七大正在死去的網站
Sunny days sometimes turn dark and dismal. A shirt that looked good on the rack at Target now sits in the bargain bin at Goodwill. And, that new car with the Hemi engine and the third-row backseat? It now drives like a crusty tank.
陽光再燦爛， 黑暗也終究會來臨。昨日還掛在高級賣場供人仰望的衣衫，今天就進入大賣場與班尼路展開競爭了。什么，你還在說有Hemi動力和三排后座的新車有多牛掰？拜托，大概只有生銹的坦克才能比它更古董吧。
The same is true of websites. What seemed so fresh when you first registered now seems like a ghost town. What happened? According to Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg, site visitors routinely check the door to see if anyone else is leaving for better services. Like lemmings, they can pull up stakes and leave in a heartbeat. (Facebook, are you listening?) All you can hear are the crickets.
對于網站來講，也是同樣的道理。曾經讓你大呼過癮的新鮮站點，現在可能已經成了舊得快要鬧鬼的小屋。這是怎么回事呢？？？Gartner的分析師告訴我們了，網站的用戶們都有一個習慣，就是定期觀察有沒有人離開當前的網站，跑到更好的地方去。這大概就是傳說的跟屁蟲習慣吧，我們都會在屁股還沒坐熱時就以迅雷不及掩耳盜鈴之勢奔向新的地方。（嘿，我說，Facebook，你在聽么？）
1. Gawker.com
1. Gawker.com
This popular gossip site's traffic has dropped 75 percent this year, according to Compete, and has wallowed in its own bad press over the years: cuts in freelancer budgets, a stalker map that showed the location of celebs, and several site changes. At the same time, tech sister-site Gizmodo has risen in the ranks, growing views by 10 percent this year.
這個曾經的八卦網站在今年的流量銳減了75%之多，這可是Compete的數據。這也算是這些年網站自己“自作自受”吧：對于自由撰稿人的經費削減，暴露名人地址的跟蹤地圖什么的。與此同時，這個技術網站的伙伴Gizmodo，排名躥升，在今年瀏覽量上升了10%之多。
2. Chatroulette.com
2. Chatroulette.com
Sometimes, it’s hard to say whether a Web site is actually dying. Chatroulette.com is a site that lets you chat with a stranger; sometimes, the stranger is naked. Visitor counts are on the rise again, hovering around 1 million after a 25 percent drop this year, per Compete.com. The site went live in late 2009, and Wired wrote about it early last year. Andrey Ternovskiy from Russia created the site when he was 17. What has died out is the press coverage: the tech media is not touching the site anymore. Most critically: the site offers nothing extra beyond what you can do on Skype. “Chatroulette was a fad, an interesting one for a while, but was invaded by male exhibitionists, and most people aren't into that sort of voyeurism,” says Roger Kay, an analyst with Endpoint Technologies (www.ndpta.com).
有的時候，去判斷一個網站是不是快死了，還真不是件容易事。Chatroulette.com是一個讓你去跟陌生人聊天的網站；咳咳，有的時候，那個陌生人可能沒有穿衣服。根據Compete.com，在經歷今年25%的下降之后，Chatroulette用戶數再次上升了100萬。這個網站是在2009末上線的，而且Wired網站還在去年初對它有所報道。俄羅斯的Andrey Ternovskiy在他17歲的時候創(chuàng)建了這個網站。
真正在消失的是什么？是媒體的曝光率。沒有技術媒體再報道它了。最具諷刺意味的是：這個網站沒有提供比Skype更多的功能。"Chatroulette是一時的狂熱，可能一段時間，你會覺得它很有趣?？墒呛芸焖捅灰蝗郝兑袂终剂?，而很多人對那樣的男性魅力的展示沒有多大興趣。"Endpoint Technologies的分析師Roger Kay如是說。
DNEWS VIDEO: Gadgets and Gizmos 3. Digg.com
3. Digg.com
Statistics don’t lie -- they just help explain the mystery. Digg.com started out in 2004 as the brainchild of San Francisco whiz-kid Kevin Rose and allowed visitors to “digg” a link so that everyone could see what was popular. In the past year, the site has been bleeding users by the boatload. There were 8 million visitors in January; this month, there were only about 3 million, per Compete.com. That’s a 60 percent drop. Competitor Reddit, which has maintained an interest level, is not so ad-centric. But the real killer is Twitter, which has become a link aggregator and social medium. Kay agrees: many people find their Web links on Facebook these days.
無論如何，數據是不會說謊的——它們只會讓你看清事實。Digg.com從2004上線以來，作為San Francisco的小神童Kevin Rose的智慧結晶，它允許用戶用digg的方式來挖掘一個鏈接，好讓每個人都能看到什么正在流行。在過去的一年，這個網站正在大量的流失用戶。在一月份有800萬，而這個月，根據Compete.com的數據，只有300萬了。那可是60%的銳減??！相比起來，沒有廣告的競爭對手Reddit還保持著不錯水平。 但是，其實真正的幕后殺手是Twitter這只小鳥，她已經成為了鏈接的集中地和社交媒介。Kay承認：現在人們都在Facebook上找各種鏈接資源了。
4. MySpace.com
4. MySpace.com
You would think MySpace would have gotten the message by now: we don’t like ugly banner ads that fill the page, and a consistent user interface is more appealing to most than one that allows crazy customizations. MySpace had 30 million visitors in July, per Compete.com, but Facebook squashed them like a bug with 150 million. The real story: MySpace had 64 million visitors in last year in July. That’s a 54 percent drop. Gartenberg says the drop is almost inexplicable: users just gave up on visiting. Kay argues that the brand was somehow tarnished and uses antiquated technology.
