Link Love

—– Original Message —-
From: “X@gmail.com” <X@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 5:03:49 AM
Subject: Sphere Feedback - kudos

I want to say a HUGE thank you to you.

I am the owner of the blog X.wordpress.com. To say I was absolutely AMAZED when I saw that I was a related blog to an article in the Wall Street Journal would be an understatement. I was COMPLETELY FLOORED that you guys did that for my business blog. If I said thank you a 1253 times that would just begin to scratch the surface for how incredibly grateful that I feel to you. You guys are the BEST. Please keep up the GREAT work that you do.

Sincerely

Tom

 

*Hat tip to Wanky Comics for the Link Love graphic

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NYT’Sphere Link Love

We get notes from bloggers every day about links they discover from major media sites like NYT, WSJ, TIME, AOL, CBS, etc. This morning I found an email and this blog post on Sphere Related Content from Marissa Monera, the author of female-gamer.com. I thought she really captured the spirit of our mission, to connect a broader group of Internet readers to great blogs.

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Look Mom, the ‘Sphere is Connected

Just saw this post by Matthew Sherborne who does a nice job sharing his thoughts on how Sphere can connect mainstream Internet readers to conversational media sites. Our goal is to create a great user experience on partner sites (by connecting them to the larger conversation happening around a topic) and to play a role in broadening the reach of conversational media sites like Matthew’s to a more mainstream Internet reader who may not be as familiar with blogs. Thanks Matthew for your kind post.

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spherons!

One of the best signs that we’re gaining traction with our approach to finding high quality content is the amount of feedback we get everyday, lots and lots. People email us to tell us how they use the site, what works, what doesn’t and what they’d like to see added. They share with us blogs, photos and podcasts they feel should be featured. Sometimes it’s just to say “kudos” - :). Today we got a new nickname (Spherons) along with some very nice comments from the good folks at Ookles (started by well respected entrepreneur Scott Johnson). Scott founded Feedster and really knows the space.

 

“Hi there, Spherons (if this sticks, I get the credit. Thanks.)

I’m skeptical of the Web 2.0 hype and tire quickly of the “vie en rose” attitude expressed in company blogs and, individually, the very pretend altruistic righteousness of the Valley Crowd (it’s still about getting R I C H). They’re losers. But I like Sphere, which I was skeptical of at first. I find myself using it a lot. Technorati is a bloody mess. Unreadable. Headache to look at. Google blog search is okay, but I find they are not so great with ranking results — especially by date/time and by relevance. I think whoever else does this sucks, because I don’t really use anything else and don’t care to. Blogs are the best way to mine for opinion. Anyways, regarding Sphere. Sphere has a clean and simple interface. Somehow Sphere returns timely and relevant results — from even the most obscure blogs. I’ve tested! So good work. It’s annoying that the default search time range is too small.”

Since launch, we’ve made tiny adjustments here and there, all driven by feedback. Hearing your thoughts is the best part of the day. And getting a new nickname is a bonus. Scott, you officially get the credit! And, we’re working on the date range, looking to make it more interactive.

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