Log In | Register
NEWSVINE BLOG
News about Newsvine. How meta...
Articles Posted: 105; Links Seeded: 2
Member Since: 11/2005Last Seen: 11/04/2009
Member Since: 11/2005Last Seen: 11/04/2009
35 Comments
Print
advertisement
You remember 1996. You had e-mail. Your friends didn't. You could Yahoo. Your friends couldn't. It was a time when most of the world spent less time online than they did eating breakfast. Two of the standout successes during this early stage of internet adoption were America Online and Netscape Communications.
America Online's strategy was to sell dial-up internet access for a monthly fee and provide users with a walled garden of content they couldn't get anywhere else at the time. Netscape's strategy was to own the piece of software that sat between the consumer and the internet and ultimately make money from both sales of that software and other endeavors created by "browser lock-in".
Both companies saw tremendous initial success only to eventually see their fortunes turn sour as they were beaten down by competitors and the general move towards openness on the internet.
It is with curious anticipation then that we watch today the relaunch of the Netscape brand by parent company AOL as a "new generation of news portal" (beta site is here). Comparisons have already been made to Newsvine and Digg by media outlets like Red Herring and InformationWeek, but I'm not going to call them copycats as many others will. Everything's been done before in one fashion or another and to accuse a new player of just ripping off an existing idea is to discount any and all creativity they may bring to the table.
Developing a new genre of news site is all about creativity, and as much as don't always find myself agreeing with Netscape's leader Jason Calacanis, I certainly respect his prowess as a dealmaker and his ability to get creative with the tools he's given. Regardless of what you think of the guy, he's good for AOL and he's probably good for this particular product.
So the big question everyone's going to be asking is, how does this affect Newsvine, Digg, or any of the other sites in this same general movement to modernize the news? If you ask me, I'd say it helps and helps a lot. The fact of the matter is that probably less than 1 out of 100 people in the world have ever even heard of Digg and even less have heard of Newsvine. This axiom is supported by common sense as well as observations like Ethan Kaplan's in which he found that only 5 college students (all male) out of 100 in a particular lecture hall had heard of Digg. And these are college students! It's really easy to get sucked into the trap of thinking the rest of the world is even 50% as tech-savvy as you are, but the reality is the exact opposite.
So what's the point here? The point is that most of the world is completely unaware that they are beginning to have power over the news. We see this every day at Newsvine. People use the site to read the news just like they would at, say, CNN.com, and not until they *really* dig in do they find out they can write, seed, and influence the news mix by interacting with it. Part of this is that our interface is probably a little too subtle and demure for newcomers, but the other part is that people just aren't expecting it.
With Netscape and AOL helping to spread the word about the democratized news movement, it increases the amount of people who are even ready for a site like Netscape, Digg, or Newsvine. It gets people thinking about getting more from their news and we like that very, very much.
In the end, there will be multiple successful news-writing, news-gathering, and news-sharing communities on the web. Most people will be members of more than one. The community which endears itself most to you is the one you'll probably spend the most time in. And with that, I gladly welcome Netscape to the "social news" fold. Just for kicks, I'm going to fire up a copy of Communicator 4.72 and see if the site renders. :)
(Sorry, I had to get at least one retro-Netscape snark in)
(Cross-posted at Mike's blog)
72 Votes- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
Published to:
- Newsvine Blog's Column, All of Newsvine
- Groups: none
- Regions: none
- Public Discussion (35)
What's this?
Who's leading the conversation?
This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user
has on the current conversation.
The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd
row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera).
Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group
is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the
left, in their corresponding group.
Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the
number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative
one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their
relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.
12
5.7
2.0
{"commentId":162265,"authorDomain":"spring"}
I'm going to fire up a copy of Communicator 4.72 and see if the site renders. :)
Ahh yes, back when Netscape made a good browser... those were the days. :)
{"commentId":162265,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"spring"}
- 5 votes
#1 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:06 AM EDT{"commentId":162373,"authorDomain":"chronotron"}
LOL! Nice one! Did the site work?
{"commentId":162373,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"chronotron"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":162439,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
Back when they made a good browser? Yikes. Netscape 4.x was the bane of developers' lives for years as many corporations and government agencies had standardized on Netscape, and kept NS 4.x around long after the rest of the world had moved to a modern IE or Mozilla. NS 4.72 renders horribly, and was a big factor keeping table based layouts around at several companies I was at.
