Thursday, August 17, 2006

TIME.com: 50 Coolest Websites

So it's that TIME again. 50 coolest websites. Interestingly I wonder how on earth they come to some of these listings as very often or not they are not revolutionary or web technologically more advanced than other websites. Take for example http://www.hopstop.com/ which TIME says: "Plug in start and end points and you get clear instructions, alternative options and maps", but I can't really see anything new here. The AA site does a great job for the UK already..

But this list does reflect our changing communication attitudes. How do we 'talk' to each other. Community culture: How do we share stuff? Why do we feel the need to share stuff?MySpace is a great example- it's absolutely ballooned in the last few years.

"One of the key drivers of MySpace's success has been the music component."
http://searchviews.com/archives/2005/05/why_MySpace_roc.php

"A huge part of the success of MySpace is an age and culture thing"
http://www.danah.org/papers/FriendsterMySpaceEssay.html

"Talk about instant entrepreneurial success. A little more than two years ago, MySpace didn't even exist."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-02-12-MySpace-usat_x.htm

Some of its success can certainly be attributed to the way we see the world. It's no longer a huge planet with continents separated by intimidating distances. You can buy and sell from (eBay, iTunes) or promote yourself to (mySpace, YouTube) anyone in the world instantly. That's what I see in the TIME top 50. New ways of being.

It's a shame there are no new exciting interface designs that explode the way we interact with online information. Many of these sites use the same old ideas. I cite http://www.hopstop.com/ again which is peppered with ads to the detriment of the actual information!

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