WebSite Watch 5
Theses are a couple of commentaries on current web events and issues followed by a review of three web startups. NewsVine was recently acquired and is already a successful business, while the other two are still in recent phases. WhyNotAd is an interesting concept that I think could and should be expanded further. I predict HotFlation will meet with limited success – perhaps even pay the rent of its founders.
∑ Last week I commented on a UK startup, Blyk.com, a company that gives mobile phone users a free quantity of minutes and texts each month in exchange for advertisements sent to users’ cell phones. It seems the idea is tickling Google’s fancy. Blogs in the last couple of weeks have been hitting on Google’s interest in a similar idea, yet to be enacted. Google’s keen interest is evidenced by recent rumor that it’s in the market for its own mobile carrier. Analysts have been indicating the flagging Sprint-Nextel company, which industry opinion leaders argue Google could have for $4.6 billion. An in-house mobile service would give Google free reign over its ever-widening territory and the ability to cheaply facilitate a blyk-like service. It seems Google is beginning its first step into what some have already begun calling Web 3.0.
∑ This brings us to a key question: What exactly is Web 3.0? Technically speaking, there is no right definition for the term. The IT guys argue it is a concept that describes the artificial leveraging of information. One meaning of that would be the availability of information in a non-browser. Web 2.0 began to see programming like this early on. For example, BidSnipe, an online auction tool that automatically bids $1 higher than the highest bid at the last moment. Web 3.0, is the automation of automation – the script that runs the script, the Wall Street trading program to monitor the Wall Street trading program. Web 3.0 will predict the ability of computers across the web as far as information sharing and decision making goes. The fridge that orders food, the car that calls the mechanic, the automated work order created digitally when warehouse stocks are low; a frictionless business community. See the advantage?
News Vine (www.newsvine.com) This social news site gives users a look into what’s going on in the world at any given moment. Aggregating various articles from newspapers worldwide News Vine then ranks articles based on readership much like YouTube videos. It also allows readers to post their own perspectives as if it were news and give multiple viewpoints on one news story. MSNBC just acquired the Seattle-based site for an undisclosed amount. CEO Mike Davidson wasn’t looking to sell but took meetings with MSNBC anyway. The site draws on average, 1.2 million visitors a month. The acquisition of this 6-person startup is the first in msnbc.com’s 11 years.
WhyNotAd (www.whynotad.com) Advertising wiki, WhyNotAd just experienced something most internet startups would kill for; a server overload. Having expanded its capacity for user growth, WhyNotAd is on the road to success – fingers crossed. The site offers free advertising to anyone for anything with a focus on the needs of businesses and advertisers. Users place ads and tag them with keywords. On a Google search, targeted ads will appear on top of the search queue. In essence, WhyNotAd is a digital cataloge of advertisements. While original, it would be interesting to see this company involved with user-chosen ads. For example, rather than having Google or another company pick the banner you see on the side of your e-mail inbox, WhyNotAd could simply tell users when they sign up that an ad is required there. Then users could go to the ad catelogue and choose the advertisement themselves. Why not?
HotFlation (www.hotflation.com) Like Hot or Not, HotFlation asks users to rate the attractiveness of people posted online. Pictures can be posted by the users themselves, or users can rate images already online. HotFlation then takes is one step further by factoring geography into the equation to give users an idea of where they are considered most (and least) attractive. As photo ratings change, the color, or Heatmap does too, indicating based on color, which regions are “hottest”. This LA-based company is not yet in the top 100,000 but if the Hot or Not flagship is any indication of popularity, HotFlation should meet with some success – if only limited to the bored-at-work introvert.
