Guess what the URL Diary.com has been doing since 1996? Not much. But now the owner, a guy in London, is looking to re-imagine the concept of the diary for the Twitter generation. Diary.com has a clean interface, a little like Twitter, but instead of 140 characters you plug in 1000.
As well as text, users can plug in URLs for images and videos which will pull those into your diary. Diaries can be private or shared on the site which is closer to a private or closely shared Tumblr blog (with privacy controls) than Twitter. So this is not really micro-blogging as such since Diary users can find eachother on the system and spin out wider conversations. The site comes out of stealth today but its test user base so far has been mainly women - traditionally bigger diary keepers than men - in particular the younger female base of 16-24year old, and mainly in the US.
Co-founders Peter Brooke (who’s owned the domain since 1996) and Keld van Schreven have raised $600,000 in angel money are going out for a modest series A round later this year.
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Dear Diary,
Today I realized my favorite blog redesigned their website to get more page views out of me. I feel hurt and betrayed by you TechCrunch. I thought you cared about me but it’s obvious that all you care about is money. If you were any other blog I’d quit you but you’re just such a dreamy stud that I can’t quit you.
I like the idea, if they can cash in the popularity of Twitter, and its drawbacks… it could be a good one… may be a very niche market but who knows !!!
May be Hallmark buys them for $$$$ millions
I had my suspicions, but it wasn’t confirmed that you ppl have it in your minds to “cash in on…twitter”.
Fuck you and anything you are involved in producing.
As if twitter was an original idea! “Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.”
(linkback) Thrive or Fail? Diary.com - users post 1000 char entries, links, videos [VOTE] - http://www.thriveorfail.com/170c6
I don’t get how this is any more “scrapbooking” than twitter or plurk? Is it because it’s too girly?
Young women are the #1 demographic of Internet users. No web 2.0 company has broken out without focusing on this demographic (MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Blogger, Livejournal, Typepad, Youtube, Photobucket, etc). Boy’s clubs like Twitter and Digg can only grow so much.
That said, Diary.com looks pretty boring right now.
You haven’t heard of popsugar or glam? I think declarative comments should be reserved for informed people.
If you’ve got questions, that’s cool, but don’t try to provide insight you do not have.
not much here actually… don’t know why I would go to use this versus twitter or tumblr or posterous….
I don’t get the ’scrapbooking’ inference either….. journaling, diary, microblogging, etc. but definitely not scrapbooking.
Can you get back to putting the sites link in the post? This is getting rather annoying.
Will online diaries be a success on the web or is blogging (both micro and regular) the redefined concept? We’re having a poll on this over at tinycrunch.
I think diaries will always exist primarily as an offline activity because of the novelty and personality that comes with handwriting. New age diary writers are more into community, sharing things that once prior would be seen as private. Blogging and micro blogging have eclipsed the diary concept and redefined it. Diary.com will do fine, but the lines aren’t established enough as to why you will be writing in a diary online and not in a blog. Couldn’t you have a blog that is your diary? I’m just not sold.
I find the interface to be clunky… I also don’t like how they haven’t carved out any differentiation in their offering from a blog. Adding the social aspect blurs the lines between private and public, and makes it hard to trust as a private diary.
Needs to be marketed towards females.
I like it!
Alexis.
We already have twitter and tumblr . And we dont mind the 140 char limit !.