Plaxo is launching a new social network, dubbed “Pulse,” and it should offer a number of interesting features; indeed, a couple of them will address flaws in Facebook’s setup. Yet despite this – and the preliminary support of several notable figures – many onlookers doubt that Pulse can do well.
After all, Facebook has been all the rage for – how long now? months? years? depends on the audience, I suppose – and it still hasn’t caught up with MySpace. According to a new comScore study, it’s not even close – in June of this year, MySpace attracted 114 million visitors, while Facebook received less than half that at 52 million.
Furthermore, Plaxo’s reputation isn’t exactly sterling – “Plaxo: Now With Less Evil” (an article by Michael Arrington) is within the top ten Google results for the company’s name.
Arrington’s willing to give Pulse a chance, though, and so is Robert Scoble. Scoble’s created a rather detailed write-up of network’s merits, and notes, among other things, that Pulse is supposed to let users “control which groups of friends (or family) that can see certain items” – an option that’s been badly missed at Facebook and the rest.
“[O]n Monday,” Scoble continues, “I’ll try out the new Plaxo. . . . The problem, though, is that even if I get really excited about it my email is demonstrating that many of the world won’t be listening and won’t care.” If you happen to feel differently, VentureBeat’s Eric Eldon has further coverage and several screenshots.
