Press Release: Dispute over Ownership of RateMyTeachers.com — Cloud over Sale
Ownership of RateMyTeachers.com, one of the internet’s most popular education destinations with over 70K visitors per day, and the legal effect of its purported recent sale to Patrick Nagle, is currently under dispute. RateMyTeachers was initially founded in August 2001 as a complement to RateMyProfessors.com (currently owned by Viacom) under Michael Hussey’s then “RateMy Network”. The site was restructured as a partnership in 2002 between MisterMessage LLC, John Swapceinski, and Michael Hussey. Since that time, it has grown significantly year-over-year.
Recently the partners agreed to terms according to which Message LLC would sell its partnership interest to Michael Hussey.
MisterMessage now claims to have “sold” RateMyTeachers to Patrick Nagle LLC, without consent of all the partners, for an unspecified amount of cash and a promise to participate in profits from any resale. Under California partnership law, no sale of the partnership can be effective absent the consent of all partners. Prior to the sale, Michael Hussey placed both MisterMessage LLC and Mr. Nagle on notice that he objected to any sale without his consent, and has reiterated that objection to all parties to the sale. Any prospective purchaser of RateMyTeachers should also be on notice of the dispute over ownership.
PeekYou + Google
Early this morning (after a couple of all-nighters), we launched the latest PeekYou product - a Google search that displays the owners of the websites directly next to the search results (or the people referenced within them). The search results are generated with Google’s Custom Search engine — so you get the same exact results as you would expect from any Google search — but you get the added bonus of seeing the people behind those search results.
Some sample results:
Michael Hussey
Google
White Pages
Tech Blog
Update: Mashable says “PeekYou Makes People Search Worthwhile with Google Integration“
AltSearchEngines Essay Competition
I recently won first place on an AltSearchEngines essay competition. Charles Knight asked readers of his new blog to contribute ideas on how alternative search engines can increase their collective market share. Here is my entry.
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Google and Yahoo currently have a stranglehold (75%) on the search market for one simple reason – for the past six or seven years they have offered users the most relevant search results. Through long-term success these two have achieved mindshare, thus significant path dependencies exist within their core user base. MSN, AOL, and Ask, own the next 20% of market share. This means that 95 out of every 100 Internet searches are owned by five companies (actually four companies, if you consider that AOL now displays Google results). This exercise asks us to consider the remaining 5% of alternative search engines as being one general entity and we are tasked with increasing the Alt’s market share to 7% or beyond.
Nearly every alt engine has its own unique quirks, positive or negative, and a considerable number of these engines do indeed offer quality of output that rivals most any search result from the major 95% market share holders. Yet most Internet users have never heard of nearly any of them. Before making direct suggestions on how to compete by creating a better search experience, it is more important to consider the products that already exist in the alt search market, and understand what drives the 95% of search users to the big five engines.
Consider the three second-tier search engines, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com. MSN has the benefit of being Internet Explorer’s default homepage (used by more than 70% of Internet users), and they’ve spent many millions working on their search technology to catch up to Google, but it clearly isn’t there yet in terms of quality. AOL has the benefit being the country’s largest ISP, therefore able to place its homepage in front of millions of people every day – but they do not offer links to Google’s advanced tools (which require a Google login). Ask.com is a well-funded company with a simple domain name that continues to spend millions of dollars driving traffic, and though their search results have improved over the years, the results are still not yet generally considered superior to Google or Yahoo. The obvious question is why would 20% of the market utilize inferior search services? The answer is likely that less sophisticated users make up a greater percentage of this 20% than Google’s and Yahoo’s user base.
For more evidence of this, cross-reference Quantcast.com’s demographic information. It indicates that Google and Yahoo attract a larger percentage of users in the 18-34 age group (the most Internet-savvy age group), generally coming from higher income households.
http://www.quantcast.com/google.com
http://www.quantcast.com/yahoo.com
http://www.quantcast.com/aol.com
http://www.quantcast.com/msn.com
http://www.quantcast.com/ask.com
There are two reasons why the quickest path to increasing market share is to focus marketing and education efforts on the demographics which make up 20% owned by the second-tier search engines. First, these users are likely newer to the Internet, and more open to trying new ways of surfing. Second, it is easier to demonstrate higher quality search results from an alt-engine over the second-tier engines, rather than Google and Yahoo, whose users are affected by stronger path-dependencies.
