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WebNotes has launched its private beta web annotation service and I have a few invitations if you’re interested (just add a comment). I had huge reservations about the service before checking it out and speaking with co-founder and CEO Ryan Damico. My thoughts before checking out the service were:

1. Why another web annotation service?
2. How does it compare to diigo, sticky notes, or any of the other current tools available?
3. Since WebNotes is a browser plugin, will it pass the browser real-estate test (as in: I already have too many toolbars, etc., so there’s a real screen space cost for adding another one)?
4. What social aspects are available? How do users share content?
5. Does WebNotes compete on features, or do they simply go after a specific audience/industry instead?

What I found out was really interesting from a strategy and philosophy standpoint.

Keeping It Simple

Where other annotation tools like diigo offer a huge set of features, many of which aren’t used by a mainstream user, WebNotes has consciously decided to keep it simple. They have focused on three features (from their site):

• Annotate the web- With WebNotes you can highlight text and stick notes to web pages.
• Organize your notes- All highlighted text and notes are stored in folders within your WebNotes account.
• Share your comments- Pages you annotate can be shared through email or online links.

Speaking of the conscious decision to stay away from adding features and instead focusing on simplicity, CEO Ryan Damico said:

Other annotation services really offer a huge amount of breadth, offering hundreds of features to a generic user for anything they might need. Some work well and some don’t work nearly as well. We’ve consciously stripped most of these away in favor of a more simplistic approach: one that doesn’t confuse end users and one that has a rock solid foundation.

Keeping It Professional

At first glance, I noticed that WebNotes was focused less on social and sharing features and more on the individual’s annotation needs. I asked whether the absence of sharing features was yet another strategic move. The answer:

Much of the research done within a corporation, academia or even at home is private and people like it to be treated as such. This privacy of data is more of an afterthought in social annotation, whereas we treat it as a primary concern (though we certainly allow users to share their annotations via email or permalink).

This is a fundamental difference between WebNotes and the existing annotation services. Many of the other services seem to center their offering around sharing and collaboration, while WebNotes is focused on the individual needs of researchers looking to keep their information private.

The Broader Question

While checking out WebNotes and talking with their CEO, I couldn’t help thinking of the broader question: are web application developers overwhelming their users by expanding features? Could a huge featureset be more of a burden than a competitive advantage? Are mainstream users put off by an app that seems too complicated?

Maybe simplicity really is the answer.

Filed under: Boston Startups, Uncategorized, betas, startups