Mapping The Web

Right off the bat, let me say this: I am a big fan of Seth Godin. I own numerous books and I read his blog on a regular basis. I have much respect for the guy. He’s an amazing author, entrepreneur, speaker, and all-around businessman.

BUT… I’m not so fond of his latest, hyped venture - Squidoo. It has garnered much publicity and traffic, but I’m not convinced that it is anything overly revolutionary or ground-breaking. Godin always tells of making something exceptional that people will talk about. In this case, I think he should have taken his own advice.

I don’t mean to sound overly cynical, but he’s created nothing more than a new social network with revenue-sharing attached. With Squidoo, users create their own ‘lens’, which is essentially a profile. The lens contains ratings, a bio, links, an RSS feed, and a quasi-blog format. To me, the site is nothing more than MySpace with some branding twists.

To the site’s credit, it has an Alexa ranking of 1,439 and climbing. On one occasion, it peaked under 1,000, so people must be using the service. Just not me I guess.

The site has obviously been designed for the average Internet user, not the innovator. Functionality is very simple, almost to the point of being child-like. I guess I’m just not a big fan, nor a convert. I know Seth Godin has a huge brain and is always full of insightful, fresh commentary and ideas. But in this instance, maybe there was a momentary lapse or an overexcitement. I just don’t see anything breath-taking and I’m definitely not going to ’spread the ideavirus’ for this site.

And let me finish by saying I’m not a cynical bastard who’s jealous of Godin’s fame and fortune. Like I’ve said before, I have much admiration for the man. I just know he can accomplish things that are much more creative and captivating than this.

Good luck on your next venture Seth.