Having had the chance to work with Challen a few times outside of going on Groupers, I can attest that she is, indeed, a phenomenal person.

But Michael's right -- there's something magical about the experience of having a combination of a crowd and an algorithm, where you get the best of scalable, automatic responses and a personal connection when you need it. It also lets Challen manage friendships with thousands of people at once. She's MySpace's Tom for the new generation.