{"commentId":162439,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
{"commentId":162917,"authorDomain":"spring"}
Tongue in cheek, folks :)
If we were giving out awards for lamest Netscape browser, though, I'd pin the blue ribbon on the current incarnation, a poor Mozilla knockoff that doesn't really bring anything to the table.
{"commentId":162917,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"spring"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":162927,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
No, the worst was Netscape 6.0. It didn't render anything correctly. Right when it came out we spent weeks fixing perfectly valid html on our site to work in 6.0, and as soon as we were done 6.1 came out and fixed all those bugs itself. That's when the nail was definitively driven into the Netscape coffin.
I heard the new Netscape was outsourced to an Indian company who just threw it together. Oh yeah... didn't they come out with it right at the same time that a critical vulnerability was discovered in its Firefox 1.07 codebase?
{"commentId":162927,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
{"commentId":162271,"authorDomain":"darkside"}
Wow, nostalgia overload...
That's a cool point, what's good for the industry is good for the individual company. And of course, since we're all good Keynesians, this can only lead to competition and a better product for the consumer. :)
{"commentId":162271,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"darkside"}
- 2 votes
#2 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:13 AM EDT{"commentId":162280,"authorDomain":"spring"}
{"commentId":162283,"authorDomain":"mike"}
For the record, I'm not too impressed with the Beta so far, but hey, it's a beta. I don't want to cut down the work of a dedicated team who is clearly at the beginning of a very long process.
I do, however, expect the Digg redesign next week to be quite a bit more polished and impressive.
{"commentId":162283,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"mike"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":162295,"authorDomain":"prez"}
The Netscape beta seems like a basic digg knock-off so far.
I'm fine with that though, I only go to digg for news, not the "community".
{"commentId":162295,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"prez"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":162412,"authorDomain":"ISPY"}
I'm going to fire up a copy of Communicator 4.72 and see if the site renders. :)
Communicator 4.72 Never Quite made the grade as far as usability is concerned. Good luck to them.
{"commentId":162412,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"ISPY"}
#3 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:35 AM EDT{"commentId":162452,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
This is hilarious! What's the top story on http://www.beta.netscape.com/ at 9AM this Thursday Morning?
* 88 votes
AOL Copies Digg Visit the Site Visit the Site
(via digg.com) – Check out what this is based on - digg.com.… (7 hours and 43 minutes ago)
Channel: Technology | Tags: evil, aol, digg
35 comments submitted by Dracorager member
This is perhaps one of the reasons that corporate AOL was leary of user created content?
Oh man.... I just clicked on the link to read the story on the netscape site.... it doesn't go to the digg story. Instead it opens a new window (or tab) to a page on the netscape site, and then frames the digg story. With a 'back to netscape' link that then takes the new window or tab back to the first page of comments on the article even if you were on the second. That is atrocious user interface design. Why would you want to end up with a bunch of new windows or tabs?
{"commentId":162452,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
- 6 votes
#4 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:04 AM EDT{"commentId":162546,"authorDomain":"tbone"}
{"commentId":162617,"authorDomain":"jmc"}
I think you got it right... we're only going to make the social news movement bigger. I consider Delicious and DIGG more social bookmarking, and Newsvine and Netscape social news.
I'm even thinking that we're Social Journalism since we have a large editorial staff sitting on top of the raw lists created by the users.
If users vote a story to the first position we put a journalist on it... you gotta admit that's kind of cool.
If anything we just doubled the valuations of Newsvine and DIGG. Of course, some will say there is one less buyer in the market but that is just not true. I've been tasked with finding companies for us to buy (as well as build) and I could see us having more than one play in this space. I could also see Yahoo, which already has delicious, buy another play in this space.
Right now it's up to all of us... Newsvine, DIGG, Netscape, and Delicious to explain this concept to the masses. Anyone can create a small base, but it takes an industry of great players to bring a product to the mass market (check email, IM, and search for info on that concept :-).
rock on!
{"commentId":162617,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"jmc"}
- 7 votes
#6 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:03 AM EDT{"commentId":163921,"authorDomain":"spring"}
Thanks for stopping by to put your two cents in, Jason.
