Sometimes I get confused by the Remix Culture and its various shades of grey. For example:
Planet Web 2.0 "aggregates the weblogs of the Web 2.0 community. Web 2.0 is about sharing rich data through open, loosely coupled services, enabling new and exciting applications and modes of collaboration."
Sounds great - and in this case it's all automated. Planet Web 2.0 aggregates full-content posts from people such as John Battelle and Chris Anderson. It has reblg buttons all over the show (not imaginary ones either ;-), making it easy for other people to re-aggregate the content on Planet Web 2.0.
This is good, isn't it? After all it's about sharing and mixing content, getting broader exposure for one's ideas, and other social software warm fuzzy-wuzzies. Well, it may mean less click-through on the ads on John Battelle's weblog or personal RSS feed (if he had ads in his feed)... I sense some grey seeping into this picture. But I'm still OK with Planet Web 2.0 - these are all fine people and collobarating with a community of like minds is a wonderful thing.
So let's take a look at another system that aggregates content. Article Bot is a "Text Manipulator, Story Re-Writer, Content Creator ...the future of content and a new paradigm for anyone who needs unique, relevant, and unstoppable content..."
What does Article Bot do? It basically remixes existing content, written by humans I presume, so that it "can pass as human-generated".
Hmmm, sounds dodgy. But wait - we're "misunderstood", the creators of Article Bot cry out. Don't judge us! OK, I'm a fair person, I'll hear them out. Here's a recent press release from Article Bot:
"(PRWEB) May 23, 2005 -- "The outcry from webmasters around the world for an unstoppable tool that replaces whole staffs of copyrighters, creates organic-feeling, and unbeatably unique content in any language is deafening. The rave reviews Article Bot continues to receive from users tells us we're on to something good," says Mr. Harrold.
"The excitement and controversy around Article Bot amazed us. We said that Article Bot was the future of content-creation, yet we were not prepared for the future coming so soon! With that lack of planning came a need to increase the price of Article Bot," says Don Harrold, Article Bot co-creator.
"Also, Article Bot is about to release a new and shockingly-revolutionary 'Relational Database Article Bot.' We plan to allow only folks who are current Article Bot users, at the time of release, to get their hands on this unstoppable software," says Mr. Harrold."
There's more, but you get the gist - it's unstoppable.
Bots are here to stay on the Web. In fact the era of content aggregating and generating bots has only just begun. Automatic content for the people.
But it's still a very grey area. Some bot-generated sites I like - e.g. Planet Web 2.0 and Memeorandum (which is doing a sterling job of covering the tragic London events of yesterday).
Plus software that makes it easy to re-post and remix - like reBlog and reblg - is something which can be utilised in good ways. This is certainly the case with the people behind reblog and reblg. They're all fine folks, who I'm familiar with via the blogosphere, who want to enhance our social networking and information management experiences.
But let's be frank. Software like that can be utilised in bad ways too, of course. It's a grey area.
Perhaps it's a moral judgement we each have to make, as to which bot-generated sites are good and which are bad (hat-tip Andrew for the insight). Article Bot feels morally wrong to me. It contributes to clutter on the Web, by generating loads and loads of content with no original thought behind it. AKA spam blogs. And the marketing of this software is very disrespectful of human content creators - the writers and bloggers and people who make the Web such an invigorating place. Sure you can automate the content of a website, but don't try and route around the people who write the original content you're feeding off. That's what most annoyed me about SuperFeedSystem and its ilk.
I believe sites like Planet Web 2.0 and Memeorandum *do* respect the content creators - and that's why I like them.
But I don't get the same impression from software makers like Article Bot and SuperFeedSystem. They, and the people who end up using their products, are driven by avarice and have little respect for collaboration, conversations and ideas - the things that make the Web feel so alive to me and others.
Now... that's my moral judgement and I make no apologies for it. Actually it's pretty black and white if I look at it that way.
UPDATE, 9 July 2005: Don Harrold from Article Bot responds in the comments: "Stick a price tag on information and you get what you've got now."
Priceless.