To attract this new audience, marketing materials must focus on how your alt-engine makes life easier and improves the online search experience; how it provides quicker and more accurate information, thus creating a more comfortable online experience.
Much can be learned from Ask.com’s growth over the page five years. Previous to their disastrous 2007 marketing campaign (“The Algorithm Killed Jeeves”), emphasizing simplicity and user-friendliness was precisely their approach. Ask created effective television commercials that in effect spoke the following message: “Go to Ask.com – type in any question in the world – and we’ll give you the answer.”
Remember, before your alt-engine acquires a Yahoo-sized market share, it has to first get an Ask.com and MSN sized percentage. Grab the users at the margin first – and then go for the big time.
-Michael Hussey CEO, PeekYou.com
PeekYou.com Beta launch
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PeekYou Emerges From Stealth Mode With 50 Million Profiles in Beta, Providing Easy and Efficient People Search Capabilities
Tuesday July 17, 12:54 pm ET
RateMyTeachers.com Founder Seeks to Meet Growing Demand for Online People Search
Via Yahoo:
NEW YORK, July 17 /PRNewswire/ — PeekYou.com (www.peekyou.com), an innovative search engine dedicated to finding people online, announced today that it has officially launched in beta mode. The Web site is the Internet’s first true openly edited white pages, allowing users to easily locate other Internet users with a presence on the web and access a list of all relevant links to the person being searched. The site has been in stealth mode since October 2006 and has already built profiles for over 50 million users, with more being added every day.
Created by RateMyFace.com and RateMyTeachers.com/RateMyProfessors.com founder Michael Hussey, PeekYou aims to be an open source directory of every individual online. Hussey, who has been featured on CNN, NPR and BBC amongst others looks to bring his experience developing popular consumer destination sites to building PeekYou into the premiere people search engine. Each individual will have their own personalized page and a PeekYou profile that will include bookmarked links to all information available about the target person. PeekYou differentiates itself from other people searchers by the site’s ability to link and identify numerous Internet identities to a single individual based upon tags and online identities.
The site allows users complete freedom to edit, add or remove information, links, photos, and tags (school, work, interests, etc.) associated with their profile or other PeekYou user’s profiles. In addition, PeekYou provides human created search engine results, reducing nonspecific and incorrect matches. Concerned with maintaining privacy, PeekYou empowers individuals with the opportunity to be “unlisted” (similar to the White Pages) as well as edit their profiles to ensure correct and accurate information.
“People searching is one of the most popular online exercises, but until now it has been a largely inefficient and often confusing experience,” said Michael Hussey, founder of PeekYou. “PeekYou is a true Web 2.0 ‘people search’ - we discover and map where people exist online, almost like writing a biography about your life on the net. In doing so, we are building the ideal engine for individuals to monitor their own online identity.”
“PeekYou is creating an entirely new lens from which the web will be viewed,” said Baldev Duggal founder of Duggal Dimensions, LLC, which is funding PeekYou. “I think PeekYou will forever change the way that ‘people searches’ are conducted.”
About PeekYou
PeekYou.com (www.peekyou.com) is an innovative search engine dedicated to finding people online. The site has been in stealth mode since October 2006 and officially launched in Beta Mode in July 2007, with over 50 million users and more being added everyday. PeekYou is the Internet’s first true openly edited white pages. The site allows users to easily locate other Internet users with a presence on the web and access a list of all relevant links to the person being searched. PeekYou satisfies a huge demand for Internet users looking to track down friends, family and business associates while maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with search engines. Once launched PeekYou will be the go to site for people search. PeekYou is privately funded by Duggal Dimensions, LLC, founded by Baldev Duggal who has been at the forefront of technology and creative innovation in the photo and computer imaging field for over 35 years.
Life Online with Bob Parsons XM Radio Interview
Tonight, I was interviewed on the Life Online with Bob Parsons (of Godaddy.com) XM Radio business talk show. It was an interesting interview, centered around RateMyTeachers; but I got to talk about a lot of things I do not usually delve into and I really enjoyed it.
