techTrader: Startup Spotlight: whinge to dooyoo.co.uk
Published: 08 Sep 2000 10:06 BST
Highly opinionated dooyoo.co.uk gives Brits the chance to perfect their whingeing skills on the Web. Sound good? Well it gets better, the company is so keen to hear your opinions it will pay you for them!
The clever eyeball grabbing stunt should give the consumer opinions platform, launched here on 16 May, a memorable hook for its service: essentially a review-by-experience site where people's views on things give visitors completely unbiased reviews on almost anything and everything.
Registered users submit reviews on categories ranging from campuses to Internet and travel. Users can also ask the community to submit reports on particular products that they are interested in buying. Those who can bothered to stop and submit their opinions will be rewarded with real money rather than useless cyber-currency.
Dooyoo pays 25 pence for every review written, with the author generating an extra 5 pence every time their comment is read. "Making £50 isn't difficult," according to Colin Jenkins, co-founder of dooyoo.co.uk; members can redeem earnings of £20 or over as a high street gift voucher, or £50 as a cheque.
The site's generosity may be a good way of driving traffic to the site, but where does this leave dooyoo.co.uk financially? Jenkins believes that advertising revenue will be enough to make the difference, but gut instincts warn that without an additional revenue streams, the site may have difficult times ahead.
The core idea of using the Internet as a platform for trading opinions and advice is a good one, providing users treat it seriously. "Every review is checked before the opinion is released. People do cause us trouble, but that is the nature of the Web," says Jenkins. The site hasn't of yet received any comment that would be termed slander or libellous, but is confident that contentious opinions will receive bad reviews from readers and therefore slip to the bottom of the list.
The service: dooyoo.co.uk
What does it do?: allows consumers to whinge online
How it works: visitors submit opinions online under the appropriate category, and receive dosh in return!
Who it's for: when money is involved, students spring to mind
The verdict: if dotcoms could run on good ideas, I'd buy shares right now.
Startup Spotlight brings you the best and worst new Web sites every week. For more see the Spotlight archive.
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