Netvibes Universes: Single-page aggregators for the big guys

Netvibes, maker of the single-page aggregator (or metagator) that I favor, is making an aggressive announcement at the Web 2.0 Expo. The company is launching the "Netvibes Universes" project. It's a simple technical improvement to the current service, but it's a bit of a business coup.

Netvibes Universes allows content creators to create custom Netvibes aggregation pages. What's technically new is that content owners can now customize the look and feel of their pages, and publish them as standalone Web pages with semifriendly URLs (for example: www.netvibes.com/icecube). Fully friendly URLS--in other words, custom Web addresses--will come later.

The business coup is that Netvibes signed up over 100 publishing partners, including recording artists like Mandy Moore and 50 Cent, and major media like Time, USA Today, and The Washington Post. All their Netvibes pages will be available on Monday.

It's hard to say if the Universes pages be better than their publishers' own home pages. They are different. A custom-designed home page can really stand out, but with more people finding content through "side doors" like blog posts, Digg, and aggregators like Netvibes, the front pages of content sites matter less than they used to. It makes sense, then, for some publishers to use off-the-shelf services like Universes to publish front pages that are almost as attractive, and far easier to modify, than all the individually coded front pages that sites now support.

Time magazine's current home page

(Credit: Time)

Netvibes told me that it will make the Universes functionality available to all its users by June. At the moment, it's possible for ordinary Netvibes users to share a Netvibes page only with other users, and you can't customize the page nor specify a standalone URL for it.

In related news, Netvibes competitor Pageflakes is releasing its Flurry feature at Web 2.0 Expo. By interviewing you about your location and your interests, this update makes it even easier to get started with the service. I interviewed Pageflakes CEO Dan Cohen in February. It's a great product--I'd use it if I wasn't already hooked on Netvibes.

Both Netvibes and Pageflakes make better start pages than the majors (Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google), although in the long run that won't matter because the big guys can easily grab the lion's share of traffic. For that reason I think Netvibes' direction is very smart. Instead of focusing on making a better product for individuals, the company is now embarking on a business-to-business strategy, too, and hopes to reach new users not only directly, but through its business clients.

Read on for more preview screenshots from Netvibes.

Washington Post via Netvibes

50 Cent's Netvibes page.

Ice Cube

Mandy Moore

[caldwdo]

So why do I want to change my Google home page?

I have been following the stories about page aggregators and tested both Netvibes and PageFlakes, but haven't discovered a compelling reason to switch from my personalized Google home page. It may be like changing your email service. One gets use to how email works/doesn't work and you cope. I was very concerned when I dropped Microsoft Outlook Express about losing my email service, but it worked better than expected. Maybe another look at page aggregators is needed now. www.dougcaldwell.net

[Kevin Perkins]

Mowser Placing Illegal Ads On Others' Content Too

Well, just take it one step further...

Mowser and AdMob are illegally profiting from content publishers' RSS feeds in the mobile environment:

http://kevinperkins.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/mowing-your-content-down-with-mowser/

[Fil0403]

My Yahoo! the best

IMHO the original My Yahoo! is still the best.

[bigbigwatch]

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