Journalism Enterprise.com

Brijit.com

March 7th, 2008

Rating:

By Nico Luchsinger

What do they say it is?

“Simply, Brijit aggregates the world’s best long-form content and abstracts it in 100 words or less, providing busy, omnivorous, and increasingly mobile readers with rich, qualitative summaries as well as better guideposts for what to read, watch or listen to now. We produce these abstracts in concert with our readers, as one community of readers, writers and editors. Think of us as your well-read friend who leads you to that can’t miss article, video clip or product.

We wish deep down that we were the kind of people who could read the Economist AND the New Yorker cover-to-cover every week, watch the Sunday morning political shows, and never miss an hour of This American Life. But we’re not. And chances are, neither are you. Because who’s got the time? And that’s why we’re building Brijit. Our mission is simple: make it easy for all of us to discover and access the world’s best content, quickly, inexpensively and on our own terms.”

What do I say it is?

In TechCrunch’s words, a “Digg for dead-tree media”. A site providing user-written abstracts of articles from about 100 sources, focusing on magazines from the US and the UK (for example, The Economist, the New Yorker, or Wired). The abstracts - according to Brijit founder and CEO Jeremy Brosowsky, there are about a hundred a day being added right now - are rated according to the importance that Brijit assigns to the original articles and can be browsed by source, subject, tags and popularity. Users are paid $5 for abstracts that are published, and there is an editorial process ensuring the quality of the abstracts.

What’s great about it?

Frankly, almost everything: The site gives me a quick overview of interesting long-form content that I might otherwise miss. The editorial process and payment method ensure that the abstracts are actually well written and helpful in deciding whether I should read the whole thing. There are various ways to access to browse the content, and a lot of different RSS feeds you can subscribe to. Brijit also has a very simple, clean design.

What could be better?

Being from a german-speaking country in Europe, I would love to have non-English sources like Le Monde diplomatique or Der Spiegel included in the service. Short descriptions of the sources would also help users to decide whether they want to read an article. And finally, Brijit could introduce some more social features, like a “Digg”-Button (although they now have a nicely designed Facebook application).

How is it going to make money?

Brijit has raised $1 million in venture capital. In the long run, the site wants to earn money from advertisement, syndication and partnerships. “We see interest in syndication and other partnerships primarily from ecommerce sites looking to offer their customers compelling content, from content sites looking to broaden their reach or increase their depth”, says founder Jeremy Brosowsky. There haven’t been any partnerships announced up to date, the site only runs some Google ads at the moment.

Should I pay it any attention?

Yes, you should. Not only if you are tired from the web’s constant river of news and want to read some great magazine articles again for a change, but also because Brijit understands how user-generated content can work: With a strong editorial control and with sharing the revenue with the users that are providing the content. With that insight, Brijit might well be one step ahead of all the other “social” news sites.

 Share

Sphere: Related Content

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized