ValueWiki Blog

Fortune Magazine just ranked Google the #1 place to work in America. The Googleplex offers free gormet food, massages, and language lessons. It’s certainly a pretty amazing work environment. Even better than Threadless. Oprah has the scoop…

My cousin was recently visiting Los Angeles, and asked me why all the Hollywood movies this summer are trilogies. I gave her my best guess, namely, that Hollywood is run by risk-averse executives with no creativity who aren’t willing to bet the company dime on a spec screenplay.

There was once a time when young screenwriters could make good money shopping fresh stories to Hollywood. Now, ideas are only developed in house once established talent is attached, and the majority of films are based on proven properties like comic books and novels. It’s a sad state of affairs when a trainwreck like Spiderman 3 can break box office records.

Big releases for Summer 2007:

Spider-Man 3
28 Weeks Later
Shrek the Third
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Hostel: Part II
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Indiana Jones 4
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Jurassic Park 4
Rush Hour 3
Ocean’s Thirteen
The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Is it just me or are they all sequels, trilogies, or quadruplets?

Note: TechCrunch reports Hollywood is making a sequel to Wall Street. If there’s one thing Hollywood knows nothing about, it’s Wall Street. Please don’t screw up this gem, Hollywood!

Also Note:If anyone is less lazy than me, please use this list to update Wikipedia’s List of Movie Trilogies.

Zach and I attended Twiistup last night, a party for Southern California Web 2.0 startups. SoCal has surpassed New England in startup activity, with $1.22 billion invested in the first quarter of 2007. This makes SoCal second only to Silicon Valley, as was evidenced by the great array of startups on display last night.

The attendees included representatives of many well-known Web 2.0 companies and the turnout was excellent. As you can see, it was like a mosh pit; you practically had to crowd surf to navigate the room.

Before entering the event, I used the bathroom at Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, and only realized around 10:30 than I had not remembered to buckle my belt. Strangely, I don’t think anyone noticed my belt hanging out, probably because it was crowded like a Japanese subway.

I enjoyed talking with a lot of entrepreneurs. We would stand toe to toe and scream over the thumping club music. This was a great test of their pitching abilities, since they had to rapidly convey their concept before their vocal chords snapped. By the end of the night I had my patter down to, “ValueWiki: Wikipedia for stocks.” Or rather, “VALUEWIKI: WIKIPEDIA FOR STOCKS!” “Wikipedia for Socks?” “NO, STOCKS!!!”

Here are some guys from YourMinis (below). Since Netvibes and Google have entered the customized homepage biz, YourMinis is shifting their focus over to widgets. I’ve been debating starting a YourMinis homepage for months, so it was good to meet these guys in person.

Noah and Viet from Mint, a free online Quicken (below). Once Mint knows your monthly expenses, it can show you coupons and targeted ads to help you save on your monthly expenses. They will be launching in the next two months.

Heather was demonstrating her client’s product, Oovoo (below). Oovoo is like iChat except you can video conference multiple people simultaneously. I’m pretty sure the service is free, so I will definitely check it out. Heather also did a good job of promoting BarCamp LA and Geek Dinners, and it was great for her to get the word out.

This is Shane from Userplane (below). They were acquired by AOL last year, and offer a host of media-related widgets that you’ve probably seen on sites like MySpace. The Userplane demo table felt like a frat party. I spent a good deal of time hovering, trying to get someone’s attention, but it was like approaching the popular table in the high school cafeteria. Finally, Shane engaged me and I found him to be one of the most friendly and articulate presenters of the evening.

This is Elizabeth from GoodReads (below). GoodReads lets you share your reading list with your friends and make recommendations. Zach is a big fan of Shelfari, and I enjoy telling people what they should and should not read, so this appealed to me. Elizabeth became one of my favorite presenters of the night when I discovered she was not an entrepreneur, but simply manning the table for her boyfriend Otis who was at the bar. I was tempted to rapid-fire her with questions about API and revenue models, but decided to go easy on her.

What’s Your Blog Called?