你也許會覺得MySpace現在應該明白這個道理了：我們討厭塞滿了頁面的丑陋廣告，我們覺得一個一致的用戶界面比一些瘋狂的個人定制有趣得多。根據Compete.com，MySpace在七月份還有3000萬的用戶，但是Facebook已經像割肉一樣從那里攫取了1500萬的用戶。事實是，去年7月份，MySpace還有6400萬用戶呢。那可是54%的減少。Gartenberg說，這樣的減少幾乎是莫名其妙的：用戶就是不來這個網站了。Kay說，MySpace已經光鮮不在，而且用的都是陳舊的技術。
5. Bebo.com
5. Bebo.com
Going from 2M users to just 600,000 in one year might seem like a crushing blow. But consider this: AOL bought the upstart social network in 2008 for $850 million. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, AOL sold it for just $10 million last year. So what happened? This one is a mystery. Kay says that there is no real explanation, because the site offers similar services to Facebook and even Tumblr.com.
短短一年之間，從200萬到60萬，這簡直是一個毀滅性的打擊。但是想想這個吧：AOL在2008年就以8億5000萬買下了這個暴發(fā)戶式的社交網站。根據Bloomberg Businessweek的報道，AOL去年僅僅以1000萬的售價將其賣出。究竟發(fā)生什么了？這個還真不知道。Kay說，對于這種事情，實在是沒有解釋 ==！，因為這個網站其實做的是和Facebook以及Tumblr一樣的事情。
6. Salon.com
6. Salon.com
One of the oldest and most-beloved online magazines, Salon.com has sunk like a rock lately, losing about one million regular visitors over the past year, per Compete.com, a 37 percent decline. Once again, there is no reasonable explanation for the sharp decline, but there are a few clues. The user-hemorrhaging started almost immediately last November when the main editor, Joan Walsh, took a back-seat to write a new book. Many online magazines have struggled to balance free content with paid services, and Salon tends to be a little ad heavy at times. Kay says Salon has had a hard time competing with classier mags like The New Yorker.
作為曾經最經典最風靡一時的在線雜志，Salon.com以自由落體的速度下滑著。根據Compete.com，它在去年流失了大概100萬的點擊量，下降37%。更令人無語的是，對于這樣的銳減，還是沒有任何合理的解釋。只有一些線索吧：用戶的縮水幾乎是從他們的主編Joan Walsh在11月份退居二線開始寫書之后開始的。許多在線雜志，都使用有償的服務來勉強平衡免費的內容，而Salon有的時候，廣告顯得有點太多了。Kay表示，Salon在與一些其他更有品的雜志，比如扭腰客的競爭中，吃了不少苦頭。
7. Blogger/Typepad
7. Blogger/Typepad
Blogging is dead – or at least it has shifted to another medium. Now, instead of typing several pages worth of material, most Web users just tap in a 140-character sentiment on Twitter. “Long-form” blogging is not as popular, and we all know the jokes about the blogger in his parent’s basement. Sites like Blogger.com and TypePad.com have declined considerably of late, dropping about 25 to 30 percent in user visits per Compete.com. Granted, some have discovered the streamlined blogging tool WordPress.com, which has enjoyed steady growth the past few years.
博客已死——或者至少說它已經轉化成另外一種形式了?，F在，與其敲打幾頁文字，許多web用戶都傾向于在Twitter上抒發(fā)140字的感想?！伴L”博客已經不流行了，我們大概都知道那個關于在父母地下室里寫博客的人的玩笑吧(佩林在競選期間，說那些在網上抨擊她的人都是Bloggers in their parent’s basement just talkin garbage)。像Blogger.com和Typepad.com這樣的網站，近來的訪問量都顯著地減少了百分之25到30。誠然，有些精簡的博客工具，比如WordPress.com，最近幾年還是有顯著的增長。
8. Slashdot.org
8. Slashdot.org （不是7個么？？？）
Sadly, one of the best tech sites on the Web has seen declining user involvement. Started as a home project focused mostly on computer tech, the site grew to almost one million users back in 2008. Quantcast.com shows a bar graph that looks like a ski slope: user counts dipped down to just over 100,000 in April, although the latest counts are in the 500,000 range.
我們無比悲痛的發(fā)現，曾經是最好的網站之一的Slashdot.org也在用戶量上漸漸損失。以專注于電腦科技的家庭項目起家，這個網站在2008年達到了幾乎100萬的用戶量。Quantcast.com給我們呈現了一個滑雪坡道般的條形圖：用戶量在4月份降低到了10萬，雖然最近的數據在50萬左右徘徊。
