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Mixx: A Plea for Help

by Stuart Foster on December 31, 2008

mixx Mixx: A Plea for Help

The social media space is filled with new and useful social bookmarking start-ups that try and emulate the success of mainstays like Digg, Reddit and Stumbleupon . Launched in October of 2007, Mixx is the most successful of the new kids on the social bookmarking block.

I've been on Mixx since March and can really see the potential of this site to truly flourish and overtake the likes of Digg and others. The core community of users at Mixx is fantastic. You would be hard pressed to find a user under the "SuperMixxer" designation that is not knowledgeable, helpful and a great asset to the community. Mixx treats their users right (unlike Digg which seems to cow-tow to the largely crude masses) and is excellent in its transparency and willingness to listen. (Amazing for a social bookmarking site by the way)

The people working there are just to smart to fail and I have great faith in their ability to create and develop Mixx into a juggernaut. However, I decided to write this letter in my blog addressing some major concerns I have with the site:

Dear Mixx,

I love your innovative features, your friendly layout/design, your friendly and amazing staff and the overall tone of the site. You rock! Got it? Good.

However, I have some pressing concerns about your site. I see the potential for greatness here...you are so close. I don't want you to turn into a Digg clone and I understand the strides that you have taken to separate yourself from them. Here are a few quick points of things that I think you could do to make Mixx truly awesome (well...more awesome):

  • One Designated Landing Page. It just isn't worth the time and effort it takes to sift through all of the stories. There is no central hub to view them in an effective manner because every user's landing page happens to be different. Please make the main page "Popular" the landing page for your site. (Like Digg and Reddit)
  • Spammers. Mixx has over the past month been inundated with awful spam. Just back breaking...cringe inducing spam. The reason? The freedom to niche yourself out to create your own little backlink factory. Yech. Because these spammers often form their own little communities...sometimes this chaff gets voted to the top. No site is immune to this sort of thing...but truly awful stuff should be just blocked out.
  • Stability. I like having friends...lots of friends on social bookmarking sites. This way I am exposed to the best possible content and can spread it around to other people I know. (Thus driving traffic) Thus I have about 20-30 friends on my personal page. This apparently just destroys the stability of Mixx and I repeatedly have to reload Firefox while on the site. I don't think I've gone to Mixx in the last 3 months and NOT frozen my computer. Annoying.
  • Traffic. I've had multiple items go "Popular" on Mixx and the traffic resulted in...maybe 15 people actually visiting my site. This just doesn't entice me to put the time and effort in of even subbing an article to to Mixx. I'm not alone in this...and I hope the one designated landing page could turn this around.

So there you have it Mixx. I like your site a lot and desperately want to see you succeed. However, I think that you may have topped out if you don't institute some of these changes fast. A lot of people have already become disenfranchised because they saw Mixx as a viable alternative to Digg...and it just isn't quite there yet.

Thanks,

Stuart Foster

Looking forward to some great discussion! What do you think Mixx should do?


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  • I agree with you on the spam part--that's a real bummer, but mixx not having a designated landing page is the most important part of what makes it unique. Changing it to make it more like digg or reddit would do just that . . . make it more like digg or reddit.

    The commenter above me suggested in the mixxingbowl forums that users be able to customize their landing page wich would be cool.

    Thanks for your comments!
  • I understand the need for individuality and the desire to be different from Reddit and Digg...however, the benefits for bloggers, marketers, and content producers alike (asides from creating awesome content) is traffic driving. I've had a few posts from the The Lost Jacket go "popular" on Mixx and it resulted in probably 15 total visits. That kind of traffic just doesn't cut it. I hate to say it...but in order to compete and be relevant with me it needs to be able to drive more traffic.
  • well, with all due respect, perhaps the problem of web startups these days is that they cater to the web marketers far too much without enough thought for the mainstream users. Digg might be profitable for marketers, but it is not profitable for digg because, regardless of how big it is, it's still not as mainstream as myspace or facebook. Mixx has the potential to get there precisely because it targets the user, not the marketer.
  • Bravo! A good read, though I don't necessarily agree with every one of your points. Trust me, you should hit up the crew behind the scenes of Mixx with your feedback - or post it at MixxingBowl.com (in the forums). They WILL listen to you.
  • Thanks Greg, I will definitely do so. (I've actually interacted/spoken with a few of them and was very happy with their willingness to listen)
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