Ten more navigators makes 20 (or "Proving Benkler wrong one day at a time...")

OK, that's a hyperbolic title, but it's become clear in a very short period of time that hiring the top bookmarkers is a not a good idea--it's a great idea! Benkler is much smarter than I am, no one is gonna debate that, but when it comes to building a business I wouldn't bet on the academics over the kid from Brooklyn. :-)

Voting, comments, and a number of other factors have doubled (or tripled) over the past two weeks at Netscape since we hired our first 10 Navigators. These folks are doing an AMAZING job of not only putting in good stories, but they are building the community by *teaching* and *showing* folks how to be good citizens on a social bookmarking site. That is really what this is about, training folks on how to be members of the community and truth be told I've learned a lot from the Navigators and Benkler on that subject--it is the key.

As a result of the success I'm thrilled to announce we are hiring 10 more Navigators. We've filled five of these ten positions so far, so we have 15 or 20 slots filled. You'll know many of the names:

Muhammad, aka #9 msaleem from Digg
Digg profile | Netscape profile
Ryan, aka #10 capn-caveman from Digg
Digg profile | Netscape profile
Roy, aka schestowitz from Digg
Digg profile | Netscape profile
Kam, aka _kam0_ #2 from Redditt & from Delicious
Reddit profile | Netscape profile | Delicious profile
Tim Loftis, who has submitted over 1000 posts and counting to Netscape--and is our #1 Member!!!
Netscape Profile

I'm most proud of that last one. Tim Loftis is our #1 user and he has been a social bookmarking machine having submitted over 1,000 stories in under two months. My plan was to wait for 3-6 months to see which users were really performing, but it's clear Tim is a star and we wanted to recognize that (please join me in congratulating him!).

At this point we're looking for folks outside of the technology space, and if you want to try and land one of these slots the best way to impress us is by participating at Netscape. We're going to try and hire a person a week for the next couple of weeks.

We are looking for folks to take on channels like:

Real Estate
Autos
Love & Personals
Religion
Careers & Jobs
Shopping
Do No Evil
Music
Family
Pets
Gay & Lesbian

NOTE: This whole "paying folks to bookmark" thing is an experiment. We could cancel the program at any time for any reason. We might expand it at any time--who the heck knows, it's an experiment! We're not gonna hire everyone, in fact we are going to hire very few folks--it's an experiment. We can't guarantee anything--this is an experiment (did I mention this is an experiment?). In order to be considered send your user account information to CK (at) weblogsinc.com (i.e. your newsvine, reddit, delicious, digg, netscape accounts), and be a productive member of the community. We want to hire from the community as much as possible... but this is an experiment and we reserve the right to cancel the program at any time for any reason. (yes, the legal department wants me to be very clear about things if you have not noticed. :-)

Aug 16th 2006 1:41AM
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1. You wrote a blog entry a little while back stating that Squidoo and Newsvine made you 'feel icky' by compensating their users for inviting friends, yet now you're breaking your arm patting yourself on the back for poaching a few top users from your competitors by paying them to leave the sites they enjoyed, in an attempt to make your own service better (instead of attracting people based solely on the merits of providing a good service).

So, let me get this straight, I invite my friend to a service I like and in doing so I stand to make a few bucks if they enjoy it too = icky. You bribe specific users to jump start AOL's newest initiative, simultaneously trying to cause the maximum loss/damage to the startup companies you poached them from = win for everyone!

Your doublespeak and unethical business practices make me feel icky.

Ref: http://www.calacanis.com/2006/03/31/squidoo-joins-newsvine-in-the-mlm-social-news-model/

Posted at 3:44PM on Aug 16th 2006 by Eric M.

