You’ve probably heard of Wakoopa before, it is one of those names that make you think… What??? WaWhat? But afterwards you’ll remember it. It gets more tough when you have to explain what they do. Up until now Wakoopa has been a popular tool for the more technical gifted among us (formerly known as nerds) who use the service to track their software usage and to discover new software and games. Now Wakoopa broadens its audience to all web savvies by tracking web apps.
Should you buy that pro account or not?
The trend of desktop software finding web equivalents has started some years ago, and really catched on the last couple of months. The “Cloud” has become Buzzword no.1. Therefore it’s the obvious move for Wakoopa.
Let’s take a closer look at what this means. First of all, you’ll get insight in your own usage of several services. Are you as much on Twitter as you say you are? Should you buy a Flickr pro account? What is the social network you use the most? Wakoopa knows.
Transparency in the web app market
But wait, there’s more! If Wakoopa is able to get a critical mass, it will reflect the pulse of all popular and unpopular web apps. Nowadays, VC’s, journalists, and bloggers depend on the press releases of startups and crappy Alexa ratings to get an idea of how popular a service is. Wakoopa could be the ultimate resource to discover new hot web apps (and the ones that are heading straight for the deadpool).
Recommendation Engine
Furthermore, Wakoopa is working on an improved version of their recommendation engine. They’ve hired two recommendation experts to get this done. According to founder Wouter Broekhof the engine is already in the testing phase. With the new data flowing in from web apps they will be able to give personalized recommendation on the use of your software, for desktop as well as web applications.
Are they tracking porn sites as well?
A friend of mine recently admitted to only use Safari to fulfill his online adult needs. He also uses Wakoopa…, you do the math. When I heard Wakoopa started tracking web apps, I realized privacy-related issues would become even more relevant. Especially since your Wakoopa profile page shows up high in the search results. How do we know Wakoopa doesn’t track sites or web apps we rather keep private?
Well, to ease your mind: Wakoopa Lead Developer Menno van der Sman told me Wakoopa only tracks tools that are mentioned in Crunchbase, and they filtered out sites like YouPorn.
Disclosure: Wakoopa is our sponsor
I’ve been using this for 2 days and it is a huge improvement of the service. So much fun to see what you use. Now with new data coming in I expect to discover new services as well
Damn, maybe I should stop using Safari too! ;-)
Ernst, this is a very interesting application as it certainly does add value to the life of companies rolling out webapps and need to monitor its usage beyond simply “how many downloads today…”
We have a platform called Artiklz that just debuted 2 weeks ago in private alpha and it helps to aggregate comment streams from various websites, blogs, and URL based destinations. I see a parallel in our offering to Wakoopa in that we allow content creators to understand where their IP has permeated throughout the social media.
I’m glad someone is doing this in the webapp space as Artiklz can benefit from such an app as it rolls out its platform globally.
By the way, see you at Blog08!
John
Well, as it says in the article “Disclosure: Wakoopa is our sponsor”. To tell you the truth: they are more than our sponsors. We even own shares in Wakoopa! Even worse: we share the same offices!!!
But if it is news for Techcrunch we might as well report about it too: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/09/wakoopa-begins-tracking-web-apps-alongside-their-desktop-counterparts/
Maybe we should add a “Disclaimers” page to the blog where we describe everything we are associated with and link there?
A word from our sponsors? ;-)
(but the author of this piece doesn’t)
That’s a reasonable measure as it keeps everything out in the open. ZDNet does this with all their bloggers.
It was the combination of article + comments of Patrick & Boris (who are shareholders if I’m not mistaking?) that triggered my reaction.
There’s nothing wrong with supporting your investments, but this gave the impression of conflicting interests.. I would suggest some restraint in commenting on pieces about companies in which you have a financial interest.
I have noticed that the ‘friends of Wakoopa’ are very keen on applauding Wakoopa in the open.
Whenever you read an article about Wakoopa on the web, you can count on ‘this is awesome’ comments from everyone in the NextWeb offices. I’ve seen it here, I’ve seen it on Techcrunch, and I’ve seen something similar with BLOG08 on MarketingFacts.
I understand that you guys are very excited about all your projects, and want to share your excitement with the world. However, I would advise you to be careful, as it can turn against you. People will start questioning the sincerety of your ‘this is awesome’ comments if they always and only appear below articles of your friends.
BTW I’m not judging, I’m only advising you to think twice. Whatever you do is up to you :).