Technorati has gotten a little bit of heat recently from Marc Canter and Dave Winer, which prompted me to take a look at how Technorati stacks up against its competition in the blog search space. Hat-tip also to Josh Hallett, who pointed me to a relevant post of his the other day.
Alexa is an excellent traffic-ranking tool, owned by Amazon. Take a look at the following comparison graphs from Alexa - you may be surprised by the results. They show that Technorati is growing at a rapid rate. It's recently overtaken Bloglines and is blitzing Feedster. My thoughts on WHY are at the end of this post.
The graphs below are all comparisons of "daily reach", which measures the number of users a website has. The time span I'm measuring is 1 year. So these graphs show how each website has grown (or not) in users during the past year.
This clearly shows that a gulf has opened up between Technorati (blue line) and Feedster
(red line) since the beginning of 2005. Prior to that the two sites were relatively even,
with Technorati always slightly ahead. But now Technorati is streaking away from its main
competitor. Dave Sifry and his team will be rapt by that, but it must be a major concern
for Feedster.
This shows that Technorati overtook Bloglines at the beginning of June and it looks like
they may hold that lead too (judging by the sudden spike for Technorati during
June/July).
Shows that although PubSub are growing, it's not
nearly fast enough compared to Technorai.
This graph compares Bloglines to Feedster - now ranked 2 and 3 respectively in the 'blog
search' space according to Alexa. Bloglines has a healthy lead - and again it shows a
slight tailing off with Feedster.
Shows that PubSub has a bit of work to do to catch up to
Feedster and the others.
The usual caveats about Web stats apply - i.e. assume the data may be unreliable. Nevertheless, the main trends here are clear:
1. Technorati is on a roll. I think this may be due to their recent tagging initiatives. Bud Gibson has an interesting theory about this. In a post entitled Folksonomy makes tag aggregators king of search rankings, Bud explained that Technorati's aggregation of tags has resulted in high search engine rankings in Google, Overture, etc.
Technorati's re-design and high-profile promotions, such as the recent Live 8 one which Marc referred to, have also probably contributed to the rise of Technorati.
2. What's happened to Feedster? They were once neck and neck with Technorati, but these stats show they've dropped off the pace. Maybe it's because Feedster is focusing on different niches nowadays - e.g. they're rolling out an ambitious Media Network, which I'm going to be testing soon btw.
I really like Feedster - they recently made me their Feed of the Day for the second time (first time was a couple of years ago). I'd like to see them succeed, so hopefully this is a temporary blip on the radar in terms of their user stats.
There are other trends to note, but I think I'll go ahead and post this now and let others jump in via the comments.
UPDATE, 7 July 2005: Several people have left comments that the companies I chose may not necessarily have the same business models - and indeed may not be "competitors" (a word I used in my post). Chris Redlitz from Feedster also emailed me about this matter. Chris said (I have permission to quote him):
"Technorati and Feedster are fundamentally very different businesses. Feedster is focused on feed subscription, syndicated search and advertising. Many people do not search feedster.com but access us through feed subscriptions, which is not reflected on Alexa."
Fair enough and point taken. I still think the Alexa charts show some valid trends that are worth noting. But as the comments I've received highlight, it may not be a level playing field for PubSub and Feedster in particular when it comes to Alexa stats.
Some people also pointed out the technical issues that Technorati has from time to time. Shelley Powers illustrated this by telling me I've been Squidded. Heh.
This week: Grokking Yahoo! My Web 2.0, What is Where 2.0, Entrepreneurs start your engines, RSS VC fund fever, Techie Post of the Week - Attention.
Yahoo's unveiling of a "social search engine" called My Web 2.0 got almost as much tech blogger coverage as Microsoft's RSS announcements last week. Yahoo! My Web 2.0 is basically a search engine / bookmark service which enables you to find relevant content via your social network. It's been variously described as "a little cluster of "domain experts" you trust" to "an eBay for Knowledge". I rounded up some other reactions in this post.
