Simpy Chichimichi

Ari Paparo wrote a nice post about del.icio.us vs. Blink. Reminder: Blink used to be a bookmarking service. Not quite like Simpy or del.icio.us, but similar in the sense that it dealt with people's links. Ari's post is not so much about one vs. the other and which was/is better, but about the different approaches taken by two services, and their consequences. As I used to work at Blink back in 2001/2002, I often wondered what other "Blinkers" think about what is happening with Social Bookmarks now, 3-4 years after Blink. I also wondered whether people doing bookmarks back in 1999, like Ari, would argue that it's all the same old stuff, just branded as "woho, social, Web 2.0, so it must be good". I am very happy to see that Ari doesn't equal the two approaches to solving the same or very similar problem, and compares them rather objectively.

I didn't join Blink early enough to participate in decisions about the company's direction, but in Blink's defense, one thing that all services, companies, and individuals now have at their disposal is that large echo-chamber - "the Blogosphere". Back then, in the Blink era, there were link exchanges and revenue sharing models, but there was no real Network Effect infrastructure that exists today. The Blogosphere is the megaphone that insures that, if you yell loud enough, and you yell about interesting stuff, you will be heard! What, you didn't hear me, you say?