’re insignificant. These gaps are filled by smaller networks where like-minded people can connect. One such site is iBotanika, a social network for gardeners, plant enthusiasts and botanists in general.
Having signed up, each member is given a ‘Greenhouse’ which is the equivalent of a profile. Here you upload photos (of both yourself and your plants), add your plants and connect with other users. The feature to add your own plants is particularly interesting as it serves multiple purposes. The first and most obvious one is to showcase your hard work to the community and to ignite conversation. However, as you can see from the screenshot below, you can also use it as a catalogue for your plants to record their health, maintenance, environment and location. For those with more than one house or gardening location (such as professional gardeners and landscapers) you can add different locations to a map for all to see such as in the screenshot below.
‘Following’ a plant will give you regular updates if it is edited and it will also put you into contact with other followers who have that plant or are similarly interested in it. Each plant profile has detailed instructions for looking after it as well as other uses such as culinary and medicinal.
Features:
- Social networking for gardeners.
- Serch for information and advice on plants.
- Dedicated community.
- Organize and manage your plants and garden online.
- Similar sites: MyPlantId and GardenPlanner.
Check out iBotanika @ www.ibotanika.com (by Dean Sherwin)