Over the past week I've talked about it in podcasts and then finally had a chance to play. Here are some additional things I've discovered:
- you can import your existing bookmarks from your blog or bookmark services such as del.icio.us (the leading social bookmarking service). All it takes to do this is to enter the URL of your del.icio.us feed (or an XML file that holds the data) and Yahoo automatically imports it - including all your tags! So it seems that Yahoo! My Web 2.0 is potentially a del.icio.us-killer, which must be a concern for the folks who created del.icio.us or invested in it. Some people think the two services are distinct enough to co-exist... I'm not so sure. Time will tell whether it's worth my while entering bookmarks into two places.
- Yahoo! My Web 2.0 is also a decent practical demonstration of what Attention means in this evolving Web 2.0 world. It provides a trail of what I've been focusing my attention on (if I choose to make that public) - and likewise I can access the attention trails of people in my social network.
I'll write more about Yahoo's social search engine in a later post.
You'd be forgiven for thinking the Where 2.0 conference was just about maps and stuff, because Google, Yahoo and Microsoft mapping initiatives have been everywhere lately (pun intended). Indeed if you cast your roving eye over the Where 2.0 homepage, you'll notice the content doesn't stray far from the topic of mapping. Or "geospatial Web technologies" as those in the know call it.
If we zoom out and take a high-level view of the terrain, we can see that "where" technologies will be key enablers for Web applications over the next 5-10 years.
Tim O'Reilly in his Where 2.0 keynote put it into the context of Web 2.0:
"Where 2.0 is the subsystem to the Web 2.0 operating system…Web 2.0 will be built from a network of cooperating data services."
Ross Mayfield followed up by writing that, on the Web, 1995-2000 was about the "what" and 2000-2005 about the "who". A little over-simplistic, but it leads to this concise insight:
"From 2005 to 2010 we will be trying to comprehend the Where. Every new mobile device will transmit coordinates, every location device will be sensor aware."
It's a great time to be an entrepreneur, according to Joe Kraus of JotSpot and Excite.com fame. His post aptly summarizes the excitement of the Web in its current era - post-bubble cautiousness mixed with enthusiasm for Web 2.0 opportunities. Joe's central thesis is that it's never been cheaper to be an entrepreneur, which means an easier path to profitability and higher VC valuations. I particularly liked his third point:
"Startups today have unprecedented access to global labor markets. [...] we have access to a world-wide talent pool of experts on a temporary or permanent basis."
Yes, including talented Analyst/Researchers and Spec Writers from New Zealand ;-)
Of course when money starts to get thrown around, everybody gets giddy. News of a potential $100 million RSS fund had all the pundits rubbing their sweaty palms together in glee. I thought Paul Kedrosky's post was a good reality check. As he rightly pointed out:
"While there are oodles of Web 2.0 opportunities, they are predicated on solving real problem, not on transport protocols."
But having said that, it's clear that with Microsoft now betting on RSS as a kind of Longhorn saviour - there will be plenty of RSS opportunities for businesses and investors alike. For example, I've got a keen eye on Charlie Wood's new venture. So it's fine to be a little cautious, but it's also OK to get a little giddy :-)
Nick Bradbury wrote a call-to-action post, triggered by Microsoft's RSS adoption, entitled Microsoft, RSS and Attention:
"This isn't about Microsoft or any one company. I fully expect Gmail to add RSS aggregation, enabling Google to better understand what you're paying attention to so they can provide a more useful personalized search. Same goes for Yahoo and everyone else getting into the RSS business. See, I believe we've won the RSS battle and the next battle is for attention, and we should let everyone who hopes to gain from our attention data know that we want it back."
I second that motion - it's vital that all Web 2.0 companies, but particularly the bigco's, let us own our data. Which in practical terms means making it easy for us to export our data from an app if we want to. Going back to the social bookmarking example, del.icio.us lets people export their data. Earlier today I asked the question of Yahoo on the My Web 2.0 messageboard - currently waiting for an answer. I'm not joking when I say it could determine which of those services I end up using.
That's a wrap for another week!
