{saving time by hartichocked via CC }

I get these great emails and IMs from Web 2.0 folks all the time. As I've said before some services are designed for the top .001% of the market and some are designed for the "the market." That's one of the things I learned a lot about while at Graduate school (also known as my 12 months @ AOL LLC). There is a very large market out there for internet services and that market is filled with folks who want simple, easy to use services that they trust.

Mahalo was designed for those folks. If you love submitted stories to digg, load TechMeme 12x day, and have over ten Facebook applications installed you're probably not the target market for these simple services--and that's totally cool! Some folks are cutting edge, few folks are bleeding edge, and most folks are just getting on with their life.

Anyway, here's today's IM that made me really smile:

• Hey, thought you might like a quick perspective I heard yesterday. Talking to a local friend of mine (40-50) who takes a lot of holidays and was complaining about how hard it is to find good travel on Google (hotels, destinations etc SEOd to death).
  
  I showed him Mahalo and he was blown away... he was wondering if he could pay money for it or something. He was amazed something so useful was free to use. He was really happy to save, literally, hours of painful Google research for his next few trips.
  
  so you know you're doing something right when the typical 'man on the street' is excited for Mahalo and adds it to his bookmarks.
  

Couple of important points in this anecdote:

1. Human's curating search can save other humans a LOT of time.
2. Certain verticals benefit more from human curation: travel, products, news, and health come to mind.
3. When people love a service they bookmark it. That's the Holy Grail of product design, getting someone to bookmark your service.
4. People do pay for the service Mahalo provides for free currently: they pay for it with THEIR time. They pay for by asking their loved ones or employees to do research. We save folks a LOT of time and money, and if you create a service that does that you're going to have an impact.

Anyway, I love these stories... so, if you want to conduct a little experiment forget about the hype around human search, SEO, and my public persona--that's all meaningless. Sit one of your friends or family members down and show them one of our search results next to Google, Yahoo, or Ask and watch the magic happen.

If I had not have done tons of market research in this fashion (including with out in-house testing lab) I would not have even started Mahalo (let alone raised capital to go after this market). At this point in my career I put my faith not in what A-List bloggers and pundits think, I put my faith in my I see in user labs. Pundits don't know jack about the market, the MARKET knows about the market (and you can include me in that pundit list... if you consider me a pundit).

Hope everyone is having a great weekend... I'm suffering with a throbbing jaw and mouth sores. Pass the vicodin.



{ vicodin by prodigal via CC }

A lot of folks have been telling me their emailing and IMing Mahalo links around the web--especially for things like travel and people like their parents (btw: your parents will love Mahalo).

A number of folks asked us why we didn't have social sharing sites like delicious, reddit, Facebook, and Stumbleupon. We thought about that for a second and realized there was no reason why we didn't have those services so we just added them under the "clean URLs."

[ Sidenote: Clean URLs is our project to make the shortest possible URLs for folks who like to type in mahalo.com/SEARCHTERM. I'm one of these odd folks who likes to save a couple of keystrokes. ]

We didn't add Netscape or digg because those sites specialize in news and we thought the communities there might not be interested in sharing curated search results. If we're wrong I'm sure we'll find out when people post our curated results to those services.

Special guest: Digg's Jay Adelson and Electronic Frontier Foundation's Fred von Lohmann
Hello everyone, Tyler here - back with a podcast for your listening pleasure (read: no video)

In this episode, Jason speaks candidly with Jay and Fred regarding the recent DRM snafu.

download: audio [mp3]
subscribe: iTunes | audio
view: transcripts
contact: cast [at] calacanis.com

Further reading:

• Danny Sulivan - Digg Gives In To User Revolt; Are Those DMCA Takedown Notices Even Valid?
• Micheal Arrington - Digg Surrenders to Mob
• Om Malik - A Very Angry Digg Nation
• Staci D. Kramer - Digging Into And Out Of A Hole-And Maybe Back In Again

Today's show even has a fancy title:

Control by Obscurification: The New Radical Opaqueness
Is Wikipedia really open? Why is digg moving away from transparency? In this podcast I look at the challenges two of the most important sites on the Internet are facing.

download: audio
subscribe: iTunes | audio
transcripts
contact: cast [at] calacanis.com

Great story in the WSJ about the buzz being generated by the top users at digg, Reddit, Newsvine, delicious, stumbleupon, and of course Netscape. The article really shows how the top users in these systems have become more than just "users," and the WSJ seems to really get that folks can be paid to do a job and not be corrupted.

Of course, when you pay people to do an editorial job you have setup a system for them to do so without compromising their ethics. We did this at Netscape by letting the Navigators blog/bookmark things they selected (i.e. unlike PayPerPost we didn't tell people what to blog about--let alone tell them it had to a be a positive result).