(For those who didn't pick up on it, this is Jason Calacanis , from the New Netscape and CEO of Weblogs Inc.
{"commentId":163921,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"spring"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":162623,"authorDomain":"kirklennon"}
Stop reminiscing about 4.7, I still have to use it at work! Without going into too many details, I work in a retail store and we have to access our corporate intranet and online store using thin clients and that Netscape monstrosity, which I last remember using in middle school. My only consolation is that when I go home I get to use Safari.
{"commentId":162623,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"kirklennon"}
- 1 vote
#7 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:09 AM EDT{"commentId":162639,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
Netscape 4.7 is an abomination and a blot upon the face of the internet :)
{"commentId":162639,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
{"commentId":162689,"authorDomain":"jordanrivas"}
The natural comparisons to Digg and Newsvine are bound to come, but one significant difference is that Netscape, according to TechCrunch will have editors, known as anchors deciding the top stories that you see at the top of the page. That distinction really separates it from Digg and Newsvine.
{"commentId":162689,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"jordanrivas"}
- 3 votes
#8 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:53 AM EDT{"commentId":162847,"authorDomain":"blakehelms"}
The whole reason that I like Newsvine (and Digg for that matter) is that the top news is chosen by my peers and I. There are stories that I don't read but for the most part everything has substance. These anchors are probably going to distort the news. Eliminating bad AOL/Netscape news (although I was pleasantly surprised to see that the #1 story was AOL rips of Digg) and boast their own agenda. I hope they prove me wrong but AOL has a long history of giving the customer what AOL thinks that the customer needs.
{"commentId":162847,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"blakehelms"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":162883,"authorDomain":"bludrop"}
Another distinction that some people forget to mention is that these anchors will also respond to the news with "editorial comments", and they may even do some "fact-checking" or try to get more details about the story. I also read that AOL will pay these anchors to be "news reporters" for breaking news stories—including video.
So, while people don't necessarily like the look of the site (at least compared to Digg or Newsvine), it can't be denied that Netscape is trying out new, and almost "revolutionary" features.
{"commentId":162883,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"bludrop"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":163077,"authorDomain":"onlineapps"}
I don't see the editors. For a while, the top story was how AOL was copying digg. People were not happy. It's SITLL the top story.
{"commentId":163077,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"onlineapps"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":163325,"authorDomain":"cyron"}
I don't see the editors.
There is a "Netscape Anchor Commentary" made by an editor in a big yellow box right at the top of the page you just linked to Apps.
{"commentId":163325,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"cyron"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":162714,"authorDomain":"zeketyler"}
I have no idea why, but the AJAX on that site kills Safari on this old Powerbook.
{"commentId":162714,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"zeketyler"}
#9 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:03 PM EDT{"commentId":163115,"authorDomain":"spring"}
{"commentId":163341,"authorDomain":"jonfisher"}
I listen to talk radio at work when there are no new podcasts. Shortly after reading this entry, I heard a quick blurp about the new Netscape on the hourly news report. I agree with the point of this entry. The Netscape relaunch, while it's not the best example of democratic news reporting, does bring user-powered-news into the lime light.
User-powered-news is still a relatively new movement, but it's catching on quickly. Many people have become disenchanted with the major media trying to force their own agenda on the people. A free thinking person can only sit and listen to the talking heads on TV and radio for so long until they twist off and stop caring. I'm in Oklahoma, and I'm lucky enough to live in an area that has talk radio shows that I enjoy listening to. I share a common viewpoint with most of the shows carried here, and they generally talk about the things I want to hear about. I'm not so lucky on the TV side. In an effort to be "edgy and cool" like the national media, many of the local TV stations here subscribe to the "if it bleeds, it leads" theory.
Here's my impression of my local TV news:
"Today on the other side of the world, twenty-seven babies died today when a drunk driver swerved off the road and hit a telephone pole causing a live power line to fall into a pool where the children were swimming."
Ok, yes that's weird, but when I tune into local news, I want LOCAL news! I'm in Oklahoma! Freakin' eff! I'm also tired of hearing one despressing story after another. Why doesn't anyone report on good things anymore? The large news outlets make you want to go strangle puppies. Major media will fall victim to it's own agenda. As the world becomes more interactive and tech-based, people will regain their control over things big business soaked up long ago.
