Squidoo went live today. I tried out the beta a few weeks ago, and at that time, I wasn’t allowed to comment on the experience.
I wasn’t that impressed. But, it was a beta. We’ll have to see what it’s like now. I really don’t see how it’s all that much different than a blog/linkedin profile. People use their blogs to promote themselves. People use linkedin to promote themselves. How is squidoo any different other than it has a name that’s different and Seth Godin has used the term Lens? It promotes experts. Or, it gives people a platform to promote themself as an expert. But, don’t the people who are already seen as experts get promoted? It seems that the expert lens creators with high ranks on Squidoo will be the same people who get high rankings everywhere else. It also seems like it’s waiting for the spam artists to attack.
At this point, it could be very popular, but it seems so because people follow Seth like sheep. He’s very smart, and very talented, but somebody help me see what Squidoo really has to offer besides a little more fame, money and notoriety for Godin and the gang. Will it offer fame and notoriety for others? Probably. Will it be successful? Probably. The Squidoo folks have been dangling the carrot for months now, and I am curious myself to see how it pans out. What to do you think?
Other thoughts
Squidoo Beta Goes Live
Squidoo Launches
Built My First Lens on Squidoo
Squidoo Public Beta Official Launch
Long e-tail
Squidoo Goes Live
Squidoo Opens Public Beta
Squidoo Goes Public. Leaves me dry.
Pick Your Favorite (and Least Favorite) Web 2.0 Logo
Squidoo Moves into Public Beta Mode
Squidoo Opens Public Beta
Where’s your Squidoo?
Claim Your Squidoo Space
Seth Godin and Squidoo
UPDATE
Um . . . I still don’t see the big deal.
Squidoo is all about building portals, not blogs.
What is really the fundamental difference? What is really the fundamental difference between a web site and a blog?
4 comments ↓
I haven’t used it enough but i think its more like wikipedia than a blog. But instead of everyone pitching in to define something you claim it for yourself as an ‘expert’ in that particular area.
I wouldn’t imagine you would update it regularly like a blog, but rather put allot of effort into writing a lens like you would a guide or article.
I felt about the same way — I’m still waiting to see what the big deal is.
Technically, of course, these things are all websites. So really what we’re talking about is how these things are meant to be used, not how they’re implemented.
A portal is an aggregation mechanism. A blog is a journaling mechanism. They are different views, that’s all. Blogs are fundamentally sequential, portals are parallel. You can still do the same things with each, but there are tradeoffs involved.
I really have no idea how well this will succeed. A non-technical expert may very well find this very appealing, because Squidoo’s figured out the monetization and SEO (presumably) aspects for them, letting the expert concentrate on content generation. We’ll see…
Good thoughts. The point I was making about blogs/portals is that a blog could serve as a portal and a portal could serve as a website, so I guess you answered that as well . . . it’s all about how they are meant to be used.
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