Listen to the interview here.
BBC Interview
Interviewed on BBC today regarding RateMyTeachers in the UK.
Listen here (Real Player required)
Trip to Albania
Kejda and I blogged our trip to Albania. Check it out here.
Coming soon…
Getting under the skin of a few Brits
A beautifully biased piece of reporting from the British education website, teachers.tv. I enjoyed this one very much. By the way, we searched high and low for the negative comments the editors highlighted in this report, and all but a couple of them were never found. We’re not calling the reporters liars, but…..
Open Source Media Launch
I was able to attend yesterday’s launch party for Open Source Media (formerly Pajamas Media) at Rockefeller Center and the W Hotel. It was most exciting to put faces to many of the blogs that I read on a regular basis. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame, who OSM CEO Roger Simon dubbed “The George Washington of Blogs” had the aura of a rock star, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with him for a few minutes. There were some excellent panelists, including an elitist, out-of-touch NY Times fashion reporter, Elizabeth Hayt who shamelessly and cluelessy excoriated the blogosphere as an activity for “rich people with too much time on their hands,” all-the-while nearly being laughed off the stage. Judith Miller was the keynote speaker at lunch, though I felt she was a bit off-putting with her praise of NY Times standards (which I know first hand are not what they claim, from a 2003 un-sourced hit piece they published on RateMyTeachers). Regardless, it was all quite interesting, taking place in a great setting.
With Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame!
New design for RateMyTeachers
Check out the new RateMyTeachers design.
Partnered with Bolt.com
I recently moved to New York City, as I have partnered RateMyTeachers with a teen media company called Bolt.com. Bolt is selling targeted advertising for us at significantly higher rates than we were capable of on our own. So far, so good. I have also partnered with Bolt on a new venture called classface.com. If you have heard of TheFaceBook.com for college students, classface is essentially the same thing, except for high school students (using RateMyTeachers and Bolts significant membership to promote it). TheFaceBook attracts well over a million daily users and billions of page views each month. We are hoping to attract a similar audience. We’ll see.
Update (11/28/05): No longer working with Bolt.com. Classface has been renamed StudyBreakers.com.
CNN Appearance
Today I was interviewed on CNN’s “In the Money” regarding RateMyTeachers.com. I was behind Wolf Blitzer in the makeup line. All I could muster was a weak “Hello” with a faint nod of the head. He looked really focused on getting to the news desk and I suppose I didn’t want to disturb him. He had a good, positive, disposition about him, though. All-in-all, an interesting experience, even though it felt like a radio interview (all I had was a ear piece to listen to the questions - I had no idea with whom I was speaking). Here is a recent USA Today article, as well. Overall, the press exposure has been great.
Video here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vXVPPgHox80
NPR Interview - All Things Considered
I was recently interviewed for this NPR piece discussing RateMyTeachers.com. This was my third appearance on All Things Considered. It is amazing how much has happened since I first was interviewed by NPR regarding RateMyFace.com in December of 2000.
“Jennifer Wing of member station KPLU in Seattle, Wash., reports on a Web site for school children across the country — RateMyTeachers.com — that allows them to “grade” their teachers.”
NPR Day to Day - Giving Teachers an Internet Report Card
Alex Cohen reports on school children using the Internet to grade their teachers by creating a virtual “report card” on the Web site RateMyTeachers.com.
Plans for IMConnected - Connecting Friends to Friends Online
I have completed plans for IMConnected and have started showing it off to potential partners or investors (including people at Microsoft).
Have you ever stepped back and considered the sheer number of people you have met in your lifetime: your friends, co-workers, acquaintances, classmates, teachers, etc.? Have you ever thought it was curious the way you have met many of these people? For example, I have a friend Jennie, whom I met through my life-long friend, John. Jennie and I became friends and through Jennie, I met another great friend, Jasmine, who lives in Washington DC. I then introduced Jasmine to all of my friends in Washington DC, spawning new relationships well beyond my immediate control and knowledge. Eventually, Jasmine would meet people I had already known and met through other unique relationships. These new relationships have spawned many new relationships and our “web of friends” grows ever more interesting and complicated by the day. While some people are more conscious of this interesting phenomenon then others, this is something everybody thinks about and is potentially intrigued by. I am about to make this curiosity explicit, via the power of the Internet.
