BakeSpace

Where People Come For the Food - Stay For the Conversation

People have always gathered in the kitchen to cook, eat and engage in conversation. BakeSpace.com is designed to help keep this tradition alive in cyberspace. It's truly a grassroots community built by members like you.

As a BakeSpace member you can post, search and share recipes, customize your own "online kitchen," raid the "virtual pantry," make new friends, create blogs, upload photos and video, download coupons, and communicate in real-time with other members via our chat room called the Tea Room.

Imediaconnection.com

Social networks have been taking the online advertising industry by storm. In fact, it has been estimated that in 2006, marketers will spend $280 million on advertising and marketing on social network sites in the United States alone.

Social networks are widening the trail that MySpace blazed with niche communities that speak to special interest groups, as well as specific age and demographic pools.

Here, we speak with some of the most popular, up-and-coming social networks and outline their unique offerings for advertisers looking to take the social network plunge.

Let’s dive in!
Next: www.bakespace.com


http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/11845.asp

Babette's Feast

Babette's Feast

Move over Friendster and MySpace—now there’s something tastier! The newest social networking website to hit the scene is geared toward the food obsessed, and it’s called www.BakeSpace.com.

Move over Friendster and MySpace—now there’s something tastier! The newest social networking website to hit the scene is geared toward the food obsessed, and it’s called BakeSpace.Created by Babette Pepaj, a Los Angeles–based television producer and director, BakeSpace currently has 5,129 members, and it is a homey space on the Internet where people can gather to share and delight in all things food. But why go to BakeSpace when you can go to eGullet or CHOW’s sister site, Chowhound? Well, according to their press release, lots of reasons:

While many culinary-themed websites offer recipes and message boards, BakeSpace.com is unique in that members can post, search and share recipes, customize their own ‘online kitchen,’ raid the site’s ‘virtual pantry,’ make new friends, create blogs, upload photos and video, download coupons, and communicate in real-time with other members via instant messaging and chat.

Pepaj says, “For many people, the kitchen is the most important room in their home. But even the most passionate chef can sometimes forget that cooking should be fun. BakeSpace was created to enable members to share their kitchen with like-minded people from around the globe, and in the process forge new friendships and exercise their passion for one of life’s great pleasures.”

Sounds pretty delicious to me, and I’ve just signed up as Stephanie365. Come on over and visit my virtual kitchen—it’s probably much bigger than my real one!

Reposted from chow[dot]com.

BakeSpace.com

Reposted from One-Kitchen-Two-Cooks -

It's nice to know that there are a few things you can count on in life. I have been pondering what to cook today and browsing www.bakespace.com for an idea or two(or three or four or five...you get the idea). So many good recipes to try on the site and the list grows constantly. It is a very friendly site too, everybody is very willing to share their culinary knowledge with you. Many thanks to Babette for putting together such a wonderful site and staying so in touch with the members. http://www.bakespace.comakespace.com has become one of those things I can count on in life to provide great recipes and good friends.My problem(if you can call it a problem) is that when I see so many different recipes; I find I don't know which one I want to try first....definitely can't make them all at once as much as I wouldn't mind a smorgasborg today. I am thinking comfort food... days like today almost always bring out the need for it. Now I just need to figure out how comfortable I want to be...lol. I have some Italian sausage in the fridge so we'll see what I can come up with to use that up.

http://one-kitchen-two-cooks.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-ickyis-that-word-day-out.html

Scripps Howard News Service

Save room for 2 new food sites
By Michael Hastings

The Internet is full of food sites, but the founders of two sites are hoping that it isn't quite stuffed yet.

Chow.com and bakespace.com both deal with food and offer free memberships, but the similarities just about end there.

Babette Pepaj, a television producer and director in Los Angeles, started bakespace.com in late August to create a "grass-roots" site for amateur cooks like herself. The key to its appeal is the interactive design, which encourages like-minded cooks to make friends over the Internet. Bakespace, Pepaj said, is her take on the Internet social-networking concept pioneered by myspace.com, and it attracted 2,500 members in its first 30 days.

Once you register, you become a "chef." You can enter recipes. You can assemble a virtual cookbook of other members' recipes. You also can ask other members to become your friends or "kitchen helpers." When other members view a recipe of yours, they will be given suggestions about other members' recipes. You can also create a network where you can send messages to all your bakespace friends. Members can share their recipes and rate others'.

Despite the name, the site is not limited to baking. It has tons of main dishes, salads, soups and just about everything else, too.

Other sections deal with community events, grocery-store coupons, members' cooking tips, and restaurant and cookbook reviews. A chat room is in the planning stages.

In short, Bakespace is one big recipe swap that's driven by passionate amateur cooks. The site is easy to use, and it's full of dishes that everyday cooks might actually want to make. The space may be virtual, but the food is real.

The Diva Tales

Reposted from Diva Takes: http://www.thedivatales.blogspot.com/

"Bakespace Takes a Bite out of the Myspace Market"Myspace's overwhelming success has inspired countless spin-offs, some more successful than others. I've recently become a member of Bakespace, a website blending the concept of myspace networking with the passion of cooks and bakers, whether professional or amateur. With over 5300 members, you can create a page and profile of your own, sharing recipes from around the world for dishes like cashew crusted chicken, sauteed spinach with lemon, or unique twists on the simple classic, hot chocolate.Check it out at: www.bakespace.com

And since it is Halloween, I've included an excerpt from Babette's (founder of Bakespace) latest Bakespace newsletter detailing some of the diverse traditions for celebrating Halloween around the world.

HALLOWEEN AROUND THE WORLD

Halloween is one of the world's oldest holidays, dating back to pagan times. In many countries food plays a central role in how the holiday is celebrated. Here's a sample of how the world is celebrating tonight:

* IrelandIn Ireland, a traditional food eaten on Halloween is barnbrack, a kind of fruitcake. A muslin-wrapped treat is baked inside the cake that, it is said, can foretell the eater's future. If a ring is found, it means that the person will soon be wed; a piece of straw means that a prosperous year is on its way.

* AustriaIn Austria, some people will leave bread, water and a lamp on the table before going to bed on Halloween night. It was once believed that these items would welcome the dead souls back to earth.

* ChinaIn China, the Halloween festival is known as Teng Chieh. Food and water are placed in front of photographs of family members who have departed.

* Mexico, Latin America and SpainAmong Spanish-speaking nations, Halloween is known as "El Dia de los Muertos" -- the day of the dead – and is celebrated over a three-day period that begins the evening of October 31. A feast is held that includes loaves of bread called "Bread of the Dead." Inside the loaves are sugar skeletons or other items with a death motif. This gift is more prized if the skull or skeleton is embossed with one’s own name.

Washington Post

www.BakeSpace.com - Does the name evoke http://myspace.com/? That's a calculated strategy, right down to the instant messaging, user profile data and thumbnail photos.

The self-billed "place for cookers and cakers," launched a few weeks ago, aspires to be a virtual kitchen table for 25- to 50-year-old cooking enthusiasts. What sets it apart from other recipe-sharing venues online, says founder Babette Pepaj, are its easy-to-read and easy-to-create formats and forums.

"I was looking for a social networking space, but something that was real grass-roots about food," she says. "But the best function on the site is the recipes."

It took Pepaj, a Los Angeles television producer-director who describes herself as an avid amateur cook, about six months to get BakeSpace up and running. Users have to log in as members, but the site is free; an average of 150 users have logged on each day since Aug. 22. So far, BakeSpace members appear keen to swap stories, recipes and home-cook-level advice.