Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hey everyone.
I`m hoping I can get some StartUp Nationals to review our new website. It`s a concept called "politmus." The idea developed out of some conversations about politics and the wisdom of crowds. I currently work in a pretty politically charged environment. A lot of lefties. I have a lot of friends, also, who are righties. All of them complain that it`s hard to get the unbiased truth from the media.
We`re hoping Politmus can help by allowing people a chance to register their opinions on media bias, combine these opinions with a community rating, and then serve as a "guide" as they explore new websites.

Check it out, and let me know what you think. www.politmus.com

The site is in, I guess you would call it, pre-beta mode, but we hope to use your comments to evolve this community concept as far as we can take it.

The Swaynester

Interesting concept, but wouldn`t people already know that a site has a conservative or progressive bias?

The home page looks pretty good, however, I don`t like the way it behaves when you click on links at all. It resizes your browser and opens a new window, IMO both are big no, no`s unless approved by the browser (me) if you have to open a new window let me know in advance "clicking here will open a new window" and don`t resize my browser I most likely have other tabs with other sites on them. If you don`t allow ActiveX (and I don`t) it does not render properly.

regarding whether people would already know a site`s policical bent, i believe this is not only about what people know but about what people want to EXPRESS.

anything political is charged with "opinion" and i LOVE this concept. i think people will jump all over it.  

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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

Thanks for the comments!

As far as progressive or conservative, I have friends on both sides who claim the same site is both skewed right... or skewed left, depending on their affiliation... and also the amount of coffee and/or beer they`ve injested.

Very interesting concept, I mean we all know that FOX is so for gone that anyone who watches it, is only really trying to see if something got blown up today...it has no true journalistic value.

However I like the idea of rating all the media, something to hopefully keep them in check….however if the media is smart they will us your website to learn more and more about the public and how to bs us even more.

My question is how do you plan to make money from this site, I didn’t see any advertising? And I’m sure you are not charging a fee to be a member.



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Erik
www.usspin.com
www.unitedbusinessalliance.com

The model right now is to use Google adsense. This should be set up in a few days.
We`d like to move it to an advertising model and explore some affiliate opportunities, as well.

Another feature we`re planning... in fact, our developer may have already included it... will allow you to rate individual stories or blog posts--which will then aggregate to influence the overall site rating.

Interesting concept Swayne, my biggest issue is with the performance of the site - new windows, resized windows, funky windows - I exclusively use FF, so maybe this isn`t an issue in IE, but I`d work on shifting the functionality so that I can remain in one screen and take the actions you want me to take (didn`t seem like there was anything that couldn`t be accomplished without the new & resized windows).

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chuck fuller

I appreciate all the feedback. This is really good stuff. And, we alrady have some ideas how to make this more user friendly.
The funny thing... I checked Google Analytics and was expecting hits from around the country... but people have visited from all over the world! Europe.. South America... Now, that`s reach.
Should Startup Nation be renamed Startup International?

The Swaynester

I was very excited about this site when I first saw it.  The window resizing (and having to manually close the `rated site` window) is a bit annoying.  However, the biggest thing I noticed was that when I rated several sites, there were a few times when my rating didn`t record accurately as it would be way off from what I voted. 

If these things are fixed, then I would definitely use this site very often.  I like the concept and will be sharing the site with my friends.

Good Luck Politmus!