Newsvine.

Wow, I just spent some time playing around in Newsvine, and I’m wondering: why did I wait so long to sign up?

I’ve always had an idea in the back of my head to create a personal newspaper and I think Newsvine might be the place to do it. They’ve redesigned many aspects of the site, most notably their front page, which is now customizable with modules, containing either Newsvine content or RSS feeds from anywhere.

All throughout the site, there’s a consistency and polish that left me impressed. Green and gray are comforting colors, modules are drag and drop, and there are subtle, expert touches everywhere, even down to a tiny animated Newsvine logo as a progress indicator.

That said, there’s no way I’ll add all my Google Reader feeds to Newsvine – I have far too many and the result would be unwieldy in the more graphic Newsvine interface – but I’m already offloading all my “news” feeds from mainstream media to Newsvine, reserving Google Reader for blogs.

In addition to checking out feeds, you can also set up your own “column” where you can write your own content (basically a blog). There are also groups where people can submit articles they find interesting in regards to a niche subject.

But I must give big kudos to the first few pages which sucked me in. This Welcome page really worked for me. I was thinking the exact thought, do I have time to sign up right now? But it’s advertised as the “60 second demo.” The animation is subtle, and the four really huge graphics change on rollover, tempting me to click. After the click, there are four reasons why you should sign up. I didn’t read it all, but I got the gist of what they consider the main features of the site (reading news, you’re in control, seeding stories, writing your own content). Four is a digestible number.

I also checked out this page on adding the Seeding Newsvine button to your browser bar. Again, note that the button says “ten-second demo” and the entire area is click-able (no control bar). It’s a video that demonstrates dragging the Seed Newsvine button to the toolbar. This might seem so simple it’s useless to many tech-saavy folks, but I found it helpful, because I then knew what the draggable button looked like.

In both instances, I was sold by the emphasis on the short commitment time. It’s a subconscious thing, but before singing up for any new service, I’m already estimating how long it will take, usually based (perhaps unfairly) on the “professionalism” of the site. Will I have to check my email and click a link? Will their form require tons of obscure information that will take a long time to fill out? Will they slap me with ads every step of the way? So the assurances from Newsvine promised brevity, an acknowledgment of my reluctance, and delivered, so I took the leap and registered.

This is definitely an instance where the design really adds a level of polish, and gives Newsvine a way to stand out in an increasingly crowded field. At this stage of the Web 2.0 game, any site that makes me question Google Reader, albeit slightly, is worth investigating further.

Additional Reading: PronetAdvertising, TechCrunch

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