SiteRapture Blog

SiteRapture Launches Twitter Tools / Twitter Applications Category

For all of the Twitter junkies out there, we have launched a Twitter Tools / Twitter Applications Category which which includes general tools, photo and video sharing tools, Twitter monetization / advertising tools, and others.  Twitter Tools / Applications allow users to perform various tasks and functionality utilizing the Twitter, micro-blogging service. Twitter tools help users fully extend the power of Twitter by offering different ways to tweet, send various types of media, create revenue streams from Twitter networks, and more.

New Site Added: BlackBird Web Browser

SiteRapture has added BlackBird, an African-American focused web browser, to the Browser Category.

BlackBird has been getting a lot of press surrounding the release of its browser and has gotten a lot of supporters and skeptics along the way (TechCrunch article) http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/08/blackbird-is-a-custom-browser-for-african-americans-built-on-top-of-mozilla/

New Category Added: Online Donation Websites / Services

SiteRapture has launched a new category, Online Donation Websites / Services.  Services within this category allow users to donate to or promote their favorite charitable causes.  We currently list 8 services including Kiva, Make the Difference Network, MicroPlace (an eBay service), Network for Good, and Social Vibe.

Press Release: SiteRapture Announces Social Networking Websites List

Internet's Most Comprehensive List of Social Networking Websites and Related-Information with over 300 Social Networks in over 40 Categories.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) April 8, 2009 -- Today, SiteRapture (http://www.siterapture.com (http://www.siterapture.com)), a vertical directory of websites and online services, announced the release of its official list of social networking websites (http://www.siterapture.com/categorymain.asp?CategoryID=1) and related information. SiteRapture offers a broad array of information related to social networking including a comprehensive listing of social networks by category and subcategory, information on the different types of networks, statistics and figures related to social networking, what to look for when selecting a service, feature definitions, and editor recommendations based on various attributes.

SiteRapture currently lists over 300 social networks in over 40 subcategories focusing on the following groups and topics: travel, high school students, college students, parents, business networking, +40 year-old adults, African-Americans, Latinos, children / teens, adult / pornography, race car fans & drivers, events and things to do, messaging, photos, models, books, art and artists, interior design, lawyers, media professionals, family, sports, cooking / wine, cars, collectors, movies, music, fashion, health, green / environmental issues, mobile phone users, shopping, gaming, life experiences and goals, social network creation, supernatural phenomena, affluent / wealthy individuals, technology products, virtual worlds, gay / lesbian, physicians / doctors, international / foreign.

"Social networking and user-generated content (UGC) continues to be the life blood of the Internet and new web-based applications." said SiteRapture Founder and CEO Michael D. Raeford, Jr. "SiteRapture aims to provide as much valuable, organized information as possible about social networking not only to educate consumers about the space, but to help navigate through the myriad of social networking websites available on the web."

According to eMarketer, there were over 94 million consumers of user-generated content in 2007 and this number is expected to grow to over 130 million in 2012. Also, ad spending on social networks is expected to top $1.6 billion by 2013. The amount of web content related to social networking is continuing to grow exponentially. For example, if a web surfer wants to find a social network and conducts a search for "social networking websites" using Google and Yahoo! search engines, 400,000 and 2.4 million search results are generated, respectively. These search results contain mainly irrelevant, inadequate information spread out across multiple sources and does not provide an efficient way to find a specific social network based on the user's needs.

"By combining research content with an organized directory structure for website listings, we hope to help navigate through the social networking clutter on the web," said Raeford.

In addition to social networking websites, SiteRapture lists over 3,000 websites and online services in over 100 categories including video sharing websites (http://www.siterapture.com/categorymain.asp?CategoryID=2), digital music websites, social bookmarking websites, and other popular and niche web categories. SiteRapture provides various types of information for each website listed including website reviews (http://www.siterapture.com), similar websites, tutorials / how-tos, and other relevant information.

To begin researching social networking websites or other categories using SiteRapture, go to http://www.siterapture.com/categorymain.asp?CategoryID=1.

