DISQUS

Great news - congratulations guys. Let's see if we can get a grassroots "Send HubDub to rub shoulders with the gleitterati" campaign going. We'll certainly chip in!

I havent used it, but I believe RightHealth is also in the health news aggregation space, are are either #1 or #2 in the space based on traffic. It's basically Kosmix, but with a different UI and only focused on health news.

Fantastic eulogy Fred - I think everyone in the business has fond memories of Geocities.

For me, that was the place where I first learned how to code ("HTM what?"), and believe it or not, the first website I ever saw graphically was also Geocities. I was on Lynx before that. It was also the first time I made money on the internet - I had a link to Tickets.com on my Hootie and Blowfish fan site. Yes, embarrassing but these are golden memories. Back in 1997, I was making a ton of money (for a teenager) from referrals.

That was then - now I'm building web businesses for a living, so I guess I owe it to Geocities for getting me hooked.

I agree with Fred - the David Carr piece shows close mindedness and a remarkable lack of imagination. Thankfully there are a lot of people within the media/journalism world who embrace networked journalism and open access.

OK, you got me on a technicality ;-) But the point is that all these challenges in journalism are worthwhile and rewarding. We have to dare to dream big and try different things, and the rest will ultimately fall into place.

Congrats Mathew - well deserved.

And while it may feel like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill, I would remember the last line of Camus' essay about this story: "The struggle itself...is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

I'm the cofounder of NewsCred. We're 100% bootstrapped, and have diversified our revenue stream in the past few weeks. We know that even with neglible burn rate, ad revenue won't cut it during a recession. We're also about to close an angel round to give us runway for 1.5 years. All of this has happened in the past few weeks.

Times are tough, but I'm really excited to be building a startup during these times. Let's do this!

Here's mine: http://www.twitter.com/newscred

Look out for the official NewsCred launch next Tuesday!

Two things:

1) Scoble - do you really have time to find those wonderful new startups with passionate founders and delighted users. sure, we can camp out on your lawn or e-mail you, but you follow thousands of people, get thousands of emails, and are simply inundated. even if there was a needle, you have a haystack to get through before finding it. that might also be a problem? but great post nonetheless - as an entrepreneur often pitching ideas, its refreshing seeing it from the opposite point of view.

2) This Jeremy Toeman guy seems to be a rockstar of sorts. Maybe its time to get in touch. Whatever you are doing, you are doing it well - keep it up dude.

I dont think they did anything wrong. In fact, the guy was offering to help. OK, so it was a sales pitch, but still it was very relevant.

We sometime search Twitter and thank people who mention NewsCred is a positive light, or reach out to people who have suggestions or critiques. Is that wrong? I've never once had anyone complain. In fact, most of the time we get commended for taking the time to listen and reach out.

Shafqat
Cofounder NewsCred

I saw this - surely its a joke, and a pretty good one at that. I'm surprised people actually fell for this. Or it could be a double-fake whammy, and the jokes on us Robert. Quintessentially Jason I guess.

Good points. Why aren't schools replacing the old-fashioned school newspaper with a school blog? Then teach journalism students (i.e. bloggers) the principles of journalism, which include fact-checking, transparency, objectivity, and basically upholding the journalistic code of ethics while blogging.

Surely that must be happening in some places already - anyone know of any examples?

I couldnt agree more with point 4. I'm a techie, and a later-stage early adopter (is there such a thing?), but I find Freindfeed to be clumsy and confusing. I just can't figure out how to use it properly, and then get frustrated. My friends and family figuring it out? Fuggedaboutit.

BTW, I think you meant 'Corvida' not 'Corida' in the 6th paragraph of your post.

Kristen - agreed that there is a lot of 'RSS aggregation for the masses' sites coming up. I personally believe its a good thing because the chasm between web services for the mainstream and the Twitter/Friendfeed type services for techies and early adopters is only growing. Somehow we need to bridge that gap. My friends and family don't know what RSS is whereas the rest of us in the tech world have moved on to Twitter. We should stop and help bring the mainstream up the learning curve... As long as there is compelling differentiators, I'm all for it!

Or the word 'balls' -- i.e. Jerry Yang has balls of steel to turn down that offer. ;-)

Robert - I'm pretty sure that Facebook became popular with the masses (college students), and not via early adopters or celebrities.

BTW, can you elaborate on your price/earnings comparison? I know what P/E ratios are, but not quite sure what parallel you are trying to draw? Isn't a P/E ration simply a multiple that the Street gives a stock based on current revenue and future expectations (i.e. discounting the future)?

Part of me misses the old-school, retro vibe of the previous incarnation of this site. It was almost like a throw-back to the good old days of the web. Anyway, great job with the redesign. Maybe you could revert back for special occasions. How some sports teams sometime pull out the throwback jerseys!

Your point regarding the size of the early adopter/geek crowd is incredibly pertinent. We sometimes get caught up in the excitement of the moment and forget that 99% of the world's population has no idea about these amazing/game-changing/revolutionary technologies. Perhaps its time to get back to basics and build tools to let the mainstream catch up with us. I certainly think thats a noble goal, especially if that helps us connect more with our friends and families.

Bon voyage Robert!

Interesting post. I wholeheartedly accept the point that is hard to attract advertisers if the content is polarizing. But I am intrigued by this notion that HuffPo traffic will DECLINE because of more content sections. Perhaps the average traffic/section declines, but why would this affect the absolute traffic of the site? People will get put off by the other categories and simply stop visiting??

I really hope someone from HuffPo takes you up on your offer to dicuss.

Totally agree Paul. People who don't understand the difference between a platform and a source should not be conducting such polls!

Print media is certainly in decline, but a lot of news organisations can still thrive online if the content is credible, relevant and timely. Content is still king, and some news organisations blame the internet when they should simply look at the (lack of) quality they deliver. For those who produce great, high quality, fact-checked journalism chock-full of integrity, there is still plenty of hope (and demand).

My fear though is that soon news organisations won’t be able to afford to pay journalists, and serious investigative journalism of the highest quality will slowly dissapear. That would be a shame.

Shafqat (cofounder of NewsCred)

So you got excited about a new, innovative product. I dont see anything wrong with that. In fact, its nice to see people get passionate about something. I dont see what all the fuss is about.

BTW, I think being limited to two people does not limit the POTENTIAL of any team or their product. I know you didnt say it would, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Yahoo was started by two people, same with Google! Whether or not it lives up to the hype, I see nothing wrong with the hype itself.

Great seeing you and talking to you at LIFT tonight. My camera died a minute into our chat, so I've unfortunately lost most of the video. I've posted excerpts in my own words on the NewsCred blog. Enjoy your time in Geneva!

Looking forward to welcoming you and your family to Geneva! Hope to see you around...

Robert - I left a comment on Dave Winer's blog, but thought I'd leave a similar message for you directly here. While its inspiring to read these posts and the tremendous coverage of Davos that you have given us, one thing that I always wonder is how actionable these great ideas and visions actually are. As Dave mentioned, the key is to nurture it and build something from it. I sincerely hope that once you return, you will share with us some of your next steps and the tangible actions to come out of Davos. As an eternal optimist, I always do believe that individuals can improve and change the world around us. As Magaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

While I don't agree with all of Siegel's viewpoints, which seem overly negative, I must accept that the social web often accommodates or even encourages popularity over quality. I think the next wave of sites, especially news sites, will reverse this trend and go back to old school journalism. Content will be based on quality, integrity, credibility and all the other fundamental journalistic principles that used to be held sacred.

-Shafqat (full disclosure, I'm a cofounder of NewsCred, a startup actively trying to do just that!)