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Summary
Comments (40)
Dec 10, 2008
Wow! We're honored and flattered :-)
Here's a summary of the top 4. @louisgray writes: 1) Summize (Twitter Search) Search is still king, and real-time search is having a huge impact on the way people find news, share ideas, and see trends. Summize built its business around being a search engine for Twitter, and soon became more stable, and theoretically, more useful, than Twitter itself. The Twitter team, in desperate need for more engineering help, acquired the company and absorbed into the microblogging service. Expected Exit: Acquired - Already Complete Twitter's acquisition of Summize was a smart move, considering how real-time search is becoming critical in times of breaking news. Many, including myself, are turning to Twitter search instead of Google, Yahoo! and the traditional news wires to hear reports from people on the ground, unfiltered. 2) Socialmedian While many different sites have conquered the online activities aggregation space, Socialmedian went about the process in a different way than all the others, letting people not only follow friends and pipe in their shared content from a wide variety of 3rd party sites, but organized it in terms of categories. The category feature was so successful, CEO Jason Goldberg has been able to showcase specific events, including the 2008 election, and the financial crisis, and make Socialmedian a go to site to interact with "newsmakers". The site, starting from scratch in the Spring, has risen up to challenge FriendFeed, Digg and other sites for social news - and continues to grow at a rapid clip. Expected Exit: Acquisition by First Quarter of 2009 With Goldberg and team having raised so little capital to get the product off the ground, and having kept costs very low, with the development team in India, the bootstrapped Socialmedian looks to be a ripe target for an acquisition, in my opinion. Without strong revenues and the public markets the way they are, Socialmedian would be smart to find a strong content or media partner, to join forces and enable the service to continue its growth. 3) BackType Technorati and Google Blog Search, as well as many other directories and search engines have typically focused on the blog as the central nervous system for their offering. But as many would agree, it is the comments and conversation, no matter where they are, that have real meaning to blog authors and participants. While everyone was busy trying to see who could land on the Techmeme leaderboard or break new ceilings in Technorati Authority, BackType debuted a site that tracks comments by individual, lets you follow individual commenters across a wide variety of sites, be alerted when comments with keywords take place, and see charts that display keywords' momentum. Expected Exit: Acquisition in Second Half of 2009 The BackType founders are working together on their second startup, having abandoned the first when it didn't gain traction. While BackType doesn't yet have an amazing market presence, they have forged a unique foothold that so far looks unchallenged. With any luck, I would expect the BackType team to deliver more enterprise-capable brand and identity management tools that would enable the service to gain revenue and exposure, letting the service to remain independent through the majority of 2009 before finding a place within WordPress, Six Apart, Google or Twitter. 4) TweetDeck TweetDeck isn't a Web service, but this Adobe AIR application introduced new functions to Twitter usage that changed the game in terms of how people use the service. By introducing a multi-columned app that features groups, integrated search, direct messaging, and replies functionality, many are swearing by TweetDeck, and it looks like it may soon overtake Twhirl as the most popular Twitter application. Busy Twitter addicts including Guy Kawasaki swear by it. Expected Exit: Remaining Independent through end of 2009 Iain Dodsworth is continuing to upgrade the product, and it's widely rumored he may soon integrate multi-account support, as well as integration with additional services, outside of Twitter. If he can get enough people to donate or pay for the application, there's no question he could make a full-time living from the resulting revenue. The question is, will people who expect a free service to have 100% uptime spring for the app that gets them there?
Dec 10, 2008
I'd also note that we're in AWESOME company -- we're not worthy! Tweetdeck is a better product than socialmedian is now IMO.
Dec 10, 2008
@jasongoldberg To even make a Top 10 ten list which distiguises you from the endless sea of startups, is an incredible compliment.One which is well deserved. Congratulations! Now, get back to work! @louisgray, Impressive List!
Dec 10, 2008
@michaelfidler @shawnfarner @rpetty appreciate the thanks. This post took much longer than my usual ones, but it was worth it. Appreciate all the work @jasongoldberg and team have done. I've been watching very closely for more than eight months now, and I'm looking forward to more. Hopefully I don't look like a fool with all my crystal ball stuff. It's just for fun.
Dec 10, 2008
Curious Louis, why are you keeping Friendfeed close to the vest... Are you under a "Lips sealed" contract with them? ARE THEY ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING BIG??? 1 thumb no, 2 thumbs yes...
Dec 10, 2008
Aw shucks, we're just having fun building stuff that thankfully some people are starting to value. Just the beginning though and much more to come!
Dec 10, 2008
@louisgray Fantastic look back over this year in tech... 2009 is shaping up quite nicely, isn't it?
@jasongoldberg Have I told you today how proud I am of you guys?
Dec 10, 2008
@jasongoldberg Sorry Jason. Good job on finding a successful formula and sticking to it! Can't wait to see what's up your sleeves next ;)
Dec 10, 2008
@solacetech Friendfeed debuted in 2007 and was therefore not a candidate. @sarahcrisman, thanks for the positive comments. Same to you @digiphile and @nishith
Dec 11, 2008
Well quite an achievement and well deserved. I like FF,Facebook Twitter etc, but find at s|m you find more serious news. As you grow I'm sure that may change as users add more and more feeds. So i hope that that in 2009 S|M will give us great filtering aids. FF is to complicated to filter. I think Tweetdeck has a great filter aid as you can put some people you are following into a group. Keep up the good work :)
Dec 11, 2008
Some useful and some niche web applications. Check these out first: Socialmedian (http://cli.gs/socialmedian), Strands (http://cli.gs/strands), and Readburner (http://cli.gs/readburner). If you are a big Twitter user, you already know about TweetDeck (http://cli.gs/tweetdeck), but also check out Socialtoo (http://cli.gs/socialtoo).
Dec 11, 2008
Louis has done it again - he got me to sign up to SocialMedian and I think this could be a solution to a problem I have encountered (running a blog in German and posting stuff in English via FF that really is news and belongs here). I immediately created a network focusing on Metaverse news for Metaverse enthusiasts like me.
Dec 11, 2008
Congrats on the high praise. It is well deserved and makes me proud to have been a small part of such a great accomplishment. Question is, will Louis' prediction come true?
Dec 11, 2008
Congratulations! I'm also glad to see Tweetdeck on there, as it also deserves a mention.
Dec 11, 2008
@greghollingsworth I wonder if he would like to back up some of those up with a friendly wager? @louisgray
Dec 11, 2008
@consiliera, glad to hear you dig Socialmedian. It's a great service. @greghollingsworth and @michaelfidler, I have a horrible track record at predictions. At the end of 2007, I posted a list: http://louisgray.com/live/2007/12/10-predictions-for-2008-in-world-of.html Only #7 and #8 could be argued to have happened. :-)
Dec 11, 2008
@louisgray Yea, but I have a feeling your going to do a lot better this year! Several of these look right on the money. My guess with a couple moths on both sides, 1/2 will be correct. Time for you to start a Mutual Fund! Amending, Do you know of any funds with an emphasis on 2.0 companies, or their holding companies. Eventually more SM companies will go public, and it's an interesting idea for a Mutual Fund. What do you think?
Dec 15, 2008
Excellent, and I love this site, Jason. You and your team have done a superb job here with this. I've been in and out of many sites on the web but find this and (and Facebook) my only two daily routine sites.....well, and email.
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