I have to say, this is one great example of how branding/messaging can make a difference.
GP had to ask the question, whereas for about.me, there's no need - as soon as I go to the homepage, I see thumbnail links to pages like http://about.me/baratunde - so I can see pretty clearly and obviously what the site actually does.
From what it seems, flavors.me seems like it supports more useful features, so it's sad that the branding doesn't present itself in as compelling a manner.
It's even worse than that. The big difference between the two was press coverage. The GP actually has it backwards. flavors.me was out well before about.me started, but when about.me launched they generated a massive amount of buzz, in particular on TC. It effectively left flavors.ms in the dust even though flavors was always the better product. Better IMO, of course.
edit: GP didn't get it wrong, I just read it backwards. Still, sad to see hype trump quality.
I hate it when this happens. As a startup guy, I appreciate the importance of design, press presentation, and marketing, but as an engineer, it kills me a bit inside every time I see a flashy, well-hyped, inferior product win out over an understated, modest, superior one.
GP had to ask the question, whereas for about.me, there's no need - as soon as I go to the homepage, I see thumbnail links to pages like http://about.me/baratunde - so I can see pretty clearly and obviously what the site actually does.
From what it seems, flavors.me seems like it supports more useful features, so it's sad that the branding doesn't present itself in as compelling a manner.