User generated content is a hallmark of the modern internet. Youtube, and Digg are classic examples of this. But a problem with online destinations that depend on user generated content is that there is no way to ensure the quality of the content. In practical terms, this often results in the devolution of a content platform into a repository for an anarchic collection of content. Blogs, another Web 2.0 hallmark, are all about a single (or at least focused) editorialized voice. In doing so they maintain strict control over what content is put on their sites. The NotCot network of websites seeks to find a balance between user generated content and editorial control with what it calls its model of “Curated User Submissions”
NotCot was founded in the spring of 2005 by Jean Aw, now 25, as an experiment in learning CSS, and by Dan Frysinger, then a web developer for Yahoo. Since then the network has grown from one site to four, covering design, fashion, and mixology. In doing so, the bootstrapped company serves approximately four million page views per month, while continuing to have only two full time employees and three part time ones, including Aw’s sister.
Two things define the NotCot experience, whether on NotCot.com, an editorially controlled design blog, NotCot.org and NotCouture.com, curated sites about design and fashion respectively, or Liqurious, a curated site about fine wine, beer and spirits. First is that NotCot sites are fundamentally people powered, editorially moderated, vertically aligned, content aggregators. People scour the web for the best content and submit it to NotCot network sites. The editors then publish some of that content, and in doing so maintain a significant amount of editorial control, and ensure consistently high quality content.
The second defining feature of NotCot sites is the truly powerful user interface, which clearly comes from the shared UI background of the co-founders. By visually sharing content, and making the textual experience secondary, NotCot sites are able to create a simple and intuitive way to quickly absorb a significant volume of information, a necessity for any aggregator.
In targeting the design, fashion, and liquor verticals, the NotCot network has carved out a space in what are relatively large verticals, which are under served by the blogsphere. In talking to Jean it is clear that what started out as a side project has grown into something much larger. New projects are in the pipeline, which combine both her editorial passions and love for NotCot’s clean, crisp, design. Luckily those happen to coincide with the passions of a significant number of readers who want Jean to artfully curate and beautifully display the content they find out there in the vastness of the internet.
How much money are they making?
Nice post, thanks a lot!
So let me understand, people steal images from content publishers site and post to NotCot with a link back to the publisher. I see that as stealing, am i wrong here?
I think you are wrong. Content is the new conversational meme. To restrict its fluidity does everyone a disservice and ultimately reduces that value brought back (attentional, attributional) to the original creator. Set it free and monetize incrementally. If something is truly original then it will get it’s due more quickly in such a marketplace.
Alvis, are you serious. So let me see if i understand your logic. I create some original content, then wait for someone to link to it, make money from my work and i should “find a way to monetize” it another way.
We have seen the greatest transfer of wealth from content creators to so call aggregators in history with sites like digg, and mixx. Maybe i dont get this web 2 point o stuff. Maybe i dont see how i create something and you come and take it, make money on it and then say to me, oh well find some way to make money off your own work, because i am.
As a original content creator how are you going to get the word out about your product? I’m not saying that pieces should be taken whole-sale, but thumbnails and excerpts are the only way to get broader web attention, which then monetizes your product. If your product/content is then sticky enough all of those people coming through will continue to go to you.
I don’t agree with your assertion that digg and mixx are benefiting fro other sites. They are creating a more efficient content flow marketplace that gives the little guys a chance. That’s why every traffic conscious blogger on Earth has a social bookmarking button at bottom of their post. They are begging, pleading – digg me please. Just gve this l’il old fella a chance.
Addendum: they are benefitting, but the little giys are benefitting greaty too. It’s a grow the pie and get bigger pieces thing. That’s the web 2.0 secret sauce.
Delroy, please look up ”freemium”.
