Original Signal releases user driven Web 2.0 front page

Original Signal has launched a new version of their home page this morning. Tako, Original Signal founder, sent over some details which include... "Original Signal is taking his next step with a "visitor filtered" Web 2.0 Frontpage. From the start of OS we had the idea to promote the most popular stories to a frontpage which would really provide an extra filtered "signal through the noise" . We developed an algorithm which decides on a number of variables which articles jump from the aggregator page to the frontpage.

"The frontpage is intended for people who are interested in Web 2.0 news but only want the "best bits". By visiting the OS Web 2.0 frontpage the get the most popular stories from the 18 most popular blogs. On the Web2.0-signal, our visitors filter out the most popular articles which appear on this frontpage. Of-course everything is still very BETA and undoubtedly adjustments will be made once the first visitors hit the frontpage.

"We think some visitors of the WEB 2.0 aggregator page will switch to the new frontpage but also believe that both concepts serve different kind of users. We see a clear distinction between the "power users" (aggregator page) and "normal user" (frontpage). The new Web 2.0 frontpage has the same nifty features like headlines in a different color since your last visit, widget, mobile version and RSS feed."

It will be interesting to see how articles move to the frontpage. I will push Tako to find out more about how they are ranking what shows up. It looks like the bigger sites are getting everything up, while the smaller ones are getting some up.

This is most similar to Spotplex in using an algorithm to determine what goes up. Spotplex uses traffic as its determining factor whereas OS uses other factors. Whereas sites such as Digg use human voting (and an algorithm) to determine what moves to the frontpage.