Is Mixx The New Pownce?(alexwilhelm.com)
alexwilhelm.com
Is Mixx The New Pownce?
http://www.alexwilhelm.com/alex_wilhelm/2009/02/is-mixx-the-new-pownce.html
Can Mixx find the traffic that will keep it alive?
6 comments
Mixx has no niche. It's completely bland and generic. There is no single reason why I'd go there over any other site.
Plus, their layout is a mish-mash of content types. It's a jungle.
They've struck some secret sweetheart deals with newspaper companies to get their buttons on sites like CNN. I am assuming they were deals because there's no reason Mixx belongs in the same breath as some of the other sites with buttons on these sites. Mixx has backing from newspaper companies hoping to get in on the social news scene, which probably helped. And it's founders come out of the newspaper advertising scene.
Plus, their layout is a mish-mash of content types. It's a jungle.
They've struck some secret sweetheart deals with newspaper companies to get their buttons on sites like CNN. I am assuming they were deals because there's no reason Mixx belongs in the same breath as some of the other sites with buttons on these sites. Mixx has backing from newspaper companies hoping to get in on the social news scene, which probably helped. And it's founders come out of the newspaper advertising scene.
Absolutely right. Mixx is miserable. If Digg can't manage to sell itself, what chance do 3rd rate copycats have? It doesn't even send significant traffic to stories on the front page. The only thing it's useful for is submitting your blog posts for SEO purposes.
My startup is a niche social news site...and I've learned that the "voting" isn't really the point. It's just something to do once you get everyone together in one place.
You've got to get people who want to "hang out" together. Give them some shared purpose. And, above all, add value.
I think some of the sports news sites have found a solid formula by taking it a step beyond just "social news" into creating an actual network of sites that get just a bit of extra push on their site. This helps the social news site brand itself based on the quality of the sites in its network, and it also gives it a bunch of go-to friends to lean on for good stories, comments and the like.
Mix has none of these things. It's a generic place to submit stories.
And honestly, if it wasn't for Diggnation, the Kevin Rose saga and the "lineage" of Digg, that site would be in the same boat.
And without YCombinator, Paul Graham and his ethos, I think Reddit would as well. These sites had stories and solid tech that resonated with the first waves of users that got them going.
What's Mixx's story?
When it launched, I think there was some speculation that the Mixx folks thought they could pull away enough Diggers to get just big enough to be useful/profitable.
What's their story?
You've got to get people who want to "hang out" together. Give them some shared purpose. And, above all, add value.
I think some of the sports news sites have found a solid formula by taking it a step beyond just "social news" into creating an actual network of sites that get just a bit of extra push on their site. This helps the social news site brand itself based on the quality of the sites in its network, and it also gives it a bunch of go-to friends to lean on for good stories, comments and the like.
Mix has none of these things. It's a generic place to submit stories.
And honestly, if it wasn't for Diggnation, the Kevin Rose saga and the "lineage" of Digg, that site would be in the same boat.
And without YCombinator, Paul Graham and his ethos, I think Reddit would as well. These sites had stories and solid tech that resonated with the first waves of users that got them going.
What's Mixx's story?
When it launched, I think there was some speculation that the Mixx folks thought they could pull away enough Diggers to get just big enough to be useful/profitable.
What's their story?
Since when 1 million users is not an audience?
mixx is a top 1000 site in Alexa.
Compete measures only American audience.
mixx is a top 1000 site in Alexa.
Compete measures only American audience.
If mixx is the new pownce, then like pownce, who cares?
Personally, I think that it may keep its niche, like HackerNews. But I doubt it can raise any more money like that.
Do they really need money tho? What can they be burning?
mainstream news is a scale game. if you aren't yahoo news, cnn, drudge, etc...its almost impossible to survive