The New Vibe.com is So-So
You already know how I feel about Vibe relaunching its temporary site as a Blog. You also know our thoughts on the rebirth of the print publication. So it would be only fair to share our thoughts about the new Vibe.com. While the new site is much better than where they were previously I am generally underwhelmed. Nothing mind blowing in the News, Music, Culture, or Photos category. However Post Up does appear to be an interesting concept if it can be done right. When we saw it in Dev it wasn’t so much. The Vibe Real Time Postup, which it might be important to add that in dev it didn’t reflect real-time like you and I know it. Nothing is pinged anything at all and it definitely didn’t pull from all corners of the web. It was simply links that were being submitted from those in the Vibe Lifestyle Network which is essentially an ad network or publisher network…whatever you want to call it these days. So 2007. Kudos for not launching with that.
VibeTV is…hmmm…a Brightcove Player. With so many ways to do video these days (live, pre-recorded, from a mobile device) it is a wonder why Brightcove would still be a viable choice. Sure you can serve your own video ads but so can Twistage and depending on what account you have on Blip.tv that capability exists. It looks like vibe has a Ustream account though so it should be interesting to see what they do with that. Ultimately it would be nice to have that integrated into VibeTV in some way.
The design is ‘eh’ a little too cluttered for me and this is probably because not many people design at 840px any more. To give you some perspective when I started designing 10 years ago the standard width for a web page was 800px. SMH.
Enough from me, I want to know what you think about the new Vibe.com.
Category: Featured, News | Tags: Vibe, vibe lifestyle network
About the Author Angela Benton is the Founder and Publisher of BlackWeb20.com. Her experience spans a variety of industries including consultative relationships with companies such as UPS, Bizjournals.com, Realestate.com, and Lendingtree.com.
See all posts by Angela.
“I can't totally blame the dev team for what they came back with but when certain people start shooting their mouths off about “next level” shit they better damn sight roll their sleeves up and help make it happen as well. We can all talk about Something being wack, I knowing the situation understand why it is. As long as no one challenges the powers that be in this situation it will remain wack.”
I agree. I have been in this situation before with 'powers that be' most times the outcome is not a reflection of the talent but the leadership. You'd be surprised how many people are in leadership positions who cannot lead.
That is a great point to make. Especially when design is outsourced if you don't have a design resource on staff that is capable of maintaining it the integrity of the original design will be compromised.
I rebuke that Uptown design statement. When I delivered the finished site to uptown the design was well done (a compromise of they're desires and mine), over the years, their lack of maintaining the platform has caused them to remove certain aspects of that site so it looks like it does now because of them. Not because of the developer. Who am I? I'm just a guy that's designed for clients from AT&T, Lending Tree, A&E TV, Sony, JVC, DC Convention Center, Bad Boy Records etc etc… Responsibility for site upkeep falls to the client, especially when they no longer retain the dev to maintain it.
That is a great point to make. Especially when design is outsourced if you don't have a design resource on staff that is capable of maintaining it the integrity of the original design will be compromised.
I rebuke that Uptown design statement. When I delivered the finished site to uptown the design was well done (a compromise of they're desires and mine), over the years, their lack of maintaining the platform has caused them to remove certain aspects of that site so it looks like it does now because of them. Not because of the developer. Who am I? I'm just a guy that's designed for clients from AT&T, Lending Tree, A&E TV, Sony, JVC, DC Convention Center, Bad Boy Records etc etc… Responsibility for site upkeep falls to the client, especially when they no longer retain the dev to maintain it.
Hard to call Twistage an “upstart” when they've been around since 2004. They have previously been a white-label provider of technology, so they aren't as “well known” by name, but you probably have seen tons of their technology without knowing it was Twistage.
Skinning a player is kids play. Everyone can do it. In fact, most of the video player companies offer the same stuff.
Thanks for commenting Gary! I've used Brightcove before so there is no need to take another look unless you all have updated dramatically since April. My experience with Brightcove's API is it is robust, so much so that it can be difficult to customize to actually produced a unique user experience. Also last time I used it the social media features that the API exposed were basic (i.e. ShareThis like features). In terms of live streaming Ustream and their white label Watershed are still the leaders in the space. And they implement the social web cleverly with the offering. Thx again for commenting
Hi Angela– You should take another look at Brightcove– we support live streaming, on-demand, and mobile. DJ is right in pointing out that we support player customization and re-branding, as well as several other features. It's a great choice for Vibe and similar customers. I'd be happy to chat with you if you have any specific questions.
Thanks,
Gary Lombardo
Brightcove
Twitter: @garylombardo
email: glombardo at brightcove dot com
eh, I had a comment — there was a server hiccup that moved the comments from wordpress back to disqus… I'm not going to bother to retype it.
Brightcove has an API so there is no excuse for them to have utilized the most basic of basic features. For that then they could have went with the upstart. I am honestly waiting on someone to implement Ustream's Watershed. That could have been a much better integration and guess what it would have been innovative since no one else is using it in the space.
I think DJ said it best “Don't claim to be innovative and coming back strong online presence and come back like they just did. It's wack. Point. Blank.”
As far as the site being in the upper 25% of media sites, that statement is just laughable to say the least. Also Vibe is not being graded on, it's not even being graded at all, these were just my thoughts on the new site.
Just curious what would you consider to be “innovative UCG features?”
Thx for commenting.
It's not about an “amazing design” it's about having a up to par design and that site does not. It looks like they paid $1K or less for that site. I can name at least 5 websites that are not funded that look and function better than the new Vibe site. Honestly, they should have left it as it was. Don't claim to be innovative and coming back strong online presence and come back like they just did. It's wack. Point. Blank.
Besides – it was you that said the site was in the top 25% and that Sir it is not. More like bottom 25% buddy.
Most sites out there aren't “amazing” as far as their design, even large online-only mutli-million dollar media-tech critique sites such as techcrunch don't have amazing designs.
Top 25% – no. Not even close. The site looks like a novice designed it. Let's get real and honest. But this doesn't surprise me – look at what Uptown's website looks like. Def the same company.
I think the vibe has a fairly above-average design — probably in the upper 25% of media sites.
Seems like they are using Drupal as their CMS, that might offer them more flexibility than wordpress or a similar blog-based cms.
I don't think focusing on a video platform provider is useful — considering Brightcove is much much larger than Twistage. Given Vibe's situation, they are likely to go with the name brand (OFA and Politico for instance use Brightcove) than the upstart. I'm sure Brightcove allows you to rebrand their player and add a variety of features to their standard package — that just takes the work and the knowledge to do so. So, an average video player is Vibe's fault not Brightcove, how would that change if they changed providers?
I think the key downsides for vibe is a lack of innovative UCG features — it's just a standard blog, with some feeds and a video player bolted on. However, to be honest, that is most “big” and “small” media sites. As a result, I kind of wonder if Vibe is being graded on a bit of curve.
I agree the site design is so-so. Even worse is that the content isn't compelling. The news is old (compared to other related sites) and the audio/video selection is weak. So they have a UX and content problem. Not a good look. I'm not even sure who their audience is anymore. I'll stick with the media sites that were born on the web.