SiteRapture Launches GrabStats.com, a Community-Driven Industry Statistics Directory

We are pleased to announce the launch of GrabStats.com, the Internet's first community-driven industry statistics directory.  We thought that there are lots of interesting statistics and figures out there that show where various industries and categories are going and with that thought, said why not try to amalgamate them all into one place, sort of like an almanac.  Well, here is the start.  We will be adding thousands of statistics over the next few months and hope you contribute a few of your own as GrabStats.com becomes one of the Internet's largest depositories of stats and figures. 

A copy of the GrabStats.com launch press release is below.  Enjoy and please give us some feedback on the beta service along with any bugs / issues you find.

TheBoss

SiteRapture Launches GrabStats.com Free Industry Statistics Directory

 

Free, Community-Driven Statistics Directory Helps Users Find Industry Information and Reports

 

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 25, 2009 -- Today, GrabStats.com (http://www.GrabStats.com) announced the beta launch of its’ community-driven directory which helps users find statistics related to various industries and areas of interest. The service provides data reported by credible research firms, media outlets, company reports, and surveys.  GrabStats.com currently lists over 1,000 statistics and figures covering 30 categories including social networking, the music industry, online video sharing, mobile usage, and other online and offline categories. 

GrabStats.com offers a broad array of statistics ranging from revenue figures and market share data, to usage trends and industry forecasts.  Examples of statistics include digital music revenue (2003 – 2012), number of Internet users in the US and abroad, video game industry revenue (1999 – 2007), the number of SMS text messages sent worldwide each month, and other quantitative intelligence. 

"With both digital and brick and mortar industries evolving at unprecedented speeds, it’s imperative for those evaluating these industries to have up-to-date information.” said Michael D. Raeford, Jr., Founder and CEO of GrabStats.com’s parent company, SiteRapture.  "GrabStats.com provides free industry information that helps size-up and create awareness for various industries and areas of interest. We amalgamate the data and data sources so that businesses and consumers can focus on utilizing the information."

GrabStats.com also serves as a gateway to credible, industry research reports, publications, and media that are available for free or for purchase throughout the web.  The service provides industry and category-specific information such as news and links to third-party research reports that can help provide more comprehensive, detailed information about particular statistics and figures. 

"By combing the web and extracting the relevant data, GrabStats.com reduces research time and creates an open platform for exploration of industry statistics and information," said Raeford. To encourage new information discovery, GrabStats.com provides basic social networking functionality by allowing users to bookmark stats and share them with friends and the broader community through user profile pages.  Users can also submit statistics and figures in any category which are then reviewed by GrabStats.com editors.

To begin researching industry statistics and figures using GrabStats.com, register for a free account at http://www.grabstats.com.

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About GrabStats.com

GrabStats.com (http://www.grabstats.com) is a free, community-driven directory of industry statistics and information.  The service provides quantitative data covering a broad range of both offline and online industries and other areas of interest.  GrabStats.com offers a broad array of statistics including revenue figures, market share data, usage data, industry forecasts, and other quantitative intelligence.  GrabStats.com reduces the time and effort it takes to find industry statistics and figures.  GrabStats.com is owned and operated by SiteRapture, a Los Angeles, CA based company. 

CONTACT: GrabStats.com (SiteRapture, Inc.)             

Michael D. Raeford, Jr., Founder & CEO

Phone: (323) 309-8887

Fax: (323) 927-1780

michael@grabstats.com

New Website Added: Dataopedia (owned by KillerStart-ups.com)

SiteRapture has just added a new service / website today called Dataopedia (added to our Directories Category in the Website Directories Sub-category).  Dataopedia just announced it's launch (TechCrunch article) and is a directory that helps users find information on websites including traffic data, domain whois information, contact information, etc.  It's definitely worth checking out if you are a professional and need very technical, specific info about a website / online service.  The data is very useful for technofiles and Internet professionals but not as useful for general consumers as you need to not only know what you are looking for, but have an appreciation for data that most consumers don't really care about like Whois info, Traffic Reach or PageRank.  

That said, the service is new and I am sure they will be launching a lot more in terms of features and content.   

Stay tuned for our official review after we have spent a little more time using the service. 

New Category Added: Online Back-up Services

We have just added a new Online Back-up Services Category and have BackBlaze, Carbonite, iDrive, Mozy, and SugarSync.

