Lingospot Revisited – great search driven app for publihsers and bloggers

Back in June I did a short post about a new web 2.0 service called Lingospot. I have finally found some time to try out and review this service in more detail. My initial thoughts are this is a killer app that is fun for users, a useful utility and has the potential to drive revenue for publishers. The fact that this application can drive revenue while also being useful could prove to be a winning combination as while we are in an economic downturn.

Q:  So what is the Lingospot service?

A:  Lingospot is a content discovery plug-in or application (bubble) for publishers and bloggers.

The one liner from the website is:

Lingospot is an in-text content discovery service enabling authors to increase reader engagement and dynamically interlink their content.

My description description of Lingospot is a search (contextual) driven plug-in/app for punishers that:

1. Helps drive a better user experience
2. Develop and grow your site/network (syndication and content cross-linking)
3. Can lift revenue

Simply, a publisher can hyperlink any keyword or phrase and then a dynamic bubble appears that can have a number of content tabs.  In the discovery bubble you can have related stories, video content, content from other sites – either your site(s) or 3rd parties (such as Clipsyndicate), ads, wiki or even search results.

Here is are an on Lingospot examples from the Forbes.com website:

In 2009 many publishers, especially in the newspaper and other compititve verticals, will be looking for ways to improve user experience, drive page impressions (what I call stickiness and others “audience development”) and most important optimise revenue (or at a minimum protect existing revenues). Lingospot can help with all three and that is a winning combination.

I’ve got to alos think tthere is a SEO angle to this techonolgy that can help drive page rank and traffic via cross links etc.

In addition, Lingospot can also provide a related story widget that is contextually relavant – see below.

Customer of the service include Forbes.com and Brietbart. The technology is behind Lingospot is powerful search based on natural language processing (NLP). I am not aware of any competitors, but the bubbles are similar to services from Snap Shots, Vibrant Media and other web 2.0 bubble apps such at Retaggr.

Additional info about Lingospot:

• Interview with the CEO
• Forbes annoucement
• AltSearch Engines post

Top 100 Websites for 2009 from The Guardian

The Guardian had a nice top 100 websites list in yesterday’s tech sections - worth checking out (note: its a UK centric list). I guess AFV should come with out own top website review one of these days. In the meantime its interesting to note the top picks in the ‘location, location’ category by the Guardian – Qype is gaining traction for sure, yet they don’t seem to register in ComScore (wonder why?).

Location, location

Services like these blossom with a mobile phone that can access the internet

Dopplr dopplr.com “share your future travel plans with friends and colleagues”, then find out if others will be there too.

Qype qype.com localised search for pubs, restaurants, etc; also a bit of a social network.

Loopt loopt.com “transforms your mobile phone into a social compass”.

Brightkite brightkite.com a “location-based social network”.

Bookmeetingroom.com – useful Web 2.0 app

Bookmeetingroom.com came to me via my ‘virtual’ inbox and looks to be a pretty useful Web 2.0 service. I am guessing with future cost saving in mind and more remote working this kind of service/app could take off.My only comment is does it/how easy to integrate with email service (like gmail, etc)? And is there a Facebook plug-in the works?

From the website:

• Simplify Meeting Room Reservations. Instant booking of meeting rooms, conference rooms, studios and other facilities.
• Self Service. Allow self-service booking by all staff or/and clients and reduce administration overhead and costs.
• Eliminate Double booking. Real time availability checking and booking removes the potential for scheduling conflicts.
• Generate Reports. Track room utilisation, by person, dept, company and user. Generate itemised usage and cost reports.
• Total Control and Security. Comprehensive rights management and administration controls. Easy to use and intuitive.

Back on Facebook – have to come clean

Ok, I am going to have to ‘eat crow’ on this one. I am back on Facebook and actually finding it much better second time around. I’ll be back to explain more on this rift at a later date… On a side note: new rule for social media – ‘do not update your FB status via Twitter.’

Zoomf is Acquired by Trinity Mirror

No surprise that Zoomf is being acquired. There had been rumours that the Web 2.0 property search player has been up for sale for awhile. One would guess this a good way for Trinity to get some good online talent plus this sites tech and traffic. That cat is out on the deal. From my view this makes a lot of sense – property search (real estate) online should be a key part any newspaper’s digital and future proofing strategy.

