Guy Kawasaki Launches Truemors

Guy Kawasaki’s gossip site Truemors quietly launched today, just a week after our story “Advising The Evangelist: How To Save Truemors.” At first glance the site is somewhat clean and uncluttered, but the subject matter is so broad and the posts so brief that it’s hard to imagine how this will become sticky. Of course, if one were to consume the site strictly via cell phone, the site makes more sense. But again the broad focus will make it hard to appeal to an audience that largely uses boutique sites for niche news and major mainstream sites like CNN for general interest information.

Also, despite the high profile help wanted request from Kawasaki weeks ago, there doesn’t appear to be an editor or blogger in place on the site. Predictably, Guy (best known as a former Apple evangelist) figures out a way to attach an Apple mention to the launch in the site's About breakdown, which is so long and esoteric only someone already reading The Secret is likely to have enough patience to get through the whole thing.

But the real story here becomes clear when you take a look at the site’s Terms Of Use...

I expressed my concerns before that a Digg-like rumor site with no editorial control is a recipe for disaster. According to the site’s
Terms Of Use, it’s clear this legal matter wasn’t thought out very well. First off, there’s hardly anything you can post that will not violate the site’s terms...

“Do not make postings that involve the following:

- Securities for sale, barter, or exchange
- Harassment, defamation, threats, stalking, bullying, or violations of the legal rights of others
- Illegal activities
- Impersonation of any person or entity, or falsely states or misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity
- Infringement of another’s intellectual property, including, but not limited to, trade secrets, trademarks and copyrights of any type”

The list goes on, but you get the idea. Violations of such terms happen daily on Digg, so good luck with that. Then there’s this…

“Be Warned
The Site reserves the right to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.”

In plain English: If you decide to float a rumor about someone and it’s challenged, you can count on Truemors to reveal who you are without being forcefully compelled since the clause is in the site’s Terms Of Use.
If you pay attention and read the fine print, this is not a very welcoming launch.

And, not to beat a dead Truemor, but there is the tricky little matter of revenue. At launch, I see only one ad on the site for
Breitling (one of the most expensive watches available), Kawasaki’s favorite watch and another clue that his demographic nose is out of sync with his potential non-corporate executive audience. Translation: We have yet to be shown how or if this site can make any money, but it’s probably a nice toy to occupy the founder for the next six months.