Monday, December 17, 2007

BBC beta - new design, same old content

The BBC has launched a new beta version of its homepage. It smells like web 2.0, it looks like web 2.0. But it isn't.

It smells like web 2.0 because there is (as readwriteweb puts it) "rounded corners, large fonts, big buttons, a soft color palette, and a liberal dash of AJAX... (it is) comprised of drag and drop content modules similar to Netvibes or iGoogle."

But there's a big something missing: You can only choose from BBC content.

So, no feeds in from sources you choose, no communal rating or ranking of content. You can choose blogs - but only if they are BBC ones. And that's why it's nothing like Netvibes or iGoogle.

The Beeb has to wake up to aggregation and lose its addiction to its own content. For a born-digital generation, this just ain't going to be good enough.

3 comments:

  1. Hi DC

    I posted something too and was perhaps a little more optimistic

    http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2007/12/personal-curate.html

    But I like the idea that as Tomi says, sharing information is power - or as someone else said to gain control you have to give up control.

    So your point is valid. But its still all baby steps as only we know so well

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  2. Thanks for posting Alan. Curation is a valuable card for media brands to play. I just think curating from among your own content is a cheap trick.

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  3. Sorry chaps but I don't quite get your point. Why shouldn't the BBC promote its own content? Would you expect Guardian Unlimited to promote The Times by liberally quoting from the competition? I don't see why on earth the BBC, or any other branded provider should do anything other than promote their own wonderfulness. If you want iGoogle or Netvibes, well, you know where to find them. If you go to the BBC's site - then you know what you're going to get.

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