My media portals

In stealth mode for now, San Francisco-based  Plum is an easy-to-use service that lets you mash up -- to use the au courant term -- what's on your desktop and what's on the Web, putting all of it on one Web page that's not only for your own use but for the perusal of family members, friends and acquaintances, and other potentially interested parties. That is to say: the entire world. Plum definitely exploits the user-centric mindset that's swept the Web in recent months and years.  Read about Plum on MarketWatch.

Engineers have busily been writing code to create tools with a "social" aspect, like Plum, ever since Friendster showed that social networks -- or people just being people -- can attract big crowds in the new-media world. From social networks sprang other services hoping to capitalize on modern society's navel-gazing desire to create (on their own time and dime) and to share.

At times, of course, these media neophytes attach their self-indulgence to promotional skills on par with those of Dick Grasso in his NYSE heyday. Thus, while their output itself may range from brilliant to innovative to pointless to silly, it does tend to command disproportionate attention.

Hence the emergence of social bookmarking sites like  del.icio.us; social photo sites, such Flickr; social content sites, like Rojo.com; social search sites, like Rollyo; social Web organizers, like Kaboodle; and video sharing sites, like Grouper.com, YouTube and Google's Video, just to name a few. On the upside: such services help to solve the latest media conundrum: How to drive up page views by providing the audience with low-cost tools to sell themselves, or their alter egos, or their own creative content? The downside: We're now truly entering  The Al Franken decade, only now everyone gets to replace the comic, author, radio host and presumptive Senate candidate's name with his or her own. Another key difference: Franken was joking.

The emergence of these social services, if you will, reminds me of the days when retailing on the Web seemed like the greatest idea. Back then, the thought was that it would be cheap and easy to put up a virtual shingle and set up shop because there would be no expensive real-estate costs or inventory concerns. But what e-tailers were later faced with were rising costs in marketing, technology and shipping. In like vein, if anyone thinks they can create the next hot-media portal

tossing these tools out to the people, he or she would be wise to prepare for unforeseen costs and consequences. I'm not sure what the fallout will be, but a trail of useless tools is one possible outcome. Another observation: Most people grow tired of creating, or they'll need far more incentive to create. They'll start projects without finishing, resulting in half-baked Web pages and would-be news sites that ultimately are nothing more than one-off snapshots in time. Like the many cardboard folders I've created and then shoved in my desk or into storage boxes. At some point, they lose their value, and we end up with a bunch of useless Web pages or dead blogs just taking up space and clogging up searches. But, hey, each is an individual user's media portal, and users can do -- or fail utterly to do -- whatever they want.

Comments

[Skye Winslow]

Hi Bambi,

Here’s An Industry First! And, you’re the first to know!

GoLookInside.com is a two-year old company which specializes in video production. In fact, we are the World's largest video production company with a base of over 3,000 independent videographers and writers.

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Personal Profile Page Like MySpace, viewers will find a Home Page for each “Finder” site. On each site, they can search by word, specific content, zip code or view all. Clients are given a choice to use templates to create their Profile Page complete with original content, upload photos, add logos and hotlinks. Videos can only be posted by our company. If they want a true custom look, they can access codes to create the ultimate Personal/Company Marketing Profile.

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• Additional Charges May Apply

Custom “Web Commercial” Our low package price of $889 is packed with powerful market building tools. Here’s an overview…

A Custom Video Includes:

Service from a Professional Videographer
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• Six-months of Hosting
Free Video/Audio VoIP
Free Closed Captioning
Free Web Page and Hosting
Up To Three Video Finder Site Placements

Closed Captioning The Web should be accessible to all. That’s why every video we produce will include a closed caption option. In addition, large font will be available to visually impaired viewers.

Upfronts Search Video Finder does not have a partnership with any ad placement company, however, we will begin offering upfront advertising at the end of April.

Orders Orders can be placed beginning April 25th, 2006 via SearchVideoFinder.com

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, I’d be more than happy to talk with you. Thanks for your time Bambi!

Skye Winslow, Founder and CEO
317-581-1766
Skye at GoLookInside dot com

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