Funny but True – advice for Web 2.0 start-ups

Ok, not sure why this one struck a chord with me but it did inspire me to post up the link. This a funny but pretty cutting set of advice for any start-up in the current climate. Btw – wordpress needs to support more embedding apps.

Here’s the link: Whiner Jerkins All Hands 10/13/08

Here’s one of the good slides:

Is Twitter Missing the Boat?

Looks like Twitter is killing outbound SMS (ie – getting updates to your phone) in the UK for now and as TC UK points out this doesn’t look like a good business model or strategy. Wake up! You are leaving money on the table guys. I know its summer and the surf is up out west, but this is not a smart move. One of these days Twitter does need to start trying revenue models (I’ve got some solid ideas for them and others in the Web 2.0 space  who need to start generating some cash)… Twitter me at AFullerView if you want some high value advice – for free if you act fast…

Finding Information – Factors that improve online experiences

I was altered today about this new report from Ideas.org – “Finding Information – Factors that improve online experiences” – which you can download it for free from their site. This is an interesting report that discusses findings from s study:

… about how people find information online. The study covers three groups: non-profit organizations and cities; web designers and firms; and the general public…

The main take away points from the executive summary are:

Designers underestimate the thresholds for an effective site.

Easy access to complete information is key to visitor enjoyment.

Good visual design and up-to-date information are critical.

Visitors want information fast.

Visitors want a broad range of topics.

Designers are overly optimistic about visitors’ ability to maintain orientation.

Visitors still need handholding.

Visitors point to the lack of breadth and depth of site content as causing an “Information Gap.

My initial reaction is that these points all make sense and seem pretty intuitive, however when you dig into some of the stats such as “about 10% of visitors report being able to almost always maintain their orientation” – it gets interesting. By orientation, i take this to mean being able to navigate a site or service effectively. This just adds to body of evidence that more attention needs to be given to site design and more importantly site search! In the end search is the key navigational tool for the Web IMHO – at least until we get better voice enabled user interfaces and even then we will still likely start with a search.

Computer please find me a good place to stop on this highway that is child friendly and serves food I will like.

A New Local Search Site in Ireland – ireland.com relaunched

It was very sweet today to get online and see that Ireland.com has relaunched the site as a local search ‘portal’ for all things Irish. BTW – this is such a money domain (simple, geo, universal)!

In addition, the Irish Times newspaper site has been re-designed, the subscription charges dropped and the newspaper has moved to a dedicated URL – http://www.irishtimes.com/ (the newspaper used to be at the URL Ireland.com).

The Irish Times site has also had a major face lift and is much improved. The site also looks to be driving a strong connection to the major classified channels: Homes, Jobs, Cars and with a special Dating channel as well (this is interesting to have a focus on dating).

A quick review of the Ireland.com site reveals a very clean design and an almost sexy brand – definitely bright and breezy. It is driven by a single search box that handles What/Who/Where. The results pages are very Web 2.0 and include UGC, with an option to create your own account some you can add a review.

There are ‘lifestyle’ channels (you can see these channels icons above) that can also act as navigators (an alternative path to finding content and can also acts as stand alone sub-sites) covering:

• Sport
• Travel
• Going Out
• Staying In (nice one!)
• Style & Beauty
• House & Home
• with 2 others yet to launch (ie – coming soon)…

Here’s an example hotel results page:

I will be back with more on this site, but I wanted to get something out quickly this morning to help get the word out there. Would enjoy getting feedback and commnets from anyone using the site. Thanks.

UPDATE: Greg Sterling has a short post on this site here – I agree that is a “killer” domain and the new Ireland/com really is a shinning example of what and how to develop this kids of local/geo site!

Super Simple and Super Useful – drop.io

I’ve been using drop.io for awhile now and it continues to amaze me how useful this very simple service is. From the about section on the site:

A drop is a chunk of space you can use to store and share anything privately (pictures, videos, audio, documents, etc.), without accounts, registration, or an email address. Drops are not “searchable” and not “networked;” they just exist online as private points for exchange between individuals or groups.

You drop files and even can now start “dropcasting” things. I am sure that all sorts of new, wild and cool ways to use this “atomic” service to do many more useful and bigger things is well underway. By “atomic” I mean this service is simple and boiled down to the minimal essence of what is needed, but it can be combined with other things to create cool stuff.

Drop.io recently announced a partnership with Scribd’s iPaper and raised $2.7 mllion in series A funding earlier this year. A service to use and a company to watch.