Popjam. Digg up the Funny.

Launched today is PopJam, the latest creation from Brit Alex Tew, founder of the now infamous websites MillionDollarHomepage and Sock and Awe.

Initial Thoughts

I have been keeping my out for this, eagerly looking forward to it’s release, and on first impression I must admit to a slight disappointment. The site does appear to be a simplified Digg/Mixx humour section with a couple of small alterations. Many Digg and Friendfeed fanatics will wonder what makes the site so different to the functionality and benefits which can be already be found on those already established sites. After all, Digg has their own “funny” section and Friendfeed has “rooms”.

On further investigation however – well, playing – I can start to see the attraction/addiction and how easy Popjam could work alongside the two.

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After a relatively quick sign up form, it is recommended you follow other PopJam users to make a start at building up your own community and following on there. You are then also able to post images, videos and links as well as ‘LOL’ (favoriting), ‘comment’ or, ‘repost’ which shares the post onto your own profile for your followers to see.

It is therein which I begin to see how Popjam could achieve success. The speed at which you can LOL, comment, post, repost and generally navigate the site makes it feel painless and therefore you far more likely to make the most of the functionality. The more you active you are, the more chance you’ll return and the more ‘curious’ you’ll become as to how ‘funny’ people think your shares actually are. You gain points for posting funny stuff, bringing a competitive element which could see you climb up their leaders table to ‘PopJam Ninja’ status.

Hit or Miss?

There are a great of positives which lead me to believe the site will eventually see success.

First, lets face it, Tew knows quirky and funny – if anyone can make a funny site work – it’s him.

Second, it’s backed by Bebo co-founder Paul Birch as well Michael Smith and Tom Boardman of Firebox.

Third, one of the great things about UK startups is they (we) stick together and support each other whenever a fellow Brit entrepreneurs project appears on the scene – this site will be no different. Popjam will immediately gain popularity amongst UK based entrepreneurs and social media folk, who are also some of the most popular and active Twitter users. We all know how viral Twitter can be, just one funny photo can spread like wildfire. 

I would like to see a slicker interface, a bookmarklet is a must, and integration/autoposting through to other more popular sites such as Friendfeed, Twitter and even WordPress would see me using the site far more.

Read More:

Techcrunch UK, PopJam FAQ’S