social web | The NeoSmart Files

Techmeme’s homepage currently has the following entry:

NEWS AS A SOCIAL PLAY: HERE COMES MYSPACE NEWS!

— MySpace is getting into the news business with launch due in early 2nd quarter, according to inside sources and the company’s own sales materials. — MySpace News takes News to a whole new level by dynamically aggregating real-time news and blogs from top sites around the Web.

Funny, isn’t it? Techmeme advertises that MySpace is launching a TechMeme of its own. At least, that’s certainly what it looks like from here. A “dynamically aggregating ….. from top sites around the web.” That description fits TechMeme to a Tee.

TechMeme (run by Gabe Rivera) is exactly that. A news aggregation service that works all on its own. It searches “elite” websites (news and blog sites alike) for breaking news and stories, spots what might be big, and posts a link for all to see. So how is what MySpace doing different?

Continue reading →

Pardon the word-play, but the “all-new” My.Netscape launching tomorrow may very well be two years too late. When talking about a highly-dynamic market like the social web, it’s important to be on-the-ball with what you offer and when you offer it. It’s a cut-throat market, and being a month late can make all the difference – hence this prediction: “My.Netscape 2.0” isn’t going to make the cut.

For one thing, Netscape doesn’t offer anything that’s not already there, provided by the now more-popular social web homepage services, like NetVibes, PageFlakes, Live, Yahoo!, and Google. The most important thing to keep in mind is: users have already left. If they have no reason to switch back to My.Netscape, why should they? They can get equal/better services elsewhere on the web, they’ve already configured them, and they’re more or less happy there.

Continue reading →