Why Pownce makes me happy
I like Pownce. I like the interface, it's clean, intuitive, and quite polished. I like the concept - it distills the "communicate with your friends" aspects of social networks into something simple, easy, and coherent. Even the name is starting to grow on me.
But none of that is why Pownce makes me happy.
The reason is actually a bit more selfish. In my last blog post I said that the lack of competition for ClutterMe.com is starting to worry me. Well, we can add Pownce to a handful of sites we've seen that "get" a certain aspect of ClutterMe. While Pownce's focus is somewhat different from ClutterMe, it's still the first site I've seen that addresses this aspect in a way similar to how we would. Needless to say, since the response to Pownce has been fairly positive, this makes me happy as yet another indication that we're on the right path.
More importantly, Pownce seems to confirm what I believe about the future of social networks. We're entering (to use a tired term) the "2.0" era of social networks. The past years saw Myspace and Facebook as the monolithic, winner-take-all social network existing for its own sake. The next year or two will see social networks starting to become a common web development paradigm, a commodity almost, similar to how "Reader's Comments" can now be found on practically every news website. This also means that there's plenty of room to grow alongside the giants - people won't as much be "part of a social network or another", they'll "use sites that also have social networking". We should see many interesting variations on the theme, as the concept of social networking matures and begins to reach its full potential. Pownce is one of the first out the gate; ClutterMe.com will hopefully follow not too far behind; and countless others will, I'm sure, join the party.
The Internet is far from mature, and far from its full potential. The next few years should be a lot of fun.
That being said... Anyone want Pownce invites? :)
But none of that is why Pownce makes me happy.
The reason is actually a bit more selfish. In my last blog post I said that the lack of competition for ClutterMe.com is starting to worry me. Well, we can add Pownce to a handful of sites we've seen that "get" a certain aspect of ClutterMe. While Pownce's focus is somewhat different from ClutterMe, it's still the first site I've seen that addresses this aspect in a way similar to how we would. Needless to say, since the response to Pownce has been fairly positive, this makes me happy as yet another indication that we're on the right path.
More importantly, Pownce seems to confirm what I believe about the future of social networks. We're entering (to use a tired term) the "2.0" era of social networks. The past years saw Myspace and Facebook as the monolithic, winner-take-all social network existing for its own sake. The next year or two will see social networks starting to become a common web development paradigm, a commodity almost, similar to how "Reader's Comments" can now be found on practically every news website. This also means that there's plenty of room to grow alongside the giants - people won't as much be "part of a social network or another", they'll "use sites that also have social networking". We should see many interesting variations on the theme, as the concept of social networking matures and begins to reach its full potential. Pownce is one of the first out the gate; ClutterMe.com will hopefully follow not too far behind; and countless others will, I'm sure, join the party.
The Internet is far from mature, and far from its full potential. The next few years should be a lot of fun.
That being said... Anyone want Pownce invites? :)
Labels: clutterme, kevin rose, pownce, social network, start-up
posted by Alex Curelea at
9:55 AM
8 Comments
