After creating advertising community at Ads of the World and the largest collection of vector logos at Brands of the World Mediabistro has added another site to their ‘…of the World’ suite: 3D Prints of the World.
“3D Prints of the World goes hand-in-glove with our Ads of the World site, the largest online advertising community, and Brands of the World, which hosts the largest collection of vector logos,” stated Alan Meckler, Chairman and CEO of Mediabistro. “This site will also support Mediabistro’s other 3D printing services, including its Inside 3D Printing trade shows and 3D Printing Insider e-newsletter.”
The site defines itself thus: ‘3D Prints of the World is a showcase & community around the subject of additive manufacturing which is more commonly known as 3D printing. We post pictures, videos and STL files where available of interesting designs daily. The objective is to inform and inspire designers and fans of 3D printing. Register and upload your own designs to show them to the world. Comment on other’s work.’
Let’s be clear: there is nothing new here. It’s the online 3D file repository that we are seeing emerge everywhere at the moment, with a news blog and some core home 3D printer models. But, ‘3D Prints of the World’ can boast the experience of image bank provider Mediabistro, who is ideally positioned to add a 3D site with minimal extra cost to their business logistics. Also, Mediabistro is not new to the 3D printing game further to its trade show and newsletter activities within the industry.
All that the site attempts to do, it does so competently. The community / social onus is wise given the ‘shopping centre’ mentality that is likely to evolve alongside online 3D-printables shopping. Put another way, to sidestep my personal passion for a near future personalised, decentralised, production methodology: the concept that people will be dropping by to compare latest shopping scoops on such sites, sharing on Pinterest or Facebook, discussing on 3D printing forums, is already a reality, albeit in a massively over-saturated, immature market. New repository founders who ignore the social element to the activities of netizens do so at their risk. Those 3D printer models currently run the pleasant but predictable (MakerBot, Ulitmaker, etc.) or otherwise known as ‘popular.’ AKA safe. No mBot Cube2 here.
It’ll be interesting to see which out of the myriad of online 3D file repositories are still trading (indeed, if trade is part of their function…) in two years time. I’m not going to be so bold as to make attempts to predict whether 3D Prints Of The World will be one of them. But, given it’s apparent solid foundations, things look promising now.
About Mediabistro Inc.
Mediabistro Inc. is a leading Internet media company that provides services for social media, traditional media, and creative professionals, as well as for innovators in the 3D printing and mobile app industries. Service offerings include an online job board, news and analysis, trade shows and events, online and in-person courses, and research products.
Source: Mediabistro
