Searching for new niches
Who's blogging and who's listening? In this week's PodSession Om and I discuss four new products to help everyday people and even some Aussies publish and discover new content online. We applied an Siskel & Ebert style of review to these four new web products.
Blog and feed search
Gnoos indexes the Austrailian blogosphere. The new search site is focused on creating a good blog discovery process for Austrailian bloggers and their content but also includes news from bloggers and media sources around the world. Om liked the idea of search engines with local flavor but I thought Gnoos violates fair use laws and would be better off taking a slice from someone else's index instead of building their own.
Ask launched blog search on its main search pages as well as within Bloglines, its aggregator property. The new search engine is fast and easy for new users to get used to. Ask incorporated RSS search results into every page, and includes links to services from competing companies such as Yahoo's del.icio.us and Google personalized homepage and Google Reader. Om and I gave Ask Blog Search two thumbs up.
Blog publishing
Six Apart unvelied new blogging product Vox last week to about 500 users. The new personal blogging software is aimed at the mass market of potential bloggers with audio, video, books, and ideas to share with others. The product was formerly referred to as Comet since its first mention last fall. Om and I were undecided about the product's ease of use to new bloggers and wonder about Six Apart's ability to properly distinguish its four blogging products to itself and its white label partners.
eBay will add new blogging and wiki features to its site next week according to AuctionBytes and further reporting by Steve Rubel. Wikis could help eBay engage its community to create guides and how-tos for other members and create more engaged buyers and sellers. Blogs can help power sellers further establish a reputation online and drive repeat business.
This week's PodSession, Searching for new niches, is 25 minutes in length, a 12 MB download.
Comments
I don't know about about the thumbs up/down thing, guys. It seems Niall bases his decisions on the possibilities for the success of a new service and Om does not want to give his approval until he has seen results, and you can't see them when a new service is only a week old.
Posted by: Nick Dynice | June 6, 2006 6:40 PM
Great show. I like the thumbs up/down idea.
Posted by: Pete Cashmore | June 7, 2006 10:38 AM
Great show. I like the new format, and you guys play well off each other.
Posted by: Gerald | June 15, 2006 10:33 AM