We all know that we live in a small world; there is much truth to that adage. There is even a statistical theory called the “six degrees of separation” describing the phenomenon of a shrinking world where any random two people can discover a link through a chain of six acquaintances. We plan to physically store these relationships in a giant database and output the information for the public in a giant web. We then can map out each individual’s “web of friends†and see how connected we all are and how small a world this really is.
The way the site will work is as follows. Someone, e.g. Mark, logs on to the site and enters the names and email addresses of his friends and then provides a short explanation of how he met each person and what the nature of their relationship is. Each person Mark includes in his “web†(and there will be a lot) will receive an email from Mark that says he knows them and has written a comment about them on this website. The person receiving this email from Mark will almost surely click through to see what Mark has written about them; the urge will be irresistible. When the new user inevitably becomes a member to see these comments, he or she in turn enters in the names of their friends. Some will probably overlap Mark’s friends, and many will not. As increasingly more people join, we start to develop webs around each individual that we can actually map (imagine a web like structure with your name in the middle, mapping out “a degree†or two of your relationships – immense but intriguing). Each member of the community (and there will be millions in a short period of time) will have their own page mapping out all their relationships, and listing all the comments from other members who know them and have written about them. We will create a dynamic and interwoven community, allowing members to search for and find other interesting people with whom they may interact.
The community possibilities are endless and exciting. Imagine being able to search for someone from Wisconsin who is “two degrees” separated from you (i.e. you have a common friend, but did not know it yet). Not only do you have something instantly in common with each person you engage to communicate with on the site, but you also would expect to have many people engage you, just because you are who you are and know who you know. This excitement will be easy to carry over into the site, and will create unprecedented momentum and growth of the community.
Update 2004: I was never able to generate an investment to develop IMConnected and at the time I didn’t have the funds to bankroll it myself. Everyone I approaced properly asked “how will it make money?” At the time, the internet advertising market was seemingly close to dead. I always responded that I didn’t really know how it would make money; I just knew it had the potential to be insanely popular and we could figure out how to make money after.
Up until that point, the internet was much about finding people across the world that you really didn’t know. No one was really exploiting the unique real world relationships and networks we all have developed across the course of our lives. Two years later, Friendster and then MySpace launched utilizing the same pioneering idea, today known as “Social Networking.”
Launched RateMyTeachers.com Today
RateMyTeachers launched today, bringing the funcationality of RateMyProfessors to middle and high school students – created by ordinary people with a vision for a better way of doing something. This past year, the concept of “accountability†in education entered the public consciousness. Many of the original founders had an interest in education (two of them are teachers) and asked who is accountable to whom? Are schools accountable to the federal government? We concluded that students have a right to discuss the quality of their education and that teachers must be accountable to their students. We decided that a site like RateMyTeachers.com would be an effective tool to elevate the student voice into the public discourse on quality education.
RateMyTeachers aims to help facilitate a positive change in the way parents, students, and teachers alike look at the education system and therefore to encourage structural changes with regards to school and teacher choice. Secondly, it is a place for students to have their opinions validated.
Lastly, RateMyTeachers is a useful resource to the teacher who is open and self-assured enough to face the opinions of their customers, i.e. students. Every teacher wants to be respected by his or her students, and every teacher entered this profession in order to help students develop as individuals. By studying their ratings, the teacher can often adjust their methods, helping create that environment of mutual respect, whereby their knowledge will translate more effectively to the mind of the student.
Launched RateMyProfessors.com Today
Launched RateMyProfessors.com today in partnership with John Swapceinski (who created teacherratings.com). This is the best site for college students to find and share info on their college professors before they sign up for next semester’s classes.
Launched RateMyFace.com this week
Launched RateMyFace.com this week with Ron Gallagher. After telling a few people in AOL chat rooms about it, the site exploded and we genereated 100K users in this first week. Unfortunately, the idea was a bit beyond our programming abilities and it takes about five minutes to manually add a new profile (which is kind of hard when you have hundreds of people submitting their pictures for rating). We are going to put the site on hold and relaunch it next summer with a much improvded front and back end.
