Erlend Wilhelmsen

Plazes

I've had a spin around Plazes - a European based social networking site. The basic idea is for people to share places they like. Simple enough. Some nice features makes for a good foundation. However, the BETA product has some critical limitations.

For once, it's not clear why "I have to use this." I mean, there's a lot of sites out there, such as Yelp, that gives me useful information on interesting places, cafes, bars, car-repair shops. What's is the unique value in Plazes? It's possible that there is something truly unique in the combination of features, but the value is not clear upon entry and that could turn off many prospective users.

Web software update

If you're curious about what's going on in the Web software consumer market, check out Make Use Of. It's a neat collection of cool sites, Web applications, and tips.

What are you doing?

Why do we have to know what people are doing? Why is it important to know where people are? Will your life be better if you knew that I was on the loo? What if you knew that Juston Timberlake was at the Hilton (not the girl) in Los Angeles right now? Would that matter to you? Well, perhaps you should try Twitter.

Before you throw it away and say: "Oh, that thing is useless," think about what it is all about. Then cry. Cry because it can be the next big thing. Cry because - to you - it makes no sense. That's just it. Almost nothing makes sense. And that's why... you should think about Twitter and what it does.

I'm here Bergen3000

Tumblr

You may want to have a look at Tumblr - before your grandmother gets involved. So there it is. A simple introduction to "blogging" for the masses. Excellent user experience.