AOL is really doing a great job of supporting Netscape from what I can see. They haven't cut the budget, and it seems that the tech roadmap that we setup when I was there is being executed on brilliantly (it really is an amazing tech team over there!). The Netscape 9 browsers is ground breaking no many levels, and the stats from Netscape six months in are *exactly* like digg's after six months (250,000 stories and 150,000 members @ Netscape--not to shabby!).

AOL is sitting on a powerhouse with Netscape and I hope the give it a full two year runway because that's what it takes to build a community system like this. Netscape is the #1 or #2 social news system in the world and AOL owns 100% of it--that's big. CondeNast owns the #3 system with Reddit, and digg is probably gonna get snapped up by Yahoo, Google, or Newscorp I'm sure. So, AOL got essentially a free foothold in this emerging space because Jon Miller, Ted Leonsis, and Jim Bankoff made a long-term bet that is *just* starting to pay off.

I really hope Randy Falco, Ron Grant, and the new team over there let Netscape continue to grow because these systems could wind up being the core of the next generation portals.

My plan was to go to 50 Navigators with six months, and I think Netscape is at around 25. I highly encourage the team over there to get right to 50 Navigators @ $1,000 a month and then start a second program with 200 Navigators at $500 a month. This second group of Navigators who have a lower hurdle of work (say 100 stories per month baseline), but would be focused on the 30 channels. So, you would have 250 Navigators total with 6-10 on each channel. This would make the channels full and give Netscape a chance--for only $250,000 a month--to really own the broad social news space.

As the story showed digg, reddit, delicious, and Newsvine are the perfect place to look for emerging talent and pay them.

If I was CEO of StumbleUpon I would raise $10M and pay the top 250 folks $500 a month for contributing to the system. It would make the system go off the charts.

Anyway, I'm out of the social news business... although I wish I wasn't I really love what Netscape's doing and I talk to members of the team and community over there on a daily basis.

PS - The 9.0 browser is amazing!!! Great job... don't forget my News drop down menu!

Wow.

Like wow, wow.

Today's Kevin Rose announced that he is taking down the top users list at digg because of the top diggers are getting blamed by "some outlets" (I guess that would be news outlets) as the cause of manipulation on digg.

Well, truth be told if you take the negative baggage out of the world manipulate and just look at it as "to change something" it is very true that the top users change (aka manipulate) digg. The whole concept of social news/bookmarking is that users can have an impact. So, those outlets are 100% correct that the top users control much of what you see on digg, and the users are not at fault for trying to have an impact.

The problem really is that there is a perception that those users rule digg--and in fact they rule somewhere between 1/3rd and 1/2 of digg from what I can see.

Most of the top users I've talked to over the years are very, very driven by that top list. They want to climb higher, they talk about strategies to climb the rankings, they build tools to get to stories first, and they lament their inability to sustain their position when they fall.

digg motivated the top users in the system with recognition and now that digg is "at scale" they really don't need this rabid group any more. In fact, the value of a motivated top 100 and their never-ending quest to climb the rankings is not worth the negative impact and press it has on digg is what I'm hearing from Kevin. digg wants to shake the fact that the top stories are controlled by a select group of individuals and this is not the first step in that direction. Remember digg already dinged people for going direct to the permalink to vote (as opposed from the on deck circle).

This is the gift and curse of social news... your existence is based on user participation, and your existence can be destroyed by certain types of user participation (i.e. spam, payola, gaming).

Of course, since digg has an API isn't this all moot?! Won't someone create a top-user list in 10 minutes after digg shuts their list down?


I applaud Kevin for making the bold move, but I don't think this one has legs. I think the top users deserve their recognition and if Kevin is not paying them for their thousands of hours a work and year AND not paying them with recognition what's left?!

The driving forces in these system are (in order:

1. recognition
2. affiliation
3. compensation

All that digg really has left now is affiliation, and the question is will that be enough. I wish him luck.

I don't know Randy Falco or Ron Grant, but I wish them luck. The NYT says they have a long view of AOL, everything I read says AOL's is going to be cleaned up and sold.

My advice to both men: start blogging today. AOL was a very closed culture when we got there a year ago, and blogging is what really pulled the company into the Web world. There are dozens of important folks in the company having honest discussions on blogs and the best way for you two to build AOL is to embrace the culture of honesty, transparency, and debate. Blogging is the best medium for this. Take a page from Microsoft and let all your team members blog, and even pay some folks to be company bloggers. Let it all hang out, let the marketplace tell you where to go, and be open about everything--the good and the bad.

Even though I was at AOL for only a year it felt like home. ~50 members of "my team" are still rocking it out at Netscape, WeblogsInc, and Blogsmith, and I really hope the new guys recognize the amazing potential those groups have and continue to invest in them.

