Review: Rummble - taking buzzword tedium one step further
Rummble uses the slogan "network your experiences" and I'm not entirely sure what that means. It describes itself as "like a personalised travel guide written for you by your friends, and all their friends!"
"Rather than find out EVERYTHING that’s nearby, we tell you whats nearby you’ll actually like! … plus best of breed social networking functionality you’d expect, like news feeds, photos and all that stuff. It’s global and its mobile. You can share the good things in life with your friends."
However, I instantly took a disliking to Rummble when I read "We call it a Web 3.0 social network for the Web 2.0 generation"
Web2.0 is a buzzword that marketing types love to throw around without any real understanding of what it really means. At best it's a very loose generalisation of modern websites and the trends they set (user generated content).
However the term "web2.0" is normally typified by the stereotypical aesthetics set down by the market leaders. We're talking about:
- Gradients
- Reflections
- Javascript to make items move and animate
- AJAX
Web2.0 isn't properly defined, nor has it run it's course and already people are trying to claim they're web3.0? Well, that would be acceptable if they weren't doing it IDENTICALLY to a stereotypical web2.0 site. Rummble is guilty of this in the biggest way.
Look at the logo, not only is there a gradient within the text but it has a reflection too - two iconic things for a clichéd web2.0 site.
The icons on the top right of the page don't do anything yet they look like they should. I imagine they become active once you have logged in but they too have reflections underneath - yet more web2.0ish style.
Constructive criticism from a webdev
The bottom image (the grunge-style floral retro graphic thing) is cut off by the bottom of the page - which isn't very good. They've used tables to layout forms (they should probably read about prettier, accessible forms). I'm also not a big fan of directly linking the "Contact Us" link to a "mailto:email@email.com" because it makes life very difficult for users who don't have an email client installed (like Outlook or Thunderbird). This is why I'll always favour using a "mailto:" link with the link-text being the email address you need to contact. Either that or spend 10 minutes building a "Contact Us" form that emails you their comments.
This isn't 2001, I don't want you to tell me what my IP is
On their homepage it gives you the polite reminder of what your IP is. Unfortunately it isn't 2001 and I don't care about this. I'm fully aware you can determine my IP, you can also tell me what browser I'm using and what the time is but I really don't care. This information is not relevant to my user experience. Infact I know plenty of people who would be completely confused by this information, or at least feel a little like they're about to get hacked.
I don't have a login to Rummble because I'm sitting on their waiting list for an invite. I'm not itchy to have one though. It looks to hold little more interest than Twitter; a gimmick that won't stand the test of time on the Internet. Rummble could have had a much nicer review had they steered clear of pretentious marketing hype-words. Anyone who claims to be "web3.0" deserves some constructive abuse and that's what Rummble have received.
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Unfortunately this "review" was written on a day where buzzwords were really narking me beyond normal levels - so I’m not sure I as professional/balanced as I should have been.
It’s good that you can justify the things you’ve done - I too have been guilty of experimenting with reflected logos for the sake of satire.
Could you drop me an email (view the contact page for the address), I’d quite like to have a wander around the system and maybe give it a more balanced (read useful) review.
Thanks for getting in touch,
Steve.
Thanks for your comments. I’m sorry you feel I’m an idiot; slinging insults never got me very far in business, but maybe I can take a moment to address your concerns.
I’m not a huge fan of the Web 2.0 mantra myself, especially as it has been applied to such a broad spectrum of products, technologies, implementations and indeed beliefs. However, as I’ve noted in the past, there are some benefits to these evolving if rather wishy-washy terms.
The internet produces a vast array of diverse products and technologies – but they do tend to move like a disjointed dinosaur in a general direction. The Web 2.0 and even Web 3.0 terms, are a way to signpost the change in approach and thinking of these ever changing – and hopefully improving – applications. Here’s an interesting overview of how its generally accepted this process is occurring: (image half way down) http://23musings.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
With respect to Rummble specifically:
Logo - My designer and I had a good laugh about adding the reflection to our logo; it’s a tongue-in-cheek homage to the Web 2.0 Logo Maker: http://h-master.net/web2.0/index.php
Table form – We’re a small team and as it’s only a temporary homepage, unadvertised; we conceded CSS forms are of course cleaner, however as a web developer I’m sure you understand the pressures of time and focusing on course product sometimes, not the window dressing.
Footer logo - the swirly logo is fine on my IE6, FF1.5+ and FF2.0. Which browser are you using?
IP – You’re a web developer so you are fully aware of technology, many others are not. I agree it probably needs a title tag to explain why we’re saying this. Security is always an issue on the net, every little helps to assure people we take their privacy seriously and that we have some idea who is using our site. I’ve had non-techie friends say, albeit naively “its good you’re recording which IP people are logging in from incase you get weirdo’s using the site”. In the past it has helped us track the location of DOS attacks – especially when they are executed by amateurs.
Hype and buzzwords – The wikipedia entries are probably best to explain the accepted meaning of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 . I’ve put links here;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
I hope that covers why we feel confident suggesting that we’re aiming to deliver user content in a more meaningful, intelligent and context sensitive way than the average content or review site; and across multiple access channels.
Lastly, I notice you’re local to us. If you’d like to pop in to the office and have a chat, its always good to have feedback on our platform.
Best regards
Andrew
Founder/CEO Rummble.
11th October 2007
PS> By the way, at time of writing I think you’re missing an “a” in colleague at the top of your post.
well put. as far as i am concerned people who fling about these phrases without any real knowledge of what they mean, as well as saying things like "network your experiences" deserve more then abuse tho