Five Websites to Avoid
posted in Funny, Product Review |Time Magazine just did a piece on the Five Websites to Avoid. So, I’ll sum up the websites and their reasonings:
1. eHarmony.com - Since I’m happily married, you can imagine that this is not a site I have ever visited. But, what I’ve heard about the site is that they have a scientific way of matching up couples. Interesting…. Here’s what Time Magazine says:
Our main beef with this online dating site is its power to cause utter despair. eHarmony claims its more “scientific” approach to matchmaking differentiates it from competitors — its users complete extensive personality questionnaires, in order to connect them to others based on compatibility.
Can you imagine if you filled out the survey and it matched you up with NO ONE??
2. Evite.com - I can relate to this because I have received many invitations from evite - I’m not a fan - maybe because I’m just a little old fashioned? I still like to receive an invitation via snail mail. Time Magazine actually likes evite.com saying:
We’re only mad at Evite because we need it so much, and we know it could be so much better. The site, in short, is crying out for an overhaul. With more and more sites emphasizing flexibility and user control over content, Evite’s fill-in-the-blanks approach feels clumsy and dated.
3. Meez.com - OK - I’ve never heard of this site so I quickly visited the website and it had 3 steps: 1. Create a digital persona, 2. Animate with one click and 3. Export to web profiles, blogs and more. Interesting! I’ve participated in something like this but it created a very small graphic of “me” that I could then use on a bulletin board I participate in. I have a feeling Meez.com is more for kids? Here is what Time Magazine had to say about Meez.com:
We understand that digital signatures have a practical use, particularly when they provide the kind of info you’d see on a business card. And we don’t doubt that, for some people, a U2 lyric can express how they feel better than they could. But the 3-D animations and other digital doodads created with the help of Meez and other sites of its ilk — Blingee, Iconator — are just plain annoying. They also clog the recipient’s inbox with unnecessary bits.
4. Myspace.com - If you haven’t heard of myspace.com, then you MUST live under a rock! It’s a popular place and has been for awhile - especially for kids. But the joke I’ve heard about myspace lately with kids is that they left myspace for another site (not sure where?) because there were too many adults hanging out at myspace!!! Here is what Time Magazine had to say about Myspace:
It seems the community has become infested with marketers and other opportunists who create false profiles and essentially spam other users, all under the guise of “making friends.” Of course, there have always been loads of MySpace profiles of fictional characters, created to help market a movie or promote some other brand. But it’s the bait-and-switch tactics from these leeches (Want to be my friend? Buy a ring tone! Fill out this survey!) that have taken things to a whole new—and sad—level.
5. Secondlife.com - Alright - I haven’t heard of this and when I asked my geeky co-workers, they said I must live under a rock! It looks like an online reality virtual game. Looks like fun - but I really don’t have time to play games these days. Here is what Time Magazine had to say about Secondlife.com:
We’re sure that somebody out there is enjoying Second Life, but why? Visually, this vast virtual world can be quite impressive, but it’s notoriously slow to load (it runs on free software you have to download) and difficult to navigate, even with a broadband connection. You interact in the space through an avatar, but creating and personalizing this animated representation of yourself is tedious. Movements feel clunky and there can be a terrible lag.
posted on August 29th, 2007 at 9:37 am
posted on August 29th, 2007 at 9:38 am