Weblogs, Inc. has grown into an eight figure business at AOL over the past year and I think it could be a nine figure business if they keep investing in it. Easily.

Netscape has continued to advance and grow since the bottom out in October. It takes 2-3 years to build an online community like Netscape, not three to six months. Social news is the future and Netscape is in first or second position on every important factor in that race (along with digg). To give up now would be such a wasted opportunity (especially since there are 500 folks trying to get into the top five slots right now!). I mean, Conde Nast just bought reddit--a distant 3rd or 4th to Netscape and digg.

Blogsmith is a fantastic platform that could rival TypePad and WordPress in the market place if AOL put some muscle behind it. Brian is a genius and AOL should really pull him in to the senior management team--guys like him don't wind up in big companies often.

Anyway, I've got to get back to my day job... I don't work for AOL anymore but I still spend 2-3 hours a day thinking about and talking to the folks who run those businesses. Giving them advice (solicited and unsolicited), and participating in and using those fine services and products.

Randy & Ron: If you every need any free advice on them or want to grab lunch you know how to reach me. Good luck and please take care of my babies. :-)

As we all know I'm no longer working on Netscape. So, these are my observations as someone who is no longer affiliated with the service. I've figured out exactly how you can get almost any quality story on the home page instantly.

For Netscape

1. Step One: Add the top 20-30 users on the service as friends. (Approximate time: 10 minutes). The top users are located on the home page on the bottom right.
2. Step Two: Add the Netscape sidebar on Firefox so you can follow your new friends (Approximate Time: 2 minutes)
3. Step Three: Vote for the stories of the top 30 users and place intelligent/fun comments on their stories (Approximate time: 30 minutes).
   
4. Step Four: Find a good story and submit it. Tip, try to avoid politics and news channels since they are the most crowded. (Approximate time: 5 minutes).
   
5. Step Five: Sitemail your friends the url of the story and say "check this one out!" (Approximate time: 1 minute). NOTE: Do not spam your "friends" list with sitemail or they will block you. I think maybe once or twice a month is fine. Once or twice a week might get annoying. Really depends on how your friends view you and what they think of the stories you submit. If they are good users they probably have the sidebar and are watching your activity already.
   

Total time: About an hour.


For digg:

[ I'll write this one up next. It's harder for digg obviously... but the key is of course to become friends with at least 30 people on the service by voting for and commenting on their stories. Yes, it is a popularity contest on a certain level. ]

I'd like to try and out the advertisers and marketing firms on digg (and maybe even Netscape, who knows) that are paying folks to submit news for them. If you know of a firm doing this send me their name, the email they sent you, the URL of the story on digg/netscape, and/or who they are paying.

If your tip pans out I'll send you $100 via paypal. Yep, I'll pay you for ratting these folks out.

I will also keep your submission 100% confidential.

Also, if you've been paid for doing this in the past I'll also keep your information 100% confidential. Remember, I don't work at Netscape any more so I'm basically a very interested 3rd party. I just want to understand what these folks are doing.

You can send the emails to my personal account jason at calacanis dot com.

Again, 100% confidential. Let the madness begin. :-)

Update: Mulife does an excellent job of explaining exactly how this mess started. In this case it wasn't a straight up cash for diggs situation, but rather some offers for free service (which were not taken). SuperNova17 did have his account banned, he did do a redirect (a big no-no), and digg did reinstate him after he apologized. That being said, I still have a PR firm that claims they are paying people cash, and the CNET reports are still out there. Clearly this is one of a number of instances and the best thing we can do as a community is to put sunlight on them. best j

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, this cost me $100... but it *might* be worth it.

NOTE: I don't have any of the facts confirmed here yet. I'm looking for verification of these facts from anyone else who got the email, digg, JetNumbers.com Kevin Rose, and SuperNova 17. THIS IN UNCONFIRMED. CONSIDER THIS INFORMATION INCORRECT UNTIL WE ALL GET CONFIRMATION.

I was just told--and I don't know if this is true yet--that digg's number five user named SuperNova17 took the offer, was caught by digg, and had his account killed. He later apologized and had his account restated.

SuperNova17 did submit a story bout JetNumbers here:

http://digg.com/tech_deals/JetNumbers_New_Approach_to_Virtual_Telephone_Numbers



The story links to http://elagora.com/numbers.html which redirects to JetNumbers.com.

Note: Do you know anyone doing this on Netscape or Reddit?

Here is the reported email--again, this could all be a scam.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nathan Schorr <nathan@jetnumbers.com>
Date: Dec 7, 2006 12:15 PM
Subject: Using your ranking on Digg, work with us and get somethng out of it
To: [A TOP DIGG USERS]

Update: If you know of someone doing this let me know and get a C-Note.
Update2: The first tip is in, and *if* it is correct someone paid off the number five digg user this week.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I know these reports have been going around, but I have the inside line and figured it was time to share it.

