AOL is dropping the social news component of Netscape.com, after finding its visitors wanted a more “traditional news experience”.

Visitors have been able to submit news stories to Netscape.com, which other visitors then voted on. While the service found a modest following, it never really made an impact against market leader Digg. 

“We received some feedback that people really do associate the Netscape brand with providing mainstream news that is editorially controlled,” said director Tom Drapeau.

“In fact, we specifically heard that our users do have a desire for a social news experience, but simply didn’t expect to find it on Netscape.com.”

Drapeau said that Netscape wasn’t giving up on social news, and that the existing social news service would be available at another URL soon.

“We, as a company, remain committed to delivering a compelling social news experience for our users,” he said. 

“This move is an effort to make both the former portal experience and the social news experience accessible so that you can decide which you prefer–or, even better, that you want to participate in both …. The ability to post, comment, rate and share the news that’s most relevant to you is as important to us as it is to you.”

AOL’s announcement is a classic example of “saving face”. Sure it might be moving the social news aggregator to another site, but the reality is that it’s moving it away from it’s Netscape.com URL, which is basically giving it the kiss of death. If the Netscape social news service didn’t work at Netscape.com, it sure as hell won’t work at a new less known URL.

Given Digg’s domination of the social news aggregation market, and the multitude of Digg clones out there, it was always going to be hard for a Netscape.com social news site to build a significant following. It looks as though AOL has finally realized this.

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Entry was posted on Friday, September 7th, 2007 at 1:14 pm under Internet.

Read more entries by John Pospisil.
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