It was a great event. I took a lot of photos but very few came out. I would ask an entrepreneur, “can I take your photo for my blog?” And they would politely ask, “What’s your blog called?” To which I would respond, “ValueWiki”, which seems like an odd answer…

What I want to say is, “I work on this great site called ValueWiki (insert pitch here) and we have a blog because every startup has a blog. And I sometimes post two, three, four times a day because I’m relatively interested in the internet and I’m addicted to blog traffic.”

But that’s a long answer.

The simple truth is, telling people your blog is called “ValueWiki” is odd, because “ValueWiki” would be a weird name for a blog. It is, however, an awesome name for a thoroughly wonderful wiki devoted to investing.

Or should I say…”WIKIPEDIA FOR STOCKS!”

“Spocks? Like StarTrek?”

“No, STOCKS!”

“Socks. Got it.”

(deep, existential sigh)

So what’s your revenue model?”

Encyclopedia of Life has launched with explosive press and $100 million in funding promised over the course of the next ten years. The project goal is complete coverage of earth’s 1.8 million species, and features an open collaborative model similar to Wikipedia or Citizendium. The project is supported by an enormous cadre of high profile partners, panels, councils, experts and advisors.

The layout is much more welcoming, colorful and readable than Wikipedia or Citizendium. And the project’s funding, mission, and management team are truly impressive.

What Does This Mean for Wikipedia and Citizendium?

There is some sense among Wikipedians that the Encyclopedia of Life is overlapping with territory already covered by Wiki Species, Wikimedia Commons, and well, Wikipedia. Larry Sanger has already written a defensive blog post, explaining why Citizendium will prevail, and why he feels the EOL will probably fail.

There is no doubt the Encyclopedia of Life is deeply inspired by both Wikipedia and Citizendium. The EOL stratifies its experts like Citizendium, while providing an open Encyclopedia like, well, Wikipedia. Its example articles contain references to Wikipedia, and I am pleased to see Erik Moeller included on the Institutional Council. Erik reports that the EOL is “very interested in using Wikipedia articles as part of the encyclopedic component,” a fact which is potentially threatening to Wikipedia since Erik concedes that the EOL may fork Wikipedia content without making any effort to further contribute to or improve Wikipedia.

In my heart of hearts, I suppose I am curious why the EOL’s organizers couldn’t find a way to use their zillions of dollars and scholarly ties to simply improve Wiki Species or Wikipedia. On the other hand, their interface and level of quality control is arguably superior to Wikipedia. Will be interesting to see how this and other projects affect the evolution of open Wikis.

Google Analytics just launched a new beta version of their Analytics tool today. You can read about it on the Google Analyics blog, or take their nifty tour.

The data can now be easily custimized to slide and fit where you want it on your screen. You can judge from the screenshot above how it is easier to zoom in and analyze trends.

The UI is much larger, more colorful, and clearer to read. It almost reads like powerpoint slides.

You can read more in the new Analytics FAQ. It will probably take me a few weeks to absorb all the new functionality. Thankfully, analytics is still free, and I wonder at if and how Google will ever monetize this product.

Bottom line, Google Analytics is one of those products like Trader Joes, where I will happily corner someone at a dinner party to babble about how great it is, loudly and aggressively exhorting them to try it. Seth, does this count as a purple cow?

China’s 110 million Internet users and 350 million mobile users are quickly outpacing the U.S. as the largest internet market in the world. Win market dominance in China and America, and you’ve won the world.

Google’s share of market search in China has fallen from 33% in 2005, to 25% in 2006. As data at ReadWriteWeb and the 2006 CNNIC Search Survey shows, Baidu is clearly dominating the Chinese search market.

Maxthon Browser Switches to Google

In addition to its usual strategy of gobbling up all the talented developers, TechCrunch reported last month Google’s purchase of a $1 million stake in the Chinese Maxthon internet browser. Maxthon is like a Chinese Netscape, with over 40 million downloads in China.

As Michael Arrington predicted, Maxthon now appears to have changed its default search bar from Baidu to Google.

Google’s Challenge

Google’s official Chinese name is “Gu Ge” (Harvest Song), which apparently the majority of Chinese users do not seem like. As I’ve noted in my own travels to China, choosing an American brand name will almost always be the more popular choice. Google’s “Gu Ge” brand awareness in China now lags Baidu by some 23%.