2. Just out of random curiosity, what's the "Do No Evil" category about?

Posted at 6:29PM on Aug 16th 2006 by Siobhan

3. Sibhan - Good question. I asked the same thing a while back and C.K. answered it for me.

http://donoevil.netscape.com/story/2006/07/11/what-is-do-no-evil-category-all-about/

//// Start Quote
Netscape Anchor Commentary Anchor
C.K.: The concept behind the Do No Evil channel is dual in nature: It's a place to applaud good deeds and those who do good in the world as well as a place to point out bad behavior and those who mistreat their fellow humans and the world around them. So basically, it's a place for praise and for shame.
///// End Quote

Posted at 6:45PM on Aug 16th 2006 by Joseph Manna

4. but they are building the community by *teaching* and *showing* folks how to be good citizens on a social bookmarking site."
here aremore comments from this great site:
blanca:
avatar

Yessum, get your bible, and if there's a nig-ur around, even in the mirror, watch the f--- out. Statistically, you're in trouble. I notice you didn't even try to contradict a thing I said. How can you, it's all factual.

Here's all there is to "blacks":

Let's f--- this s---,

Let's kill this s---,

Let's smoke this s---,

Gimme muh free s---, Whitey.

To see more in the negro than is actually there is misapplied imagination. No one likes nig-urs, not even other nig-urs, which is why you move to white areas ASAP. The idea that whites could be living somewhere, anywhere, in peace, unspoiled, unmolested by nig-urs, is irreconciliable to you.

Jesus was a nig-ur, he'll help you.
yes this makes netscape sych a social site i want to puke
thanks for the good work

Posted at 8:22PM on Aug 16th 2006 by worker

5. The Tim Loftis hiring is by far your best one, great business decision Jason and rewarding those loyal to Netscape can only encourage others to participate as well.

Posted at 9:05PM on Aug 16th 2006 by Duncan

6. Hopefully this hasn't all ready been mentioned ... but isn't hiring people to do bookmarking exactly what Yahoo and LookSmart were doing in 1999-2000? I remember going into LookSmart's HQ in San Francisco where they had entire _floors_ of people 'processing bookmarks'. I know... your model is a very Web 2.0 alternative that is hopefully more sensible. But why are people complaining on ethical grounds? I don't remember the complaints about LookSmart filling up a building or two.

Posted at 11:24PM on Aug 16th 2006 by Andrew

7. Congrats jason, the expirement seems to be going well till now.
I hope you take your time before judging the expirement, digg took more than a year to earn the proper recognition.

Posted at 11:30PM on Aug 16th 2006 by Baher Al Hakim

8. Okay guys, while we are on the topic of hiring and paying social bookmarkers I have one question/comment that I just don't get. I don't get why you are stealing/hiring/bribing members from other well established sites to come to yours. I mean, why don't you just pay your own members that are posting well such as Tim Loftis. No problem with that but the whole fact that you are essentially bribing users from other sites to come to your site instead is almost just plain unfair. Jason, are you that unsure of your site? I mean, shouldn't they come to your site because they like the users/content/look and feel and not because they are getting paid to. I just want you to respond and explain to me how you don't see what you are doing as almost desperate. Or anyone, someone who knows netscape, respond to this comment and explain to me how it doesn't seem wrong to essentially bribe other members from sites to come to your site.

Posted at 11:32AM on Aug 17th 2006 by Kevin Poirier

9. I think this is a bad idea. As you said, there is plenty of room for social bookmarking sites, but netscape has to find its own niche. By paying bookmarkers from Digg, the result will be two sites with very similar content. That is fine, but then you will be taking on Digg head on, rather than providing a different site for a different market segment. Instead, you should identify people on netscape that bring uniqueness to the netscape brand. Just my 2cents.

Cheers

Posted at 12:57PM on Aug 22nd 2006 by nick

10. The market will bear this out, but the Digg model seems to be quite successful.

Posted at 4:44AM on Jun 30th 2007 by New York Web Designer

11. Barbie Up Games is a Fun Fashion Barbie Dress Up Game

Posted at 10:29AM on Dec 11th 2007 by frank bennett

12. http://www.squidoo.com/barbieupgames

Posted at 10:30AM on Dec 11th 2007 by frank bennett

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