DISQUS

Yes, our service Skimlinks does help publishers monetise in this manner. We are firm advocates of editorial integrity, and when we work with publishers that have higher public expectations of journalistic integrity, we even do special workshops on how to retain integrity while using our service. We also don't allow our service to be used on general news pages, only on subjective pages like fashion and gadgets. Finally, we don't work with financial sites and content as this has the potential to get tricky when it comes to disclosure. We love the web, and don't want to see its quality compromised, but we also acknowledge that websites need revenues to survive, and there are only so many ads you can put on a site before it gets intrusive.

Alicia Navarro
CEO - Skimlinks

Thanks Kim! You made me giggle with your article. Thanks for the lovely words, I miss my Aussie home, so its nice to be mentioned in a great Aussie blog!

OK, yes, this is my company, so slightly biased... but still worth considering in this space.
Skimbit is a decision-making tool, that visually bookmarks options from around the web to help you make a decision.
What is different is that you get to define your own decision-making criteria, and then can sort and filter based on your own entries against this criteria. Think of it like creating a DIY comparison tool, but with your own content and your own criteria, or like AutoFilters in Excel.

Items that I need:

- Organization through tags/categories and search YES
- Ability to have a comment chain on a single idea YES
- Ability to have an idea “approved” for future projects YES

Desired Features:

- Ability to “Clip” pieces of text and/or images from the Web YES
- Email Interactivity (daily updates or able to email in ideas) NOT YET, but on roadmap
- Desktop app would be amazing too NOT YET
- iPhone app and/or mobile version NOT YET
- Ability to move an “approved” idea to a categorized list YES

Probably better suited to projects where there is a visual element, admitedly, but you may be having very visual ideas. We use it in our office for things like: collecting ideas for how to decorate the office, collaborating on new designs, researching suppliers for new services, collecting research and competitor analysis, and so on.

Cool list, am loving your Top X's lately.

Thanks for the review, Kirsten!

I do know what you mean, Alan, there are a lot of similar web 2.0 apps around, and on the surface, Skimbit may seem similar to others... but here is why I think Skimbit is differentiated:

Firstly, we try to appeal to not your usual social app user - we aim to address the needs of the busy working woman, who may have a few minutes spare in her lunch break to research an aspect of her wedding, or a holiday she is planning with friends, and wants a simple application to manage the results of her internet research, and getting her fiance involved in the decision-making process, without necessarily engaging with the general social public.

We like to call ourselves "just social enough" because we are primarily a useful tool, that has social aspects only when the user deems them necessary. We anticipate that this is a differentiated approach to other social apps out there, and hope it will stand out to interested users.

And - we are not funded yet... when we are, we will differentiate ourselves even more! :)

Alicia
CEO - Skimbit

Oh my god, you poor thing, what an awful set of experiences!
I was very very lucky to get the Small Business Loans Guarantee, it was all due to my amazing finance director who had banked with Barclays for years and they trusted his opinion. I know a few other UK based startups that managed to get funding via the SBLG, but it helps if you are established, and it also differs depending on who you talk to at the bank.

Anyway, thanks for the post!

Why thank you for the lovely compliment! It is a pleasure to present in the company of other companies I admire like you guys :)

Please consider voting for Skimbit (www.skimbit.com). We haven't been around for that long, but we are striving to do something different. Rather than force you to be overly social and bombard you with things to buy, Skimbit is a simple and effective tool for skimming the best bits of sites you like, to help you make a group or tricky decisions. You can keep your research private, or just share with a small number of friends... therefore, we like to say: "Skimbit is just social enough!"
Try us out, and tell us what you think.
Thanks!

Please consider voting for Skimbit (www.skimbit.com). We haven't been around for that long, but we are striving to do something different. Rather than force you to be overly social and bombard you with things to buy, Skimbit is a simple and effective tool for skimming the best bits of sites you like, to help you make a group or tricky decisions. You can keep your research private, or just share with a small number of friends... therefore, we like to say: "Skimbit is just social enough!"
Try us out, and tell us what you think.
Thanks!