outbrain

Email hiccups

We're having some email issues and are working to resolve the problem ASAP. All other outbrain services are running properly... the problem is just with our corporate email.

In the interim, if you're trying to reach us for any urgent matter, you can use my personal address - yaron [at] galai [dot] com

Blog rating widget - principal #1

As warned, we'll soon be releasing our rating widget for bloggers. You can see it being tested on some of the following blogs: Ouriel's, Ori's, mine, and of course this blog (look below).

As we get ready for the release, I wanted to cover some of the principals we decided to follow with this widget.

Principal #1 - Our widget is a service for the blogger, and *NOT* a viral distribution platform
The first principal we decided to follow is to design the widget as if it were designed by the owner of the blog. Unlike most widgets, we do not see our rating widget as a viral distribution platform, or as a banner for outbrain. In fact, there is no sign anywhere on the widget indicating that it is 'powered by outbrain':

We are bloggers ourselves, and we do not appreciate it when companies take it for granted that we've given them some screen real estate. We respect the fact that the blog's screen is *yours*. We are guests on your page, and are there to do a service. We don't intend to abuse this invitation you extended to us for pushing promotional materials!

We know the cost of this principal is going to be in slower distribution of the widget, but we are here to serve you, and not the other way around.

Are your other widget partners treating you this way?

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Interested in getting this widget for your blog? Signup on our home page, or shoot me an email to [galai at outbrain dot com].

outbrain covered by CenterNetworks

Allen Stern over at CenterNetworks had a nice post about us a couple of days ago:

"I think the combination of voting and filtering should prove beneficial for readers and bloggers. For a blogger, they can tell which content appeals best to their readers and by making it a simple vote, many readers should participate. For Outbrain to be successful, they will need large numbers of bloggers and voters. Otherwise the system won't work as created. The other challenge will be market differentiation."

Read the full post here.

CenterNetworks is quietly becoming one of the few real TechCrunch alternatives, with excellent coverage of East Coast web startups. Go ahead and subscribe to it here.