Dispruting the Squishy
August 18, 2012 11:25 AM Subscribe
Got the homepage blues? Rebel Mouse is here to save the day. Former Huffington Post CTO, Paul Berry, has launched what looks like a digital newspaper of your on-line social life. While the website only allows for Facebook and Twitter integration at launch, Instagram and Tumblr will be integrated.
Personalized aggregation of your content presented in way that makes it easy for others to subconsciously consume multi-dimensional social networking.
RebelMouse: Aggregating your distributed navel-gaving into a single, ever-expanding navel.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:45 AM on August 18, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 11:45 AM on August 18, 2012 [4 favorites]
subconsciously consume multi-dimensional social networking
R'thlagh F'gnthui?
Tchoo Grl'th'x F'tghan!
posted by Slackermagee at 11:49 AM on August 18, 2012 [6 favorites]
R'thlagh F'gnthui?
Tchoo Grl'th'x F'tghan!
posted by Slackermagee at 11:49 AM on August 18, 2012 [6 favorites]
nice trolling by paul carr on the homepage, too:
Seriously, if I were a VC I'd invest as much as I possibly could in RebelMouse. It's going to be huge.
at least, i hope that's trolling
posted by slater at 11:57 AM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Seriously, if I were a VC I'd invest as much as I possibly could in RebelMouse. It's going to be huge.
at least, i hope that's trolling
posted by slater at 11:57 AM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
The lengths the Internet has gone to get around the fact that a significant chunk of people just will not learn how to use an RSS feed...
posted by Ian A.T. at 11:59 AM on August 18, 2012 [13 favorites]
posted by Ian A.T. at 11:59 AM on August 18, 2012 [13 favorites]
The lengths the Internet has gone to get around the fact that a significant chunk of people just will not learn how to use an RSS feed...
Yeah. Similar to how many people won't watch a movie if it's got subtitles. For them, the movie going experience doesn't involve reading. Are they wrong? Maybe. But you can rail about it all you want -- it's the kind of fact that the folks in marketing are going to focus on.
Also, some people insist on automatic transmission.
posted by philip-random at 12:06 PM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Yeah. Similar to how many people won't watch a movie if it's got subtitles. For them, the movie going experience doesn't involve reading. Are they wrong? Maybe. But you can rail about it all you want -- it's the kind of fact that the folks in marketing are going to focus on.
Also, some people insist on automatic transmission.
posted by philip-random at 12:06 PM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Finally, a way for others to subconsciously consume multi-dimensional social networking.
Finally, a justification for the use of nuclear weapons from orbit.
posted by jaduncan at 12:19 PM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Finally, a justification for the use of nuclear weapons from orbit.
posted by jaduncan at 12:19 PM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Wow, this piece of shit really has some buzz!
posted by benzenedream at 12:19 PM on August 18, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 12:19 PM on August 18, 2012 [3 favorites]
I get a noscript warning and the page won't load
posted by parmanparman at 12:20 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by parmanparman at 12:20 PM on August 18, 2012
I actively don't want my social streams combined into one presence. Geez, can't we compartmentalize any more?
posted by Miko at 12:30 PM on August 18, 2012 [6 favorites]
posted by Miko at 12:30 PM on August 18, 2012 [6 favorites]
So it's kinda like flipboard/Currents, but other people can come along and look over your virtual shoulder, so to speak, and see what you're reading?
posted by notyou at 12:33 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by notyou at 12:33 PM on August 18, 2012
In the longer run, Rebel Mouse hopes to monetize organically by providing businesses an e-commerce platform, allowing people such as photographers and fashion designers to sell their wares in a dynamic, visual way. Another form of monetization they plan on is sponsored content.
Is 'sponsored content' another name for the kind of advertisement that tries to trick people into thinking it's legitimate editorial material? I guess that's where the 'digital newspaper' part comes in.
posted by box at 12:43 PM on August 18, 2012 [2 favorites]
Is 'sponsored content' another name for the kind of advertisement that tries to trick people into thinking it's legitimate editorial material? I guess that's where the 'digital newspaper' part comes in.
posted by box at 12:43 PM on August 18, 2012 [2 favorites]
Metafilter: It gives you the homepage blues.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 1:01 PM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by I-Write-Essays at 1:01 PM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Next week, Paul Berry invents push media2.0 and his head explodes.
posted by Spatch at 1:02 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by Spatch at 1:02 PM on August 18, 2012
subconsciously consume multi-dimensional social networking
NOT ENOUGH
Unknowingly devour depth fellowship connectivity!
Unthinkingly eat volumertic friendly associations!!