Most importantly, China presents formidable problems to Google’s search algorithm. Aside from the difficulty of parsing Chinese characters, Google must deal with the voluminous amounts of blackhat SEO pumping out of China. 73.58% of worldwide spam contains links to Chinese URLs. For an interesting insight into the depth of Chinese SEO and Spam issues, Google Engineer Matt Cutts gave a fascinating interview with a Chinese SEO and a member of Google’s China team.

Finally, Google has the added issue of dealing with Chinese censorship. As I learned in my Interview with a Chinese Wikipedian last month, Chinese internet users must mask their IP’s using proxies and Tor, just to access Wikipedia. Aside from political sites, consider that ReadWriteWeb reports that a search for “sex” on Baidu returns just 3 results. Google’s Chinese search product must be nearly custom made. Furthermore, Google co-founder Sergey Brin has expressed doubts about Google’s policy of allowing a censored Chinese Google.

All in all, I think it’s healthy if Google doesn’t yet rule the entire world. A little competition and a few challenges will help the internet giant stay progressive and innovative. And as I have noted, the better search gets in China, the more the restrictions of the communism will melt away.

Purple Cow is a marketing concept developed by Internet thought-leader Seth Godin. Spend five minutes reading a web 2.0 blog and you will probably run across this buzz word.

The prevailing wisdom among Web 2.0 bloggers and venture capitalists seems to be that companies truly worthy of being funded and blogged about have to be purple cows. Namely, companies and products that are so exciting and evocative they have zero need for marketing budgets (see iPhone for details).

The Cult of the Purple Cow

I get the Purple Cow idea, I really do. But I wonder if there is possibly an overacceptance of the Purple Cow philosophy in the Web 2.0 herd. In fact, I’d argue that 98% of companies in a healthy economic ecosystem are not purple cows. Take a look at the most successful companies in America - the Fortune 500. How many of these are Purple Cows? Apple and Google spring to mind. I find Southwest Airlines fairly compelling, and maybe Disney.

But what about the richest companies? Does Exxon need a pastel logo and slick API to get us to buy their gasoline? Are bloggers irrestibly drawn to write about top 10 companies like Wallmart, ConocoPhillips, or Citigroup? How did these companies possibly become the richest corporations in America without being Purple Cows? It flies in the face of Web 2.0 wisdom.

Case in Point

My sister works for a very profitable B2B web application in Silicon Valley. They’ve developed technology to allow items to be tracked around the globe, using the internet. Their stock has doubled in the past year and they make more money than most other web 2.0 companies. But I have never heard them blogged about in the web 2.0 space because they service industrial companies and their business is not considered glamorous.

In the quest for the next home run company, I hope that Venture Capitalists do not inhale too deeply from the Purple Cow pipe. While there is power in cool brands like Flickr and Digg, there is also tremendous power in the less glamorous tools that fuel the internet economy.

I can accept the fact that the blogging herd only blogs about Purple Cows. But I sincerely hope the Venture Capital world doesn’t begin to follow this trend as well. They will miss out on good opportunities.

It stores massive quantities of information and has processes for retrieving that information. It stores visual memories and auditory memories. It understands language and prioritizes information. It has frontal lobes for reasoning as well as a seething libido. The internet is a complete individual.

We are Just Neurons

Every cell in our bodies seeks its own self-preservation, taking in nutrients and expelling waste, unaware that it serves a higher function and is part of a greater organism. So too with the ecosystem of the internet. Startups, bloggers, news sites, social sites, wiki editors, and even parasitic spammers all serve to grow, develop and evolve this living organism.

Wikipedians understand they are tiny parts of a larger machine serving a greater purpose. Bloggers and entrepreurs are more inclined to the illusion we are important as individuals. But we are all plankton in a primordial sea that is in the infancy of its evolution.

The Brain Learns

Today Digg users proved they are more powerful than Digg’s owners. Wikipedia fervently worked to sensor this topic, citing non-notability and illegality, even as every major blogger on the internet rushed to cover the story. Slashdot covered the story from its source. A lot of sites showed their colors today.