I’ll agree with the previous posters … Who’s getting the jack? Me thinks user generated content like free speech need not be quality-based any more than McDonalds being representative of American “cuisine” (other countries would clearly disagree) – just measure bandwidth & let the users know what constitutes “their” network … Then perhaps we can measure what is privacy & what is piracy …
It’s just a fancy way of describing a media portal.
By the look of the things, NotCot Network is a hybrid mixture of other search networks on internet…So we can say NotCot is the next Technorati in the making
i love the new video ad unit. it is so effective. i clicked it and enjoyed it-so i want to see the next one .. awesome .
i agree, video ad unit is rocking !
NotCot does NOT get it. I love user generated content. I also understand the need for some sort of editorial control. But having the NotCot people have sole editorial control is like so yesterday. I might consider visiting their site(s) if they let the USERS vote up and down, or somehow “pick” the content.
http://www.twitter.com/A_F
That’s a great point Andrew (and, my, aren’t you vocal of late
Perhaps they will layer in user voting overtime, but from Digg, we see how difficult it is to deal with popular vote based content. A combination seems fair.
Crowdsourcing under a controlled environment for producing high quality content(textual,image or video) is what Web 3.0 is all about…
And such website/blogs are quite an indication of web 3.0 evolution
“Next store neighbor”? I thought it was “next door neighbor”. Learn something new every day.
notcot is fantastic…. their site is a big inspiration for my Tumblr
Hi,
Although freedom of speach is a good thing, many people don’t know how to use it – I hate when my disk starts working and slows my typing – therefore some moderation to maintain quality is always welcomed.
Have a great week,
José
“fundamentally people powered”? “the truly powerful user interface, which clearly comes from the shared UI background of the co-founders”?
My god, I didn’t expect writing this bad from a Techcrunch writer. What a fluff piece.
NotCot is a fine network which I check at a regular basis for new and innovative stuff.
So what is the purpose of this website? Seems like a fancy blog to me but then again I don’t actually like to think when I go to a website. Maybe I am just not artsy enough. If I was into art galleries it might appeal to me.
Did the author pull up reports of their traffic, or did they just go by what the company said? All the common sources say they have significantly less traffic than you stated. Unique visitors are what matter anyway, not just pageviews.
They take images and post them in a format that is obviously about 4-6X larger than could be considered fair-use. If they do eventually get traffic, they’ll end up on the wrong end of a lawsuit and will need to change their format.
How did they get Federated Media to represent them with so little traffic…. and when did advertisers start selling single 300×250 units at the bottom of the page?
This entire thing is quite fishy from any angle you look at it from.
Reminds me of a shinier Boing Boing – “a directory of wonderful things”
notcot is amazing, and it brings a ton of traffic for the sites it displays. It’s a visual blog that helps other publishers get more exposure! What’s this crap about stealing?
I do not think it is a stealing too
the notcot empire is an amazing and inspiring one, and i think most of the negative comments in response to this article are from people who aren’t familiar with it. everyone i know who discovers this group of sites becomes a notcot groupie. quit hatin’ and check out how a couple of people are re-interpreting and re-inventing web 2.0 in a really fun & inspiring.
I think it is an interesting concept. Slightly pushing an envelope and advancing
Rich
Isn’t editorial control so they can accumulate swag?
NotCot is good site.Nice post.
I am a visually oriented ADD and recently contributed a link of my partner’s project to NotCot with 12h publishing delay. The service for submitting image+text was dead simple with a nice card-like UI. I hope they manage to keep it simple!
Hmmm. If it was worked on while Daniel was working at Yahoo! (and presumably, some work had to be done on their network and computers), isn’t it in some part their property?
For all of the people that feel as if Notcot is stealing, you guys probably haven’t caught on to the state of our digital age (along with the record labels). Sites like Notcot provide great exposure for artists. Period. Exposure is unbelievably valuable if you know what to do with it.
TechCrunch: That should be spelled NOTCOT (all caps), not NotCot.
I like very much the writings and pictures and explanations in your adress so I look forward to see your next writings.
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