NONMINDFULLY ASSIMILATE TRANSPLANAR COMMUNITY AMALGAMATIONS!!!!
posted by JHarris at 1:08 PM on August 18, 2012 [15 favorites]
NOT ENOUGH
Unknowingly devour depth fellowship connectivity!
Unthinkingly eat volumertic friendly associations!!
NONMINDFULLY ASSIMILATE TRANSPLANAR COMMUNITY AMALGAMATIONS!!!!
posted by JHarris at 1:08 PM on August 18, 2012 [15 favorites]
Nice, the first link redirects to:
https:///?nojs=1
And I get the following error message:
The address isn't valid
The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded.
Web addresses are usually written like
http://www.example.com/
Make sure that you're using forward slashes (i.e. /).
Probably because I use NoScript. This is one reason why I use use NoScript.
posted by Xoebe at 1:28 PM on August 18, 2012
https:///?nojs=1
And I get the following error message:
The address isn't valid
The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded.
Web addresses are usually written like
http://www.example.com/
Make sure that you're using forward slashes (i.e. /).
Probably because I use NoScript. This is one reason why I use use NoScript.
posted by Xoebe at 1:28 PM on August 18, 2012
So...is this like Friendfeed? I can't really tell.
posted by unknowncommand at 1:29 PM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by unknowncommand at 1:29 PM on August 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
I put on the special glasses and it still wasn't any more multi-dimensional than the rest of the web... did I do it wrong?
posted by HuronBob at 1:36 PM on August 18, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by HuronBob at 1:36 PM on August 18, 2012 [3 favorites]
All right, I'm trying it (on Safari, because it chokes on NoScript). I'll see what it does if it ever lets me log in on Firefox without going sans e-protection.
posted by immlass at 1:43 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by immlass at 1:43 PM on August 18, 2012
Christ on a sisterlicking bike.
posted by ZipRibbons at 1:49 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by ZipRibbons at 1:49 PM on August 18, 2012
First thought: it needs to automagically read my Metafilter contacts instead of my Facebook contacts.
posted by immlass at 1:52 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by immlass at 1:52 PM on August 18, 2012
Insanely annoying. One of my favorite blogs turned into a RebelMouse site and I'm reading it less and less. I can see how it makes it easier for the blogger, but the result is a usability trainwreck even on a fast computer.
posted by nixt at 2:56 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by nixt at 2:56 PM on August 18, 2012
I really don't like the design (example page). It's way too busy and overwhelming; I can't decide what to read first, and I won't be able to tell where I left off when I come back. If I wanted to have all my stuff in one stream, I'd use IFTTT to hook it up to tumblr.
posted by desjardins at 2:57 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by desjardins at 2:57 PM on August 18, 2012
Metafilter: Wow, this piece of shit really has some buzz!
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 5:03 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 5:03 PM on August 18, 2012
In the longer run, Rebel Mouse hopes to monetize organically by providing businesses an e-commerce platform, allowing people such as photographers and fashion designers to sell their wares in a dynamic, visual way. Another form of monetization they plan on is sponsored content.
Hold up. Did anyone read that and wonder at the sheer volume of empty, meaningless bullshit in that sentence? Do PR flacks get paid by the word?
posted by indubitable at 5:13 PM on August 18, 2012 [4 favorites]
Hold up. Did anyone read that and wonder at the sheer volume of empty, meaningless bullshit in that sentence? Do PR flacks get paid by the word?
posted by indubitable at 5:13 PM on August 18, 2012 [4 favorites]
The lengths the Internet has gone to get around the fact that a significant chunk of people just will not learn how to use an RSS feed...
Even if they did, twitter, facebook, google+ and most of these social networks don't even offer RSS feeds anymore. (Twitter still serves RSS feeds but you have to do a URL hack to get one, there's no link to it anywhere)
So, if you want to aggregate people's feeds you need to personally write code that interacts with each site completely different API, and you need their permission to do it. And the new twitter rules for 3rd party apps limits you to 100k users, without getting some kind of special dispensation from or something.
It's just more and more of the web getting locked down behind closed doors, and pretty obnoxious.
posted by delmoi at 7:00 PM on August 18, 2012 [2 favorites]
Even if they did, twitter, facebook, google+ and most of these social networks don't even offer RSS feeds anymore. (Twitter still serves RSS feeds but you have to do a URL hack to get one, there's no link to it anywhere)
So, if you want to aggregate people's feeds you need to personally write code that interacts with each site completely different API, and you need their permission to do it. And the new twitter rules for 3rd party apps limits you to 100k users, without getting some kind of special dispensation from or something.
