Flip.com, the Conde Nast attempt at social networking thru the use of scrap books or flip books is shutting down. It’s really not so much of a surprise, they choose a very small niche market of a very fickle type that general run in cliques — teenage girls. That is a tough market to crack!
While I thought they did a decent job at creating an easy to use interface with hooks to facebook for grabbing images, I just didn’t see the business model.
Interesting week, after last weeks much publicized deal dump of Microsoft’s acquisition of Yahoo, we get CBS swallowing CNET, Comcast chomped Plaxo, and today Conde Nast slurping up Ars Technia.
Some thoughts, as a shareholder of Yahoo, I would of made out well in the MS Yhoo deal, as a user of Yahoo, I feel better that they are still who they are. I don’t know if they could remain a leader in their space, especially upon hearing the news that Google past Yahoo today in popularity. So maybe it would of been a good deal, I have been using Yahoo as my start page since like forever, I don’t think I’ve ever looked at MSN other that for keeping tabs on what they were up to.
WTF, Comcast buys Plaxo, I haven’t done it yet but I will be deleting my Plaxo account. Comcast motto, “Be Evil” I’m outta there.
CBS and CNET. a struggling network picks up a struggling website, seems fitting. I never watch CBS and I hardly ever go to the CNET site anymore, the few time I have in the past couple of years the content was mediocre and the experience, poor. Good riddance.
Conde and Ars. disappointed, I really like Ars! I had become a daily reader of the site and even followed them on Twitter. Like CNET I never (well almost never) visited the Wired.com site. Just never found value in it, maybe it is because most websites that are derived from paper magazines suck, and it just kinda lives on in my brain, I will give the new Ars a chance I hope they don’t fuck it up.