Fanpop.

Here’s another site I find interesting: Fanpop. It’s a Web 2.0 social news / bookmarking type site; although that description doesn’t fully do it justice. Fanpop is a bit difficult to categorize since it does several things well.

One way to look at Fanpop is “digg for fans.” The site is made up of many “spots,” each basically a mini-site just for that one subject. So there are spots for all kinds of things you might be into, from television shows and movies, to concepts like Web 2.0, blogging, or real estate.

Within each spot are different ways of digesting media centered around that subject. You get links (hence the social bookmarking aspect), but also headlines (links to articles culled from what I presume to be RSS feeds), a forum, and a “soapbox” which might be seen as a blog functionality. Anyhow, the concept might be coming clearer to you. The best way to understand it is to just check it out for yourself.

Fanpop is very “sticky.” I usually pop in there (no pun intended) once a week or so, usually only intending to spend a little while, but I always find myself browsing through several of the “spots” I’m associated with (Cats, Gilmore Girls, Battlestar Galactica, Apple, WordPress, etc.), and enjoying every minute of it.

In addition to the concept, this is also a testament to the user-friendly design, which once you get used to, makes it pretty easy to jump from spot to spot. Because all these disparate subjects are unified on one site with a common interface, there is potential for a lot of synergy and cross-pollination. A fan of the blogging spot might easily find their way to, and join the WordPress or Web 2.0 spots (maybe someday we’ll see a “fan battle” between the Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica spots).

Second, there is much potential for mass appeal. Pretty much everybody is a fan of something, if not several things (unless you just hate everything, but then you might join the arrogant bastard or the cynical luddite spot).

Lastly, it’s a very different experience than Digg or Reddit, mostly because unfortunately there aren’t a huge number of users. Hopefully, this will change as the site catches on (it only launched this year). But right now it’s a great foundation, and I hope you’ll find it interesting as well.

Disclosure: One of the folks who works at Fanpop is Dave Papandrew, a good friend of mine from childhood.

 Please subscribe to the Webomatica RSS Feed!

Categories: General, Interesting, Technology :: Tags: :: Trackback URL
Previous Post: Zune: Bad First Impressions
Next Post: Gilmore Girls: French Twist
Related Posts: Flash Project: Fanpop Widget :: Webomatica March Update :: Interesting: iPhone App: Wurdle :: Interesting: Scribd ::