The internet macrocosm continues to learn and evolve. Tolstoy believed that Napoleon did not direct history, but that history directed Napoleon. Ultimately, even Kevin Rose, Wikipedia AfD, and the CCP are powerless to the will of the internet. The internet is rapidly making censorship impossible.

The ever-intriguing Jason Calacanis has showed increasing interest in Wiki lately, interviewing Larry Sanger for his podcast and making occasional appearances on Wikipedia-L. Calacanis, who recently sold Weblogs for $25 Million to AOL, attended Wikimania 2006 and has expressed plans of attending Wikimania 2007.

It now appears Calacanis may have a vested interest in Wiki. ValleyWag is reporting that Jason has already hired 20 engineers to begin building a Google-Wikipedia mashup. The concept is a human-edited search engine that can provide more relevant results than Google’s algorithm.

Sound familiar?

That’s because Jimmy Wales has been working on this idea since at least March, 2004. It’s called Wikia Search and was covered by TechCrunch in December. This competition could help to explain why Jason recently positioned himself against Jimmy Wales with some pretty tough language.

Calacanis claims ValleyWag’s report is 100% untrue. But it is curious how many details ValleyWag was able to report, replete with comments from developers who have seen the prototype. And ValleyWag Overlord Nick Denton seems pretty sure Jason has something up his sleeve. Will be interesting to see what exactly Calacanis is working on, or if I am simply another cog in the rumor mill.

Update: GigaOM has more info today on Calacanis’s Wikipedia-like “Project X.” GigaOM believes the project is more of an editor-controlled content portal, as opposed to a wiki search.

Business Week has the scoop; the number of active blogs in English is decreasing. David Sifry, whose Technorati reports can make it sound like the internet’s 70 million blogs will continue expanding ad infinitum, was called into question by Heather Green at Business Week.

Sifry’s numbers on the actual number of active English language blogs (at least one posting in the past three months) reveal there are really only 15.5 million active blogs worldwide.

Total English Language Blogs in Decline

In May 2006, 36% of all blogs tracked were active, and as of March 2007, that number has fallen to 21%.

In a further sign of decline, the number of daily English language posts has fallen to 495,000 in March from 507,000 in October.

Why Are Blogs in Decline?

ValleyWag offers some speculation on why blogging is levelling off. Namely, after the initial gold rush, people are realizing that successful blogging is time consuming and requires hard work!

The blogosphere is filled with experts touting how-to’s on Part Time Blogging, Full Time Income. I chafe a bit when I come across these as I think they are a bit deceptive and may lead people to blog for the wrong reasons.

Zach and I have never monetized the ValueWiki blog, but I can hardly imagine what our eCPM would need to be to justify the mind-numbing hours it takes to research and format a post like Top 100 Finance Blogs or Top 50 Web 2.0 Blogs. I’m not convinced that ad income is a good rationale for anyone to begin blogging. It could very well be that blogging simply because you enjoy it is the only sustainable motivation.

Blogging is a Time Suck

I think I went into blogging with some misconceptions about the time requirement. Tracking my traffic and feedreaders, I suspect I need at least 10 posts a week to retain my readership, and at least 15 posts a week to grow my readership. This really stretches the definition of “part time.” It’s not that I’m a slow writer so much as a slow reader…staying current on the blogosphere requires a lot of daily reading.

I also notice that most of the “A List” Bloggers came early to the race. Developing a loyal readership was arguably easier in 2005 than it is in 2007. I imagine it will be increasingly difficult for new bloggers to penetrate into the ranks of the A-List. The increased competition for eyeballs may be a part of the reason why new blogs are declining.

Rowing Upstream

Growing blog traffic and technorati rank is like rowing a boat upstream; if you’re not going forward you’re going backwards. If I go a lazy week without posting anything noteworthy, my technorati rank slides quickly since the rest of the blogosphere is continuing to build their link cache. For those like me who make the mistake of occasionally following their stats and rankings, it is a never-ending arms race!

I’m not surprised to view these charts of the blogosphere plateauxing. Like other internet booms, we may be entering a period of “consolidation.”

I would be curious to see numbers on average time bloggers spend blogging. If anyone has these numbers, or would like to provide their own, please drop a note in the comments.

8:31pm…done blogging today…