What does the word “Blellow” mean?
It’s a term that was invented in one episode of the 2005 hit show “Malcolm in the Middle”. In that episode, Reese says: “I invented a new color…I mixed blue and yellow and got…blellow!”. Since then, the definition of blellow has been expanded a bit by some non-mainstream sources. From the Unword Dictionary, Blellow is “The color produced when mixing blue and yellow, when green is just too mundane a word.”

What is Blellow, the social network?
For Mandi Leman, Blellow’s creator, the name blellow aptly describes the concept of creating something new using known elements. After years of freelancing as an independent art director and interaction designer and founding a small online ad agency called MediaRich.net, Mandi became acutely aware of the challenges that freelancers and entrepreneurs face when they work alone, usually at home. Everyone can use a second set of eyes or additional ideas from their peers or professionals like themselves. Knowledge is meant to be shared. While there are many tools for learning, our best resources are each other.

How will Blellow help me?
Blellow uses the idea of a microblog that is kind of like Twitter, a bit like Facebook, and as John Biggs pointed out in his article on Techcrunch, throw in LinkedIn and Yammer in the mix. Mashable and the Huffington Post writers agree that Blellow is a “better microblog” that is designed specifically for productivity and getting work done.

I already use Twitter and Facebook. Why would I use Blellow too?
The answer is that if you don’t need a network for pro to pro communication, then you probably don’t need to use Blellow too. But if you could use getting advice from entrepreneurs or creative or tech pros, Blellow’s main purpose is to do exactly that. The way it is structured and its user base make it entirely unique. While Twitter and Facebook have many more members, they are both networks that are used predominately for keeping socially connected with a wide range of people and usually for work reasons as an aside rather than as a primary purpose. Blellow is made up of around 7500 creative and technical entrepreneurs, freelancers, as well as corporate professionals who are all there to collaborate, solve problems and help each other work on projects. Blellow is structured into groups, both private and public, and because of that, pros can communicate with groups of people based on skills and interests that help them with their work. They can direct posts, get better answers to questions, relevant feedback, and can engage in conversations that they are most interested in because of groups. They can also share all kinds of files, which Twitter doesn’t support at all and Facebook only allows people to share pictures or videos. Pros can opt in to receiving messages from groups that they belong to and can create private groups. Private groups can be used to share files and communicate with clients or with other professionals you are working with.

What are some Blellow success stories?
You can see Blellow success stories taking place every day. These don’t need to be big game changers, but they comprise of the things that professional people need every day. Things like getting quick answers to work questions, people helping you collaborate on projects, getting non-biased feedback from pros, and sharing helpful industry-related info & resources. It’s free to post project and job leads and most members get leads by just joining in the conversation.

How Blellow Can Help You.
Mandi Leman, Blellow’s founder: “When you work alone as a freelancer, you don’t have a group of people at your fingertips to help you figure things out.”. “You can’t just stop someone in the hall to ask a question. That’s why Blellow is so important: It’s a way to get instantaneous advice from the right people, who have the expertise you need at that very moment.”

Today’s economic climate makes Blellow even more of a necessity. “As full-time jobs disappear, more and more people are looking for contract work and making the transition to freelancing. Being able to reach out to professional networks is more important than ever before.”