For the information addicted web-worker, Pinyadda's value is almost immediately apparent. It takes the work out of using your RSS reader. Anyone who uses an RSS reader regularly can understand that. But the RSS reader remains a tool of the few, and not the many. So how do we provide value to the other 90% of potential users?
The answer is simple: we provide access to relevant content they were previously ignorant of. We like to think of the Web as an egalitarian paradise where any piece of information is available to any user, but the reality is that getting more than cursory value from the Web requires a skill set and technological understanding that represents a pretty high barrier to entry. Most users visit search engines to find information, email to communicate with friends and colleagues, and social networks to establish connections with others. But beyond these relatively simple uses, the value of the web is lost on the average user. Massive amounts of data that could help users make sense of the world around them exists, but it's diffuse; scattered across thousands of websites and blogs, buried in directories and hierarchies and archives.
If you know exactly the type of information you're looking for, search works great. If I want to find the address of a business, the name of public figure, or a bus schedule, you can't beat static web search. But if I want to use the web as a news portal to find out what's happening the world around me, search is complete failure. It's a static resource in a dynamic world.
We can do better. There is a way to break down the walls of knowledge and training that keep most users from getting the most out of the web, and we're building it. While Pinyadda's appeal to the uber-user is important to us, it's the ability to harvest data on the web and deliver it to the average user that will make Pinyadda both successful and profitable.
Think of it like information agriculture. We're your new farmers.
