Amazon Tip-Toes Into Social Networking
from the just-beta-testing-it-out dept
Because everything on the web these days seems to be in permanent beta, it's unclear how much weight to give the announcement that Amazon's latest community feature is in "beta." The tool will let users post pictures of themselves to go along with the reviews they write. This may seem like a very simple move (and, in fact, it is), but it suggests that Amazon is realizing that there's quite a bit of value in the community built up around their offering. It should be interesting to see how (if) this evolves over time, and whether or not it helps prove that most of these stand-alone social networking sites are really just features for other services.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