Anyway, I'll likely stick to Digg for my tech news. Netscape's site looks like they took Digg and merged it with MySpace's ad database. MySpace's ads are why I've grown cold the social networking site. I'm a Newsvine newcomer, but I like the site. I've even replaced Google's RSS news feed with the Newsvine feeds on my Google homepage.
{"commentId":163341,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"jonfisher"}
- 3 votes
#11 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:34 PM EDT{"commentId":163347,"authorDomain":"spring"}
Hey Jon, welcome to the Vine, glad to have ya!
You may want to add positive-news to your watchlist ;)
{"commentId":163347,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"spring"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":163391,"authorDomain":"onlineapps"}
Want positive news, go to http://goodnewsfromthefront.com/ .
{"commentId":163391,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"onlineapps"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":164382,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
Really Jon? My impression of local news was captured quite succinctly by Dave Barry years ago. Here's what's on local news: anything that local news reporters can stand in front of while giving the story. That seems to be the driving force... I mean I for one and no more enlightened about the weather when the weatherman reports from out in a driving storm than when he reports from inside, but outside he gets to stand in front of something.
{"commentId":164382,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
{"commentId":163757,"authorDomain":"behindmyscreen"}
What person would think of using netscape rather than our wonderful vine?
{"commentId":163757,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"behindmyscreen"}
- 3 votes
#12 - Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:14 PM EDT{"commentId":163794,"authorDomain":"cyron"}
Presumably not many. I think the nay-sayers are more inclined to believe that it will remove potential new vine members from the pool before they ever discover it
{"commentId":163794,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"cyron"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":164085,"authorDomain":"jimmiejo"}
Digg + old Slashdot = an ugly bastard child named Netscape
{"commentId":164085,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"jimmiejo"}
- 1 vote
#13 - Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:49 AM EDT{"commentId":164124,"authorDomain":"lufbery"}
Newsvine - it won't be long before you begin getting offers by folks like AOL, your design and implementation of a news site is the best. Nobody can argue. What AOL/Netscape could bring is financial backing to market the site in a big way. Don't sell out too early though...
{"commentId":164124,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"lufbery"}
- 5 votes
#14 - Fri Jun 16, 2006 6:47 AM EDT{"commentId":164232,"authorDomain":"sokabs"}
I certainly echo Lufbery. If any hard-to-pass-up offers come your way (which I expect will be happening), please don't make the deal too early. I'd like to see Newsvine get firmly established in a way that a potential buyer wouldn't want to change too much. But, it's your company, and your potential fortune... so, I guess we don't have too much say in the matter.
{"commentId":164232,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"sokabs"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":164184,"authorDomain":"onlineapps"}
The thing is, if Netscape copied digg, then so did Newsvine. So, why's everyone complaining? Does this mean I like the new Netscape? OF COURSE NOT!
{"commentId":164184,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"onlineapps"}
- 2 votes
#15 - Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:16 AM EDT{"commentId":164870,"authorDomain":"cyron"}
I don't get why people keep saying that as if Digg was the original. k5 was voting user submitted news stories to the front page for years before Digg was even a sparkle in Kevin's eye. Sure, Newsvine might have copied the voting idea from Digg, but Digg copied it from Kuro5hin, and they no doubt copied it from somewhere else. The whole point of these things is evolution. You see an idea, and you think you could improve on it, or perhaps apply it in an area not intended in the original idea, and you run with it. If you're really adventurous, you take a couple of ideas from different areas and meld them together. There aren't too many truly original ideas out there, only original implementations of old ideas :)
{"commentId":164870,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"cyron"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":164958,"authorDomain":"onlineapps"}
Definitly agree.
{"commentId":164958,"threadId":"31929","contentId":"255784","authorDomain":"onlineapps"}
- 1 vote
{"canLink":false,"threadId":"31929","isPrivate":false}
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.
Start Tracking
Stop TrackingCOMPANY STUFF:
LEGAL STUFF:
- © 2005-2009 Newsvine, Inc. |
- Newsvine® is a registered trademark of Newsvine, Inc. |
- Newsvine is a property of