Online back-up services are growing in popularity and becoming the norm for most data back-up needs.

Look for reviews of these services in the coming weeks.

New Website / Service Added: CreateSpace (Musician Services)

CreateSpace provides inventory-free, physical distribution of books, CD and DVDs on Demand, as well as video downloads through Amazon Video On Demand™.  Check out the CreateSpace profile / overview here. 

New Site Added: SitorSquat - Find Good Toilets!

We have just added an interesting new site to our directory.  SitorSquat.com.  This site is a classic!  SitorSquat is one of those sites that you have to love.  The service lists bathrooms with reviews and pictures so you never have to walk into a filthy bathroom again.  They also offer iPhone and Blackberry apps for downloading the service on your phone for use as you are on the road.

The only drawback to the service at this point is that there are not a lot of listings for certain cities (New York has the most bathroom listings).  However, it seems like they are growing their bathroom listings pretty quickly so keep an eye out for your area.

This is one of those incredibly simple, yet useful sites. Thank you SitorSquat, we needed this one.  Click here for more information on SitorSquat or click here to visit the site. 

 

 

Internet Start-ups and the Economic Crisis

Stock markets crashing.  Banks going under.  People losing their jobs.  People losing their houses.  It's an environment that you would probably think only happens in a movie.  Wall street greed coupled with over zealous consumers taking on mortgages they know they can't afford.  It's a very warped and complicated issue that I have become somewhat obsessed with over the past 30 days. 

Who is to blame?  Some say Wall street, some say the government (or lack there of), and some say home buyers themselves.  It's all of the above.  Normally, this type of situation is called a correction where the prices of assets / securities come down after a period of extraordinary increase.  The thing I think we are all missing as it relates to this economic crisis is that markets are supposed to go up and down.  We are becoming a country where when the market's go down, all of a sudden it's a catastrophe.  Well the housing market should not have gone up as high as it did over such a short period of time.  Housing prices hit such high levels in certain areas that financially qualified families that would have purchased homes could not purchase them. Instead, these homes were bid up and purchased by investors and consumers that could not pay off the loans unless the housing values continued to skyrocket up. 

Now, I am not an advocate of tough love but I am an advocate of letting the markets and the economy correct as it should.  This is basic economics.  What goes up must come down.  We can't artificially hold up markets that have unjustifiable pricing built into them.  It's like trying to put a house on a foundation of thread.  The house will eventually fall because the foundation is still flawed and flimsy.  A short-term solution to a long-term problem.  WE SHOULD NOT PLAY GOD WITH ECONOMICS!    

Let those on Wall street who made bazzillions of dollars screwing over everyday citizens' money burn.  We do need some intervention and perhaps some safety nets to ensure Americans' money and retirement plans are not compromised because of these greedy, careless, pigs.  But let's let these Wall street pigs feel the pain that most of us have felt.  Fire every top executive in these failed institutions and make them give a portion of their bonuses back for what is obviously not good performance.  It's common sense that someone who drives a company into the ground should not receive multi-million dollar bonuses. 

Now on to the effects of this market meltdown on Internet start-ups.  To me it's quite clear.  The only major effect is that the fundraising environment is uncertain.  Funds will invest more in existing portfolio companies to ensure they don't go belly-up and as a consequence, will allocate less funds to new investments.  Also, if you have a business that is not generating any revenue / cash and you have planned on funding losses through lots of high valuation fundraising, go to PLAN B.  This means cost cutting and optimizing revenue and cash generation to further cut losses.  Unfortunately, in a period of fundraising uncertainty, cash is king.  For very small start-up operations, it just means continuing to be streamlined and staying lean and mean in terms of costs.  Keeping a low monthly cash burn critical.  The financial meltdown has little impact on efficient operations other than consumers spending a little less and you not being able to raise capital as soon as you may have thought you could have.  If you were prudent and baked in some tough times ahead when you originally raised funds, then you should be fine.  If not, you will have to cut costs to make sure you have enough cash to get through this crisis, which should start to turn for the better in early 2009. 

Long story short, run your business as it should be run, crisis or no crisis.  Efficient, disciplined spending with innovative product development.  Things we should all be doing all of the time.  Right?