Intense Web Media

Outbrain is a widget that easily lets someone rank my blog posts. They have taken a lot of time and thought in the development of it (notice how well it blends into my blog).

I met John Logioco who does biz dev for them at the Blog World Expo and he is a good guy.

What I have heard most from people after explaining Outbrain is that “it is just a five star rating system.” It’s not very sexy, to this I respond with something along the lines of how the value this widget brings to me is immediate. From day one I see utility in what it gives me. This is the same type of response we have been trying to create with the Intense Debate comment system. If you are a widget, you cannot count on the network effect to takeover immediately. You must give users value from day one. A great post about creating value from day one is over at Steve Poland’s blog and is about a conversation he had with Scott Rafer.

As many of you know Scott Rafer was involved in MyBlogLog and it is a good read if you have not come across it yet.

The guys behind Outbrain are smart and although I don’t know the full extent of their plans, you can count on it being more than just a five star rating system. Good luck to them.