--- title: "New Netscape.com – One Year On" date: 2007-07-05 author: "Richard MacManus" categories: - name: "ReadWriteWeb" url: "/category/readwriteweb.md" tags: - name: "2007" url: "/tag/2007.md" --- # New Netscape.com – One Year On ![](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910im_/http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/netscape_logo_july07.png)One year ago, the new-look [netscape.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://www.netscape.com/) launched. What was once the leading portal in the 90’s was [re-born in June 2006 as a digg clone](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/netscape_wears.php). Soon after the re-launch, there was an [enormous uproar](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/netscape_commun.php) from the existing Netscape.com community – which, it turned out, were fairly ‘old school’ about what kind of portal they liked. The posts that we ran at the time got a huge number of comments – and overwhelmingly negative towards the re-design. Some even [compared New Netscape to New Coke](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/new_netscape_ne.php). So how has Netscape.com fared over the past year? Let’s check that out… Netscape is said to have had 811 million monthly page views at the time of the re-launch, although half of those were email and browser users [according to ex-Netscape GM Jason Calacanis](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://www.calacanis.com/2007/03/14/i-wish-i-was-still-running-netscape/) in a March 2007 post. I checked out the Alexa charts, one year on, and it seems that some of those users have been lost. Indeed Jason’s post suggests that Netscape lost a number of their old email users – he said that “if you were to add back in the lost email users the Netscape curve on Alexa would be a massive turnaround.” Here then are two current Alex charts: ![](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910im_/http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/netscape_vs_digg_july07.gif)*1-year chart; digg = red, netscape = blue* This shows that Netscape has gone down a little since June 2006. It also shows that digg peaked around December 2006, but has dipped since then. Although the Compete.com stats (below) suggest that digg has continued upwards – perhaps some Alexa flakiness there. The trends become clearer in the 3-year Alexa chart, which shows that Netscape has been on a deep spiral downward since the end of 2004. Since it was re-born June 2006, the downward trend has continued – but not so dramatically as prior to mid-2006: ![](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910im_/http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/netscape_digg_3yrs.gif)*3-year chart; digg = red, netscape = blue* Compete’s data also shows that Netscape has bled users. As [bloat! pointed out](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://bloat.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/revisiting-netscapecom/) recently, it is a roughly similar % drop from Alexa. ![](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910im_/http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/netscape.com+digg.com_compete.gif)*Source: Compete* A fairer indication of success is to look at the site activity on Netscape.com. A scan of the frontpage shows healthy voting – not on the magnitude of digg, but still good. And the number of comments on the top stories is encouraging. For example the story [ Al Gore Son Arrested](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://politics.netscape.com/story/2007/07/04/al-gore-son-arrested-police-find-illegal-prescription-drugs-in-car) has 116 votes and 254 comments at the time I looked at it (and this is night time Independence Day in the US). Interestingly, the [Gadgets & Tech](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://tech.netscape.com/) section of Netscape.com has very little activity. But a quick scan of the [Top Stories page](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://www.netscape.com/top/1) shows that the more mainstream stories, like Politics and News, are getting a respectable number of votes and comments. But not as much as digg – I’d estimate perhaps 10 times as less votes and/or comments on Netscape than on digg. Indeed the [ Al Gore’s son story on digg](https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040910/http://digg.com/politics/Al_Gore_s_Son_Jailed_After_DUI_DRUG_BUST_following_speeding_100MPH) has 1,103 votes and 298 comments at time of writing – which is probably a fair indication of the difference in active users between digg and Netscape. How do you think Netscape has gone over the past year, since its controversial digg-like re-birth in mid 2006? *Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/new_netscapecom_one_year_on.php))*