Propeller, AOL’s Digg-like news site, launches version 2.0 later this morning. The site sports a new design and logo and now has a mascot - described as “part professor, part citizen journalist” (see image below).
But the biggest feature change is the removal of a pure Digg-like vote count. In its place is an algorithm based popularity ranking of 1-10, which takes into account “many more aspects of participation” when determining popularity. Voting on a story is now called the more nebulous “prop it.” The service has also cut down the number of news categories. Those remaining include Arts & Entertainment, Business & Finance, Family, Humor, News, Science & Technology, Sports and Style.
Taking a page from the Yahoo Buzz playbook, headlines from the service will also be integrated directly into AOL and AOL News.
Propeller has had a rocky history. It first launched in June 2006 under the Netscape.com domain as “a better Digg” in that paid editors chose the top stories from user-submitted and voted links. Soon the site was paying top Digg users to move to them.
In August 2007 rumors circulated that the site was going to be shut down. We called it “Kaput” last September, but we were wrong: the site would live on under a new domain, Propeller.com.
Netscape traffic promptly spiked downward, but Propeller, led by general manager Tom Drapeau, filled the gap and has had steady growth since then.
I’ve really stayed away from most social bookmarking sites, or rather, Digg. Partly because of the voting system, partly because of the generally immature community. Yet, I see that perhaps Propeller has something interesting to offer and this new design may actually get me to look twice at it.
Nicki - any interest in beta testing thriveorfail? it’s my attempt to make voting more meaningful. if so, go to http://www.thriveorfail.com and creat an account. i have a handful of users now and am just testing it out before announcing it and trying to build it up.
thanks,
kevin
I agree
hmm…I can’t login with my regular usersname. The forgot password feature is not sending me anything, but at least the site loads quickly for a change…
I think they’re still transitioning it.
The homepage popularity of stories were so defendant on friendships - it was worst than digg.
It had potential - but many submitters just got to pessimistic
I’d be interested to hear what any regular / top propeller submitters think about the change. The new version seems like a completely different website and I can’t imagine that the propeller community (if there really is a strong one to begin with) thinks of this as an improvement. I’m not saying the new version is worse, just that I don’t quite understand why they’d make such as drastic change unless their traffic/community were already quickly going down hill.
@Charbarred - are you still having trouble accessing Propeller? Things should be OK now… if not e-mail me at tom at propeller dot com and I’ll take a look.
The new voting system looks interesting. Could solve the problem with voting fraud.
“Netscape traffic promptly spiked downward, but Propeller, led by general manager Tom Drapeau, filled the gap and has had steady growth since then.”
“Steady” growth that is still minuscule and still constitutes a major dropoff from former Netscape levels. It’s okay, Michael, you can say it. Calacanis no longer has anything to do with it.
The new interface is less user friendly than before, they should have look at Mixx…
I like it quite a bit - been cruising it this morning
smart decision
I am not too sure about the mascot. Content and user participation is what they need…
Looks very clean to me. I think the good or sucks depends on the daily use (routine). First time looks very strange, but in two months will very comfortable.
no enough Content
Steven
trading tennis blog
I am regular user of propeller t’day was shocked to see the new theme.According 2 me old one was better ths looks bad 2 me lol..
regards
anil
http://www.goofit.com
The mascot and voting remind me of http://www.agentb.com
Seems the UI was definitely uh hum…’inspired’ by 9rules site chawlk.com
Hey, the news in the screenshot is in Latin!
Very useful for the masses
Having a blog I’ve never had much good luck with Digg or any other service. Google seems to bring the most traffic. I’ve used Digg a few times and get a few hits per day. But going to give Propeller a chance an see what props up.
I’m picky about sites like Digg, Reddit, Mixx, Propeller, etc. I’ve used of them at one time or another and even started building one of my own (before I ran out of time, energy, and money).
I like the look of Mixx, but it leaves me flat and doesn’t seem as dynamic as Digg. I love Digg, but hate the nasty tone of most of the comments and the inexplicable voting system that propels some sites to the front page with few votes and leaves others with thousands of votes buried. I don’t get it and never will - I just don’t want to think about the algorithm as a user.
I haven’t even thought of the name Propeller for over a year. But used it today. I think they are on the right track. Although they have seriously dumbed it down, it makes good sense, is easy to use, and has a fresh look. I’m going to use it for a few more days and then either add it to my portal page or forget it like all the others. There are too many social bookmarking sites out there to be able to do otherwise. You either like them and understand them immediately, or you move on.
Dusty - I’d like to see what you built. Drop me a line?
mistersnitch@hotmail.com
hmmm so they stoped copying digg…. i wonder who they’re copying now?
check out my blog http://www.nodatetonight.com