August 11th, 2006

Why Netscape Will Succeed

by Joshua Porter  |   18 Comments  |  shortlink: http://bokardo.com/p/441

Jason Calacanis, the man in charge of Netscape’s new Digg-like redesign, really gets social web design. Listening to this Gillmor Gang podcast, I kept thinking…while everyone else is talking about ideas, money, or conspiracy theories Jason is coolly focused on what really matters: people.

Jason is the guy who offered the top users of Digg, Reddit, and other sites money if they switch over to the new Netscape.

He also knows what all the other guys in the podcast don’t, and Netscape will succeed as a result. They may not reach Digg-like proportions any time soon, but I think they’ll be successful.

Jason knows that it’s all about motivating people by providing value for them. That’s what all for-profit design is about: providing enough value so it motivates people to use your service, your product, your web app. Too often we focus on the end result instead of the path to getting there. Is Netscape desperate? Wrong question. The right question is: Is Netscape providing value?

And, anybody who mentions Flow and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in a podcast as cynical as the Gillmor Gang has got some serious clout. I’m surprised he wasn’t laughed off the air, even though he’s right to focus on such topics.

Jason is transparent about how he thinks about this. He suggests three reasons why people are becoming social bookmarking experts:

  1. Love Activity
    The top members of Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us do it because they love the activity. If they didn’t love it, their results would be less valuable because they wouldn’t do it as much and they wouldn’t be so passionate about it. Tyson Hy, one of Digg members contacted in the offer, refuses the money and suggests that he’s just doing this because it’s what he enjoys: “I will commit my time to digg whenever possible because that’s how much I enjoy digg; it’s not about the money, it’s what you enjoy and this is what I like.”
  2. Appreciate Recognition
    These folks also appreciate recognition that comes along with their success. Who doesn’t want recognition? It makes people feel good about themselves as well as makes them more hungry to continue. In the new design Netscape gives lots of recognition, with several dozen profiles of navigators, anchors, and contributors showing up on the homepage.
  3. Enjoy Community
    When you hang around a place long enough, you start to get to know the people there. It happens online, too, even at these social bookmarking sites. Hy also comments on this: “The users on digg is very strong, we know how and what to expect as new stories are submitted the users have the power to promote a good story or to bury a bad story.” So there’s momentum here, even if they don’t meet face-to-face they feel like a community, and thus they are one.

When’s the last time you heard a businessperson talk about those things? Most don’t. I think Jason is right to talk in those terms, and Netscape will benefit as a result.

Check out my latest project: Make them Care!, a book on designing great sign-up experiences. Get reminded when it's published.

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Comments

1.  ML 7:24am, Sat 12th, 2006

Hi Joshua, What’s your take on Newsvine?

2.  Josh 10:50pm, Sun 13th, 2006

Hi Marilyn. Newsvine looks great! The contributors aren’t quite as obvious as they are on Netscape, but it looks like there are a lot of nice features for them.

The mix is very interesting. Whenever I go there, though, I don’t get a sense of the author of articles…which I didn’t think I would miss but I do. It does matter to me who is writing, and who they are writing for.

For example, I’ll give a story in the New York Times a second look when I probably wouldn’t for a random person on Newsvine. I wonder if others feel the same way.

This might all change, of course, if they are successful.

3.  old guy who remembers it all 1:53pm, Wed 16th, 2006

bandwagon jumping and copy-catting has never been a guarantee of success, though calacanis has been effective at it over the years at times.

4.  Bob 11:49pm, Sun 27th, 2006

Good Luck Net(Digg)Space. You are the RC Cola to DIGGs Coke.

5.  Student Organization Guy 2:16am, Thu 31st, 2006

Check out the new interview with Calacanis on VentureVoice.com. Way cool.

6.  BUses 7:14pm, Tue 26th, 2006

Why Netscape Will Succeed ?
Netscape Navigator uses a cache folder to speed up the performance of your browser. Files from recently viewed Web pages are stored in this folder on your hard drive, so that when you visit these sites again, Netscape Navigator can load them from your computer rather than from the remote Internet site.
source: http://www.succeed.net/help/helptwo.html
Merry Christmas

7.  Andy James 8:06am, Thu 1st, 2007

I thought that Netscape is in its way to vanish. Everything now tells that the game is left between Microsoft and Mozilla. If Netscape is still there, that’s a good thing for consumers.

8.  Pozycjonowanie 8:31am, Wed 7th, 2007

I thought that Netscape is in its way to vanish. Everything now tells that the game is left between Microsoft and Mozilla. If Netscape is still there, that’s a good thing for consumers.

your right but it has now great rivall firefox so its gonna be hard to win the competition.

Keep up the good work. Greetings

9.  Jones 3:42am, Wed 7th, 2007

That’s exactly what Netscape needed – a change in the direction. They just didn’t stand a chance being one of the many portals so if there was anything to make them “return form the dead” (sorry to all of Netscape fans but Netscape was really dead for me) that’s exactly what Jason Calacanis did. Congratulations to Jason for helping Netscape take the next step in its evolution.

10.  Stron 4:55am, Tue 20th, 2007

Very good article. The best in one’s kind.

11.  majority of us make 2:44pm, Wed 21st, 2007

Workout music to get pumped up

12.  Mark 11:03am, Wed 25th, 2007

Netscape’s browser failed so they need to change the direction as Jones said.

13.  Desenie 12:22pm, Fri 20th, 2007

I prefer FireFox, however I also use Netscape time to time.

14.  online shopping 3:06pm, Wed 10th, 2007

I totally agree, and I think Jason is really on the right track here. He is also incredibly transparent, and I think he is doing this delibirately. He knows that social sites are about transparency, and that’s what community is all about. Your three points are quite interesting too, and I think they’re definitely quite right. Netscape probably will be successful, and I think that they deserve to be. They’ve got a great team there, and I think that Jason is definitely the right guy for the job.