Good, Dave Winer has returned to text format (at least for today) for his morning coffee notes. That means I can link to it. He wrote this morning:
"Every company, not just tech companies, needs to have a presence in the blogging world, someone whose feet are planted both in the network outside the organization as well as inside. [...] Only Microsoft and perhaps Yahoo have this. Even Google can't be accessed over the web, and definitely not Apple."
It's Monday morning as I write this and I've just had my coffee, so here are my notes on this matter. Microsoft and Yahoo both have a large presence in the blogosphere - indeed over the past year or so I've gotten to personally know many people from both companies. I have a particular affinity to Yahoo, perhaps because it's an excellent mix of New Media and Web Technology. Anyway, my point is that as I've gotten to know people from Yahoo and Microsoft, those companies have become much more 'human' to me. We have conversations on the Web and offline too. Everybody benefits in some way - e.g. they get ideas and feedback from their users, we get new products that better suit our needs. It's a very symbiotic relationship.
Compare that to Google. As of this date I don't know a single person from Google. I hope at least some of them read my blog, but not one has ever emailed me or commented on my blog or linked to me. Ordinarily I wouldn't expect any of those things, but when you consider how much attention (that word again) I've gotten from Yahoo and Microsoft people via my blog - well, one begins to wonder where all the Google bloggers are.
Maybe I can start the conversation with Google folks by extending a simple invitation - ping me at readwriteweb AT gmail.com (see I use your products!). Let me know what's happening inside Google, what you're thinking about. I'm sure we have a lot in common. Converse with me - and other bloggers like me. You may be surprised to find that we can help each other.
And lest I be seen to be picking on (or sucking up to) Google, I extend that invitation to ANY and ALL Web 2.0 companies. Join the blogosphere. Talk with your users, find out what makes us tick. Because it works both ways - we also find out what makes YOU tick and so we better understand each other.
Thus endth this sermon from The Father of Web 2.0.
In my podcast with Alex Barnett the other day, I mentioned that the Read/Write Web (the theory, not my site) isn't just about writing as we usually think of it on the Web - blogs, wikis, etc. It can also be interacting or transacting with websites and apps. Participating in the Web. This was one of the points I made in my very first post on my blog, which btw I named Read/Write Web for a very good reason ;-) Back then, April 2003, I wrote:
"The Read/Write Web isn't just about being able to publish writing though, it is also about an increased ability for ordinary people to interact and transact with websites."
While researching something for a project I'm busy on currently, I came across a recent variation on this theme. Rummaging is a blog that is focused on the company eBay and the author made this excellent point:
"More and more, eBay is becoming a vehicle for people to express themselves about their relationships, their views about the world and all their hopes and fears.
[...]
Look at the international press attention gained by people selling their virginity, or a coke can, or an old wedding dress via an eBay auction. These people got to express themselves to a far wider audience than most can ever dream. Compare this to the criticism frequently levelled at weblogs: no-one reads them."
Note that I cut a few paragraphs to try and get to the essential point: which is that eBay, and other transactional community sites like it, is in a sense what the Read/Write Web means for the vast majority of people. Most people aren't bloggers - and probably never will be. But a huge number of people 'write' on interactive websites such as eBay (here in New Zealand the equivalent is TradeMe.co.nz, which gets as much attention in my country as eBay does in the US).
It's not just auction websites either - it can be any website that fosters a sense of community or interaction. And 'transactional' isn't necessarily about money.
As Rummaging concluded:
"eBay allows people their fifteen minutes in an explicitly transactional manner. In that, it epitomises the age."
Indeed it does - the age of the two-way, Read/Write Web.
I'm doing the rounds on the podcasting circuit. Tonight I did an impromptu podcast with Microsoft International Program Manager Alex Barnett. We were chatting via Skype and it kind of just turned into a podcast. Skype can record calls, which I didn't know until Alex told me - he has instructions on his blog.
Alex caught me a bit unawares with the podcast, so don't expect any startling insights from me on it. As Alex said, "this is raw" :-) Good fun though and I hope to do more podcast chats with Alex and others. I imagine I'll get better at articulating my thoughts in audio... well I hope so, otherwise I'll have to quickly retire from the podcasting circuit ;-)
