Left Lane
Life, web, and caffeine. By Pat Collins.
Newsvine Debunked
Published January 30th, 2006Or: “Newsvine for the Web Guy”
Wordpress. Backpack. Bloglines. These are all applications and methods I have adapted to streamline my personal desires for publishing, organization, and news. A newcomer is sneaking onto the scene to convince people to read news and publish differently: it’s called Newsvine, and it is CEO’d by one of the most high-profile contributors to mass-standards proliferation: Mike Davidson.
Despite knowing the basic premise of this new web application, I have to keep reminding myself that I’m part of the private beta of a potentially Big Thing ™ that could revolutionize online news. I have to keep going back to Mike’s blog to read the mission statement of Newsvine. I have to keep asking myself what the site is trying to offer me. News? Online publishing? Social networking?
Don’t I already have these?
I love the design and execution of the Newsvine site, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t see a unique need for it in my life.
I already read my news from CNN. I prefer reading news without a constant atmosphere of chatter. I like forming my own opinions and topics of conversations on current events without the danger of instigators typing in all capital letters, flaming or posting off-topic comments. Public news sites with this model, such as digg, have suffered accordingly because of such people. I don’t see Newsvine avoiding this issue in the future.
I have an online publishing tool. Anyone writing on Newsvine worth their salt probably has one too; Newsvine is informally acting as a redundant portal to these writers’ sites. Personally, I don’t feel like repeating myself on my blog, on Newsvine, and at the water cooler at work. The cycle would become exhausting. If I were given all the options and were forced to pick a place to publish, I’d pick my own site. I’m convinced others would feel the same way.
I also enjoy the focused nature of web apps such as del.icio.us, Flickr and even Facebook, because they allow people to socially network and form bonds and communities based on specific similar interests in the easiest ways possible. I find it hard to network with people who choose to write about such things as:
Area Man Grows Mullet. Friends in Shock. […] At the moment Randy has just a budding of the “mullet of his dreams” […] In the mean time wait for our update on Randy’s mullet only here on newsvine.
Your mileage may vary. I’m curious what the web readers at large think.
When you live in the tech world, it’s easy to get sucked into the trap of thinking that indeed everyone does use things like Delicious, WordPress, and RSS to consume information and express themselves. While it’s true that 90% of the tech world current does, it’s also true that 90% of the non tech-world does not.
And besides, the Seahawks are going to kick the Steelers asses on Sunday. Take THAT!
Silly Mike, 12th man flags are for wusses. What you need is a Terrible Towel so you can root for a real team who actually has a chance
Sports aside, your point is well taken. I hope Newsvine takes off and starts offering me more and more. That’s the excitement and opportunity that comes with startups.
Best of luck to you, man. Just not on the football field
Oh, I have a Terrible Towel alright. I just don’t sleep with it.
I use it to wipe mildew from my deck. You are SO going down!
I have to agree, the design of Newsvine is perfectly executed and looks fantastic but the overall site is rather pointless. I’m part of the beta as well and I don’t think I’ve logged in more than twice. Why do I need to get news from yet another source? I’d rather just go to CNN.com or Foxnews.com. This is a hard thing for them to tackle and I do wish them the best. If this works it could big huge and if not I’m sure Mike can get another great job for some cool company making the big bucks.