A PR/marketing firm confirmed with me that they had a number of the top 50 users on digg now on the payroll--and this wasn't a totally insignificant firm.

The problems that digg is facing now is that a portion--certainly not all--of the top users feel like they should be getting paid for the 3-4 hours they spend on the site each day. Since digg will not pay them for their work they are finding other ways to get compensated.

Note: The Navigators at Netscape are not being paid by the PR firm, and if they ever do something on the side they will have broken their contract and would be fired immediately. Of course, the other users on Netscape could be getting paid just like the ones on digg are--however at Netscape you have the paid staff to turn this stuff off. The PR/marketing person I talked to said they can get a significant portion of their stories up on on digg. Ouch.

Will this problem kill digg? Nope, because the audience can bury things.

Will this problem undermine trust in digg? Of course.

My prediction is social news sites without a paid staff of editors cleaning the site up will be less trusted than ones with editorial staffs.

Note2: I no longer work at Netscape obviously. However, I still care deeply about the space.

Netscape's traffic has been going up over the past three months in a major way, and I think it's because of three main reasons:

• a) the community is learning how to use the site
• b) the tech folks are adding amazing features
• c) the home page has now been balanced to have no more than 2-3 stories from each channel (i.e. it's not all politics all day long any more).
• d) we solved the spam/group voting problems (by adding a bunch of very talented Navigators!)

Today the tech team launched two extensions we were working on for the past month--AND THEY ARE AMAZING!

Oh wait... I don't work at Netscape any more. :-)

I'm so proud of the team over there... Netscape is going to double in traffic over the first year--you heard it hear first!

best j


From the Netscape blog:


Today we released two Firefox extensions that hook into Netscape.com: the Sitemail Notifier extension and the Friends' Activity Sidebar. We hope that these extensions will allow you to get even more value out of Netscape. Both extensions are compatible with Firefox 1.5 through 2.0.0.* as well as the latest release of Flock.

Sitemail Notifier

The Sitemail Notifier extension adds a button (shown below) to your toolbar that indicates when you have new sitemail messages at Netscape.com. Clicking the button will bring you to your messages page.


Figure 1: The two main states of the sitemail button.

Friends' Activity Sidebar

The Friends' Activity Sidebar (FAS) extension helps you keep tabs on what stories your Netscape friends are submitting and commenting on. A new toolbar button (shown below) features Chad, the older, more mature brother of AOL's little yellow chat mascot. When there is new activity by your friends (i.e., a new comment or a new story submission), the button will be activated and Chad will send a friendly wave your way. Clicking on the activated button will open a list of your friends' activity in the sidebar, allowing you to easily browse their stories and comments. Each time you view your friends' activity, you will only be shown activity that is new since the last time you opened the sidebar.


Figure 2: The two main states of the FAS button.

Note: The sidebar limits activity to five stories/comments for each friend. To view more of a friend's recent activity, click on their avatar or username to be sent to that friend's profile.


Figure 3: The Friends' Activity Sidebar

Suggestions for future extensions or improvements on these extensions are most definitely welcome.

I just added another page to the Wikipedia: social news.

Social news is obviously very different than social bookmarking, which is already in the wikipedia.

It would be great if folks could help me expand the topic.

I'm looking for a designer to work on redoing my blog and some work on the CalacanisCast logos. I'm building a list of the best designers I can find....

In no order so far...

• silverorange - digg and firefox
  
  
  
  
• hicksdesign - firefox and thunderbird logos (niiiiiiiice!)
  
  
  
  
• stamen design - cool interface stuff like root markets, digg, flickr
  
  
  
  
  
• happcog.com - Magnolia is soooo nice
  
  
  
  
  
  
• stopdesign -- the blogger redesign was niiiiiice
  
  
  
• simplebits -- odeo's clean design
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• You guys have any other thoughts?!?!?
  

One "problem" with social news sites is that the more scandalous and crazy the story, the greater the chance in some cases that it will make the front page.

MicroPersausion talks about it here and suggests a system.... ummm, digg has a system where they put alerts on disputed stories, and Netscape has a crew of 30 folks watching out for these items.

This really isn't a "problem" since folks understand that these system can get gamed. Just like folks know that on a life TV report someone could jump in front of the camera and yell something--but you know that doesn't replace the anchor even though they have for five seconds.

Anyone in media can--and will--get spoofed: The New York Times, Engadget, digg, Netscape, or CNN. It's how you deal with the spoofing and the intelligence of your users that matter. In another year folks will learn to say "it was on a social news site, but I *checked* the comments and it doesn't seem real." Or, "I checked CNN and Google News and they had nothing on it." In other words, folks will take responsibility for what they read.