Fixing Social Content Sites

I agree wholeheartedly with Dharmesh Shah’s assessment of social content sites like Digg. The problem is the content–-it's completely random, and while often interesting, it is NOT particularly relevant to me.

To illustrate, check out the current headlines on Digg:

Google says Vista Search Changes not Enough

One of THE COOLEST Guitars (PIC)

Why Wal-Mart Won't Sell You More Than Two Prepaid Cell Phones

The Weird Things People Eat Around the World

Stolen Homer Simpson Statue Found

Like I said, these stories are random, interesting, but not particularly relevant to me. The social content sites have responded by creating story categories (e.g., entertainment, technology, sports), BUT they really can’t slice the content narrow enough to solve the relevance problem.

How do you fix this?

One idea is to create a PLATFORM, where users can create social news site pages containing content relevant to any type of vertical market. The content on these pages could be anything from all things labradoodle for labradoodle lovers, Notre Dame Football for Notre Dame fans, a local political candidate for supporters, GTD, even a nucleotide of interest to particular group of researchers. Content within these user created, vertical market sites would be voted upon just like Digg, Reddit, Truemors, thereby incorporating the value of the wisdom of crowds.

There are those out there trying to create this PLATFORM, (e.g., coRank), but I think a MUCH less complex model would be much more viral. I envision a basic site where...

1. users can create their own pages using the platform;
2. news stories are listed in two basic categories: the latest (the latest submissions), and the greatest (the voted upon results); and
3. the site would allow for interaction among users (e.g., comments, chat, forum clouds, meetups)

The content on these sites would be VERY relevant to its users, because unlike the other social content sites out there, you’ve gone one step further and empowered the users to create the categories. This is taking user generated content to another level.

There is a bit of a dilemma here: as you increase focus and thereby increase relevancy, such focus may cause a site to fall below the critical mass of users required to keep it going. This dilemma might be able to be bridged. For example, it may help in such situations for the "latest" stories to auto-propogate with content based upon user defined Google News Alert keywords, and then the voters could take over.

Austin based startup Thoof may be building something that principally meets some of what I've described above. We'll have to wait and see.

If you're a startup trying to build something along these lines I'd love to talk.

Comments

[RBA]

Thanks for the reference to coRank - Just to add to your suggestions, regarding what's possible or not in coRank:

1. users can create their own pages using the platform;

That's already possible, if I understand it correctly.

2. news stories are listed in two basic categories: the latest (the latest submissions), and the greatest (the voted upon results);

We have that. It's true that there's more than just that and you were advocating for simplicity, but in those custom sites created by virtue of your 1st request, there are options to add/remove wanted/unwanted features.

3. the site would allow for interaction among users (e.g., comments, chat, forum clouds, meetups)

This is coming, starting with basic p2p contact tools based on existing relationships (you also dont want a 100% open environment or spammers would take over it in a second).

As for Thoof, from what I've read, their main differentiating factor is that anyone can edit submitted stories, wiki style, which is certainly different from what we're trying to do at coRank.

[finsrud]

Thanks for your comment RBA. I am looking forward to seeing how coRank evolves over time.

[finsrud]

I guess my only question of coRank is whether it is really usable by the masses. Is it easy enough to be appealing to the Facebook/Myspace crowd?

[Dharmesh Shah]

Thanks for citing the article.

I'm also trying to address the issue/opportunity with some new software.

An example of the software can be seen at:

http://www.DailyHub.com

This particular site is a social content site for business geeks. But, the idea is that similar sites could be created on any niche topic.

The software is still very, very early but those interested in the general thesis can read the manifesto page. It describes the motivation and philosophy for the platform.

[finsrud]

Thanks Dharmesh.

[Ian Clarke]

Hi, I'm the CEO of Thoof - feel free to email me if you would like an invite (if you don't already have one).

You may be interested in this information on our personalized selection algorithm:

http://blog.thoof.com/?p=6

All the best,

Ian.