Market Research

ironpants · Post by **ironpants** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 1:26 pm

Here's the skinny, I'm pretty aware of all of your feelings of spaces.msn.com, but I thought the base idea was pretty solid. I'm working on a bringing up a competative product, and would like to elicit your feedback (since you guys are all pretty internet savvy and spend too much time on blogs and forums

) prior to going to work on the whole darned thing.

Basically, what would you like to see in a personal portal product, what would you not like to see etc.

Thanks!

ROh

Post by **bio** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 4:30 pm

Thinks I like:

Comment posting
Spam blocking that works (by keyword, blacklist, etc)!!!!!!
RSS Syndication
Logging (who searched for what, etc)
Totally customizable templates
Auto notification of updates/comments/etc by subscription
Auto thumbnail generation of images
Ability to post via email or 3rd party application (ie: wbloggar)
Search ability (for readers)
Google friendly URL's for individual posts (using the title of the post as a link rather than "domain.com/index.php?p=210")
Track Backs (ie - linking to posts on other domains)
The ability to turn any feature on or off!

Post by **bio** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 4:34 pm

Oh yeah... and the ability to upload, move, remove, rename files via a web interface.

AsaJay · Post by **AsaJay** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 5:59 pm

Yup, what he said.

I'm running upwards of four blogs at the moment. Yea, like I'm actually -posting- to any of them.

I'm just getting started. A little more ex-lax for the brain and I should be typing like mad soon.

ironpants · Post by **ironpants** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 7:25 pm

bio wrote:Oh yeah... and the ability to upload, move, remove, rename files via a web interface.

ooohhh, damn, hadn't thought of that. What kinds of files were you thinking about here? I wasn't thinking of much other than images. If this was a free service, how much space do you think would be neccessary per blog?

Post by **bio** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 7:33 pm

Your typical files are fine (jpg, gif, png, pdf, etc.). I'd be wary things like mp3 for legal reasons.

As for space... that depends on your pricing model (I'm assuming it's free, but there'll be bandwidth contstaints, I'm sure). Probobly somewhere around the 300mb range for free if you want to get a good turnout.

Basically, look at what MS and other companies offer, then meet or beat it.

ironpants · Post by **ironpants** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 7:36 pm

that's the kicker, I'm looking at initial market projections of 3-6 million signups/month Not sure my initial storage projections are gonna hold at 300mb. I may be able to get away with 50mb accross the board and reward high traffic blogs w/ more disk space.

Thoughts?

Post by **bio** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 7:56 pm

MS gives you 10mb of storage space in it's Spaces program (text from your posts don't count against that as they live in the DB).

So... if you offered the same, or perhaps more (15 - 20mb for files they can upload), you'd have an edge to get people to move over. Offer the same 10 as MS and you'll compete for people who haven't logged in yet.

One thing... you might want to disable hotlinks from your blogs to discourage people from opening them just to post images to Fark and other high bandwidth sites (or not... your choice).

ironpants · Post by **ironpants** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:21 am

Hehehe, I've got some badness waiting for hotlinkers!

Post by **bio** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:52 am

egg salad!

ironpants · Post by **ironpants** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:54 am

bio wrote:egg salad!

Dude, I used to wonder what makes you tick, now I'm terrified to know.

Rocketdork · Post by **Rocketdork** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:12 am

ironpants wrote:
bio wrote:egg salad!
Dude, I used to wonder what makes you tick, now I'm terrified to know.

Yeah, a scary thing...

Post by **bio** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:15 am

Rofl!

My work here is nearly complete.

Rocketdork · Post by **Rocketdork** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:37 am

When you scare pigman, then you can be done...

And of course...when you scare pigman, your place on earth is in danger.

Pigman · Post by **Pigman** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 1:21 pm

Actually, I was concerned with a Bio Egg Salad Exhaust issue....