News site Spotback has created a new widget that lets blogs and other sites gather user ratings on each piece of content. The product has launched on a few test sites, and will be available for anyone who wants to use it soon.
The original Spotback, like the ill fated Findory, is a customized news site that pushes stories to you based on what you’ve clicked on (and rated) previously. Stories That service is still available at news.spotback.com.
The new product, however, brings the Spotback ratings and other features directly to blogs and other sites, with the goal of generating more user interaction with the site.
Publishers include the widget code on their site, which has a number of options. There is a ratings slider very similar to the Spotback news site, as well as the ability for readers to tag the story. These tags generate linked lists of related articles on the site based on those tags. See the screenshot below to see how it looks.
This isn’t just for blogs, either. Photo sharing sites, for example, could include the widget to allow for photo ratings and tagging.
Spotback is centralizing user feedback as well. The first time a user rates or tags a story, that data is stored on a dedicated profile page for them back at Spotback. That page will also recommend content to them from other sites based on those ratings.
There are plenty of Wordpress and other plugins that do this as well, although none of them have the centralized profile page for users to keep track of their rated content. If enough blogs add this to their site, Spotback could reach the critical mass needed to be successful.
I plan on adding this to TechCrunch as a test when the service is stable. To see an example of a site that has included the functionality now during the alpha stage, see here and here. Sign up on the Spotback home page to be notified of a general launch.
geez, can it get any more web 2.0 useless. arrington, new low…yes, go ahead and add it when it becomes stable. As stable and useless as grandmas old mohagony coffee table.
So it’s a take on what’s hot or not? why is it on TechCrunch?????
Does anybody know of good alternative to TechCrunch?
Dunno what you guys are bitching about…
We’ve been looking for something like this for a long time. So far it’s been great in exposing our readers to other stories, and really gives us a perspective on what people like.
“Does anybody know of good alternative to TechCrunch?”
Somedrifter Techcrunch is the bastion of the web2.0 bubble. Why attack it?
That’s technology folks, my first RSS was from a porn site.
I think this widget is great, i hope it will be on all my favorite sitest, if it works like they say it does.
I would love to see it on techcrunch, blogs, online shops and xxx sites.
I agree ben, It looks like a great widget …
now they’ve begun to invite other websites to use the widget.
This goes to prove that its about who you know .
Arrington I have sent you some really good tips but you failed to pick them up.
This Blog is going down hill
It does seem like a pretty pointless widget, I do agree. I do *not* agree with the outright personal attacks though.
How many of you blog? How many of you blog in the elite group of blogs? Yeah.. that is what I thought.
You want to see the boat load of crap that Mike has to sift through, get to his level, it’s pick and choose. Trust me, it’s not as easy and sleazy as you think it is.
Rex
“Does anybody know of good alternative to TechCrunch?”
there is site called Techmambo , a weblog dedicated to profiling and reviewing new Online and Offline products, services and companies.
Totally agree with Rex. I really don’t like it when people complain about not getting profiled on TC. Don’t take it so personally.
Back to Spotback…I am underwhelmed. Rating the web isn’t that sexy.
whatev to all the negativity. i checked out that thecoversproject.org site and it worked pretty well in helping me find other cool stuff to listen to. cool widget. don’t hate.
yeah i would agree, i think its useless…. sure a user can find new things, but I still don’t think there’s a big enough incentive for the blogger to add it.
Seems like the example sites are down. I checked, they are hosted on Godaddy and they have a problem with half of their sites currently.
AKA Thumbwarz.com - “Rate the World.” hmmmmm
This is a part of the discovery puzzle. Still it will be limited to things like what you have already indicated and/or “people who read X also ready Y - You read X so I will show you Y” - similar to amazon recommendations. It’s good but not great. Repliqa will be the next step here I feel.
I think that products that help people discover new web content see neat. That said, the futur is in products that help people use more of the web more efficiently. I am not sure I think this product makes the web easier to use without adding more “noise”.
to post #3.
don’t use my screen name, f’n idiot
(this is the original …some Drifter)
WTF, lol…YOU using my screen name bud…what a looser get your own.
I have had a look at this widget and yes it could be useful for some sites. I am wondering whether its available in other shades not just grey - I would want to change the colour so it blends with a site.
LOL - if you guys are looking for an alternative to TechCrunch, you should start you own. TechCrunch hits and misses, but most of the time it is a better resource than most other sites. That being said, there are a number of good sites; http://pulse2.com/, http://mashable.com/, etc.
Все нормально. Но немного не понятно - зачем.
20.
Wes - not only will you be able to change the BG and all the design you will also be able to customize it in many different ways.
i can’t wait to not use this.
For someone’s that’s been very vocal about PayPerPost and their issues with lack of disclosure, it’s surprising that you fail to mention that you are (or have been until very recently) an advisor to Spotback.
Could you elaborate on that relationship, on what interest you still have in the company, and how that interest has affected your extremely positive review of a ‘non stable’ product?
hola mundo
All conflicts are noted here - http://www.techcrunch.com/about-techcrunch/. I have no financial interest in spotback.
Without registration, I am guessing they must be using the IP address of the user. This is OK once there are not many users, but probably not so if it scales. If they are doing based on IP address (I am not sure how else they could do it) how do they make sure that I get my news versus my neighbors? Anyone from the company here to answer that?
what I want is a “digg for comments” on blog posts so that I can easily find comments that I should read.
It would be valuable for the readers of the blog, so the blogger would be interested in adding the service on their blog.
What do you guys think?
me likey. Sometimes the comments are FAR more interesting than the post.
Slick implementation. But then, that’s the way it usually is with the amazing Spotback team.
For those of you asking for a Techcrunch alternative, there’s always the newly-launched GigaCrunch.com (I though it was a joke, too).
23.
Thanks Maor.
Hmm, maybe worth linking through to an existing live service such as
http://blogarate.com
It includes MyBlogLog like recent voters, and a central portal.
@SorenG [28]
The system is not based on IP and soon you will be able to register and access your account from any computer.
@Laurent [29]
No problem. When we say ‘rate everything’ we mean EVERYTHING! Adding rating to comments is as easy as adding it to posts. We will post a sample of comment-rating in our blog shortly.
Micha Kaufman
CEO | Spotback.com
It’s pretty rad.
Kudos.
Very cool widget. Looking forward to testing it out on my sites.
Andy,
That http://blogarate.com site you linked to looks very slick.
The 5 star rating widget looks almost beautiful
we’ve just installed the widget on http://www.earthshots.org... let’s see how it does!
@ earthshots, the widget looks great on your site. nice job. how did you get it already? i signed up but havent heard anything back yet.
Micha -
Very cool stuff! Could this be used to rate postings in an online help (tech support) site? If so, is there a way to run reports to see the most useful postings on a site, etc.? Thanks!