It's just more and more of the web getting locked down behind closed doors, and pretty obnoxious.
posted by delmoi at 7:00 PM on August 18, 2012 [2 favorites]
Also, nothing reblemouse is doing is even remotely new: friendfeed did the same thing years ago.
posted by delmoi at 7:03 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by delmoi at 7:03 PM on August 18, 2012
Betcha they'll apply for patents on it anyway, though.
posted by hattifattener at 10:49 PM on August 18, 2012
posted by hattifattener at 10:49 PM on August 18, 2012
OK, I tried it and I'm not a fan and they are making me a bit grumpy. We had a little exchange about this on Twitter.
I joined, authenticating with Twitter. It promptly emailed the Rebel Mouse members who follow me on Twitter, informing them I'd joined. I found out about this because people started tweeting me to ask wtf was I spamming them.
The issue is that when you join, in your Dashboard you have an email settings tab, and one of the settings is "Notify me when a friend joins." It is both buried and ticked by default. So I join, and you get email. When joining, I am neither notified that is going to happen nor am I able to stop it from happening. I consider that to be a serious breech of my privacy.
Additionally, the mail you get to say I've joined has no instructions on how to stop getting those notifications. I consider that to be a serious breech of stupid.
So anyway, here is my Launch Scorecard for Rebel Mouse:
Actually responding to Tweets: +1
On a weekend: +1
Buried opt-out spam settings: -1
Serious privacy issue: -1
Thinking you have the credibility of Twitter or Facebook when what you have is the former HuffPo CTO and a really stupid name: -1
Convincing media outlets you're the next big thing when what you are is a self-aggregating Paper.li: +1
Launching anything with the Twitter API the same week Twitter announces they're about to fuck 98% of the developers using their API: -1
posted by DarlingBri at 1:37 AM on August 19, 2012 [2 favorites]
I joined, authenticating with Twitter. It promptly emailed the Rebel Mouse members who follow me on Twitter, informing them I'd joined. I found out about this because people started tweeting me to ask wtf was I spamming them.
The issue is that when you join, in your Dashboard you have an email settings tab, and one of the settings is "Notify me when a friend joins." It is both buried and ticked by default. So I join, and you get email. When joining, I am neither notified that is going to happen nor am I able to stop it from happening. I consider that to be a serious breech of my privacy.
Additionally, the mail you get to say I've joined has no instructions on how to stop getting those notifications. I consider that to be a serious breech of stupid.
So anyway, here is my Launch Scorecard for Rebel Mouse:
Actually responding to Tweets: +1
On a weekend: +1
Buried opt-out spam settings: -1
Serious privacy issue: -1
Thinking you have the credibility of Twitter or Facebook when what you have is the former HuffPo CTO and a really stupid name: -1
Convincing media outlets you're the next big thing when what you are is a self-aggregating Paper.li: +1
Launching anything with the Twitter API the same week Twitter announces they're about to fuck 98% of the developers using their API: -1
posted by DarlingBri at 1:37 AM on August 19, 2012 [2 favorites]
Update: apparently they've suspended this troublesome privacy practice temporarily. I'm hoping this is a legit re-evaluation of a bad practice.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:35 AM on August 19, 2012
posted by DarlingBri at 11:35 AM on August 19, 2012
Even if they did, twitter, facebook, google+ and most of these social networks don't even offer RSS feeds anymore. (Twitter still serves RSS feeds but you have to do a URL hack to get one, there's no link to it anywhere)
I still have 200+ feeds in Google Reader. That's my primary method of keeping up with websites. Twitter and Facebook can go to hell.
posted by JHarris at 12:14 PM on August 19, 2012
I still have 200+ feeds in Google Reader. That's my primary method of keeping up with websites. Twitter and Facebook can go to hell.
posted by JHarris at 12:14 PM on August 19, 2012
“When I was chief tech officer at Huffington Post, people would constantly come to me asking me how to build a homepage,” Berry said. The only answer he had to give is that it was really hard. He knew, however, that it should be something that was easy to do.
I think something went horribly wrong in the journey from Problem to Solution.
posted by vidur at 1:12 PM on August 19, 2012
I think something went horribly wrong in the journey from Problem to Solution.
posted by vidur at 1:12 PM on August 19, 2012
“When I was chief tech officer at Huffington Post, people would constantly come to me asking me how to build a homepage,” Berry said. The only answer he had to give is that it was really hard. He knew, however, that it should be something that was easy to do.
I think something went horribly wrong in the journey from Problem to Solution.
To be fair, we're talking about a "CTO" who used MoveableType to run a major online newspaper.
posted by rulethirty at 7:16 AM on August 20, 2012
I think something went horribly wrong in the journey from Problem to Solution.
To be fair, we're talking about a "CTO" who used MoveableType to run a major online newspaper.
posted by rulethirty at 7:16 AM on August 20, 2012
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posted by box at 11:30 AM on August 18, 2012 [15 favorites]