ESnips

Infobox_Website
url = [http://www.esnips.com/ www.esnips.com]
name = eSnips.com
origin = Ein Sarid, Israel



caption = eSnips homepage
commercial = Yes
type = Social sharing service
registration = Not required for most services
owner = Private
author = Yael Elish, Nahum Sharfman and Alon Elish

eSnips is a web 2.0 interest-driven social sharing site that allows users to share content, promote and sell their creations and form social niche communities around their specific areas of interest. Members can upload and share content in any file type from one centralized profile, in folders representing their different areas of interest, and can determine the audience for each folder. The company headquarters is currently in Israel and its team is composed of 13 full-time members, divided into R&D, Marketing and Technical support. [cite web|url=http://www.esnips.com/statments/team.jsp|title=eSnips team members|date=May 31, 2007|accessdate = 2007-05-31]

History

eSnips was founded by Yael Elish, the CEO, and Nahum Sharfman formerly the founder of both Shopping.com and Commtouch (nasdaq|CTCH). Alon Elish, currently the CTO, is the third founder. In February 2006 eSnips received seed funding from Gemini Israel Funds [cite web|url=http://www.esnips.com/statments/releases/gemini_investment.doc|title=Gemini Israel Funds Makes Investment in Internet Start-up eSnips|date=February 15, 2006|accessdate = 2007-05-31] and in November 2006 eSnips received $2 Million Series A funding from Gemini and Greylock [cite web|url=http://www.esnips.com/statments/releases/funding.htm|title=eSnips Closes $2M in Series A Funding|date=Oct 31, 2006|accessdate = 2007-05-31] .

eSnips started out from the prior product created by Yael Elish as NetSnippets, which was an internet research and organization tool sold to universities, libraries and research facilities. Many features of NetSnippets have been adopted into the eSnips site, especially in the eSnips toolbar, including the capturing and snipping tools. However, the eSnips site has evolved significantly since NetSnippets, to the point where it is really an interest-driven social sharing website.

tructure

Profiles

This page is used to share personal information about each user using several designs (skins), see comments (and favorites) from other users, and organize his/her content in folders and files.

Folders

Using folders, users can organize their files among several subjects. Some folders even contain hard-to-get music such as entire X-Ray Dog albums. Folders can be public, private, or invitation based. This way, an eSnips’ user can control what content he shares with a person, can upload and store personal family pictures, share professional documents with work colleagues, or share his passions, hobbies and interests with web surfers. In addition, the platform allows comments, personal posts, RSS, and several display and personalization options on folders’ pages.

Communities

The communities are composed of microportals that organize all the content and profiles that are part of each specific community. eSnips MicroPortals provide a centralized view into all aspects of a community regardless of size or type. This includes the latest, most popular and favorite files and folders, access to new and favorite members, a forum to discuss community affairs, and community-only areas that list unique tags, news and activities.

Any MicroPortal can be formed around a group of people who use the same tags (categories) to describe the content they publish. In order to be part of the community, users must tag their files or folders with the community keywords. For example, in order to be part of the DJs community, users must tag their audio files with one of the following keywords: remix, dj, deejay, mix, rave. eSnips Communities include remix, paranormal, spirituality, poetry, photography, painting, gifts, crafts, karaoke, and others.

Microportals are composed of the following information:
*The newest, most popular, most favorite, and newly favorite files
*The newest and most favorite people on the community
*The newest, most popular, most favorite, and newly favorite folders
*Last comments on the community
*Latest forum posts
*If relevant, an eSnips Radio channel.

ocial sharing features

In order to facilitate social sharing among users and among the whole web, eSnips has added several Web 2.0 features that will help its users.
#Playlists and widgets: allow users to embed their favorite songs and pictures in their websites or Blogs
#Favorite and bookmarks: helps the system to classify folders and files, find related stuff, and recommend to users
#Posts and comments and the community forum (text, audio, and video with onsite recording): facilitate the interaction between users helping them to communicate among them.

eSnips Marketplace

Besides sharing files, eSnips also supports ecommerce transactions. Members who use eSnips to share their creative work, in any file format, can sell these items using Paypal. Marketplace features on eSnips allows users to post any item for sale, including original songs, videos, digital and traditional art, and more. [cite web|url=http://www.esnips.com/statments/releases/ecommerce.htm|title=eSnips Marketplace Press Release|date=July 10, 2006|accessdate = 2007-06-17] [cite web|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/07/10/sharing-site-esnips-adds-e-commerce/|title=Sharing site eSnips adds e-commerce|date=July 10, 2006|accessdate = 2007-06-17]

Content

website that provides a platform for people to share their interests [cite web|url=http://www.degardener.com/2006/11/11/user-generated-content-the-hitch-hikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/|title=User Generated Content - The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy|date=Nov 11, 2006|accessdate = 2007-05-31] , users can upload many different content, such as their karaoke singing, watercolor paintings, family photos, remixes, and so on. As a result, communities have been formed around the various areas of interest. The focus on people's interests brings creative content to eSnips and the micro-portal communities that bring these people together. As is germane to a Web 2.0 site, user involvement in controlling inappropriate content is very helpful. Flagging mechanisms allow users to warn the site about unwanted content and lets them be active in designing the community and site environment they are part of.

Controversy

In February 2008 eSnips installed Audible Magic. This system was supposed to automatically recognize copyrighted audio using a database of copyrighted tracks. In reality, however, it blocked lots of original music and even non-music content. For some users it blocked 100% of their uploads, even when they didn't even contain any music, only speech. [http://esnippers.typepad.com/esnippers_den/2008/02/update-on-the-d.html] eSnips support has not yet reacted to these complaints and problems in any meaningful way.

References

External links

* [http://www.esnips.com/ eSnips official website]
* [http://esnippers.typepad.com/ eSnips official blog]
* [http://esnips.blogs.com/ eSnips CEO blog]