Idio: A Personalized Flash Mag on Music and Design
Marshall Kirkpatrick
19 comments »
Idio is a Flash magazine launching tomorrow that will deliver personalized content and rich media advertising regarding design and music. Angel funded and based in the UK, I think Idio stands a strong chance of succeeding. It could also be an important look into the future.
Here’s how it will work. Users are asked to identify themselves demographically and use sliders to express their varying interests in subjects like music genres. Idio will then select from professionally licenced and user generated content to create a personalized Flash magazine for each user.
While reading Idio, users will be asked to rate particular articles in a simple up down fashion. That data will further contribute to determining what articles are displayed for different readers.
Bloggers and other writers whose contributions are selected will be paid by revenue sharing from ads. Contributions can come through direct submission or a resyndicated RSS feed. The company says that advertisers are willing to pay a premium for microsites and rich media ads embedded in the magazine and so the revenue shared will be substantial. It will be very interesting to see who the first advertisers are.
YouTube made clear that a particular kind of Flash content, beyond Flash ads, can mean big money. Flash game sites are proliferating rapidly - see Kongregate, which we wrote about here last week for example. Of course advertising is already flush with Flash. There’s also something about Flash that tends to feel relatively constrictive as a user. None the less, a personalized web magazine with Flash ads embedded inside seems a solid strategy.
It’s one thing to build a beautiful vessel, as it appears that Idio has, but it’s another to come up with quality content on a regular basis. Even with the initial focus of design and music, Idio will face a serious challenge in satisfying niche users that have no shortage of other options available to them. If revenues are significant enough to compensate contributors well and pay for high quality licenced content then the challenge could be met. How many thriving examples of revenue sharing with individual content producers exist online now? Not very many at all. It’s something that many people are trying, but for some reason most efforts fail to gain critical mass.
Will Idio appeal to readers? James Yu has a long article on Idio at BuzzShout where he says that the company describes its product as a “glossy RSS feed” and says that his personalization needs are filled by his own RSS reader. Yu says, and I agree, that people less comfortable with the bare bones RSS subscription model are quite likely to enjoy something like Idio. As the success of services like MyYahoo show, a simple RSS interface is most likely to gain mass adoption. Services like Idio that are powered by RSS are even more likely to represent the future of the medium.
Good visual design in a fluid medium can be very compelling. If Idio can land the sponsorships and content they need to create a meaningfully personalized experience I think the company could be a big success.
Quite the name! One letter short of Idiot!
seems like a bad idea that won’t go anywhere
Seems like the initial “cost” to a user (the time / effort / energy) is too high of an obstacle to overcome for most individuals (except geeks, of course) with respect to the “benefit” derived (having information individualized to one’s taste.)
(Moreover, the content that will be delivered will be “extremely dilute” compared to what I can already obtain. For example, if I wanted to read about the latest in Tech, I’d rather read a “concentrated” TechCrunch - plus a few other sources that ALREADY EXIST - than what amature writers would submit to IDIO.
Its my assumption that established “blogs / sites” would not want to dilute their “brand” in promoting IDIO to serve as a gatekeeper to their world. They would rather individuals come directly to their sites … this is dispite the enticements of “revenue sharing.” I’m confident that Michael is doing just fine financially with TechCrunch and that IDIO could never match his revenue potential.)
I think the flash interface sounds kind of interesting, but I would definitely question to what extent my content would be customized. I can’t imagine that it is going to supply me with more customized content than I can funnel through my own reader. We need tools that are less fluffy and more productive!
Justin, I know I want more productivity and less fluff, but I think there is plenty of room for making mass consumable media artifacts that are nice to look at. I think this site is going to do well.
Thanks for the comments - and yes we decided long ago that we are idio-ts.
idiomag is really aimed more at the mass market than avid tech readers - in that we understand that those with the time/ability/reason to go out and find the best content already can and do. What idio does do is move tagging forwards - adding structure to make the folksonomy more robust - and deliver quality content (not “amateur bloggers”) through a Flash magazine engine that gives people quality and relevant content without them having to spend time looking.
We should have something out by close of play tomorrow, but there are lots of interesting developments coming through the beta stage, which will be built on your feedback - so keep it coming.
Generally the concept sounds very nice - if it will grow up a sort of “digital” chromag stickyness, I agree that many people could turn to addicts.
Being a producer and record label executive - obviously I like the focus on music content, with emphasis on indie and newcoming acts.
There are loads of fantastic mp3 blogs today - and too many unaware potential readers who would love to get these short bytes of music in the form they find easier to consume. People want spice and juices when they chew entertainment.
With the right tweaks - this might even become a cool/trendy place to drive downloads. Digital music needs vivid & interactive distribution channels to get more buyers - because they have a much bigger emotional effect (again the chromag comparison).
To follow on what Marshall said: at the mo, Idio guys are pulling content from exisiting sources. But should the flashy playground catch , we can expect new born quality sources intended for Idio. In other words - maybe people would be inclined to start a blog knowing it would find its way to Idio.
3 notes from a user point of view:
1. I’d certainly need to have a way to save articles/print them - something essential for any online mag. and of course a way to link to them.
2. Still, an RSS feed of updates in the mag would be of use - think of all of us who made netvibes/google personalised as homepage. Or a widget at least
obviously when the time for this comes.
3. Virality - inevitable these days if u are in online media. After crossing the launch successfully, simple widgets and cool ways to embed “idio”ized stuff in Myspace could be helpful to drive adoption.
I may be an idiot - but I’m also idiosyncratic - and if idio can mix together content to match my own interests then that would be great - I’ll be keeping a close eye on this site.
Similiar to Idio: http://www.magwerk.com
Magwerk is a portal site for other flash-interface mags and the site not only offers one for design/art but also music and games content.
Just wanted to point out how innovative this site will be from an electronic publication stand point. It’s not a national/standard magazine you can pick up on a stand or skim through online. It’s an interactive blend - in its UI, design, content, distribution etc.
Meaning - I don’t see it as just another feed, blog, biz/tech source. I also see it as a much needed step into interactive media for traditional journalists and graphic designers. A breath of fresh air and a pair of new glasses.