Pluggd is a media sharing site. They have the prerequisite features for searching or sharing podcasts or video. However, they go beyond that. One feature is their HearHere technology, which lets you search through audio or video podcasts using a keyword or phrase. If you don’t think that’s great, consider what has to happen behind the scenes: conversion of audio to approximate text. It has to account for accents and emphasis. Unfortunately, because English is not a phonetic language for the most part, tools like HearHere aren’t yet always accurate.
Now, in addition to these tools, they’ve added a feature that lets you share what you are listening to with Twitter friends and followers. Your twittering says what podcast you’re listening to, and provides a URL (converted to TinyURL by Twitter). (The SplashCast you see above has two parts: an image of the Twitter plugin in action and a screencast of hearhere in action, though without audio.)
This Twitter/pluggd functionality fis of course similar to Last.fm and iLike in the sense that you can share your interests, but allows you to throw in podcasts into the mix.
What I’d really like to see is some sort of standardized XML format for “What I’m listening to” lists that include audio files, podcasts and vodcasts, splashcasts, or whatever. If books were added as well (what I’m reading), we’d have a standardized way to share our interests with other people, and could actually combine lists from different sources, to be displayed at a single place (MySpace, blog).
What’d be even more interesting is to see some of the online dating sites incorporate “what I’m listening to” and “what I’m reading” types of lists in member profiles. I’ve reviewed a few dating sites (such as Verbdate) that had Skype VoIP triggers so that members can talk to each other. Though I have yet to come across any that extend their interface to include any of the multitudes of list APIs.
Originally posted on April 5, 2007 @ 12:47 pm
It’s interesting how the big dating portals like Match.com aren’t picking up any of the community features that run rampant over sites like iLike, Flickr, or even Amazon. My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that the relatively steep monthly memberships on those sites mean there’s much less opportunity to build a stable community. Plus, your platonic friends are a lot less likely to be there in the first place.
@Wabi: But sites like Verbdate are free – no membership fee. I’m guessing that such sites are not implementing all these extra features because of the perceived cost of integrating into their code. If a dating site’s owner doesn’t code, they may not want to spend money to hire someone.
Too bad, as extra community features would help members get to know each other better.
Some sites like millionairematch.com offer all even more services than other free sites. Although they are paid services, it costs less than hanging around in bars. It is worth something.
@Dennis: Do they offer the ability to pull in “I’m listening to this” type of lists? Though they seem to cater to high-end clients, whom I can’t see wanting those sorts of features. Just a guess, but will the average millionaire even bother with an “I’m listening to” list or even be part of a social network?