LIKE all the best ideas, its beauty is its simplicity – for a group of computer experts, that is.
Founders of Storm Ideas, Bob Thomson, and Jonathan Joyce
A system dreamt up on a summer evening, inspired by a takeaway and a few drinks, has put three Edinburgh friends on the road to dotcom millions.
Their idea to allow users of social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter to add a logo, like a favourite football team or singer, to their profile picture has taken the internet by storm.
Currently there are 20,000 different designs – or twibbons – on offer, including badges for Hearts and Hibs.
And the gimmick has proven so popular that huge household names, including the X Factor and I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here, have now hired the team to design their own special badges to promote their hit reality TV shows.
It all adds up to potentially huge profits for Storm Ideas – the small web and software development business run by founders Bob Thomson, 31 and Jonathan Joyce, 38, and Dan Moss, 23.
Dan, from Stockbridge, said: "We had no idea the application would be so popular but we now have nearly 700,000 using the service and more than six million people have viewed our webpage.
"It was quite a simple concept but before we knew it thousands of people around the world were adding the badges to their profile pictures.
"It is a way for people to show their support and build awareness for a band, charity or hobby.
"Brands can build up a following by creating a twibbon. For the X Factor team we made a badge of support for each finalist in the show and people can add these to their profile to show their allegiance.
"We charge money for linking to the X Factor website and other extras, which is building up our bank balance."
Only a couple of days ago ITV confirmed that it wanted the company to create twibbons for the new series of I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here in time for its launch on 16 November.
The gang started out in July by testing their creation on Twitter, and after building up such an extensive number of users they diversified to Facebook a couple of weeks ago.
Some of the most popular twibbons include football logos, poppies in honour of Remembrance Day and pink breast cancer ribbons, which more than 70,000 people are currently "wearing" online.
Celebrity fans include Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg who has a party twibbon and Sarah Brown who is sporting a poppy. Jamie Oliver, Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross, have also all featured a badge on their profiles.
Dan and his partners, who run their business in Stockbridge, said that the beauty of the application was that it is simple to use and costs nothing to make a basic twibbon.
He said: "You can make one for just about anything.
"It simply shows up on your picture on the website in an unexploited space."
• www.twibbon.com
