Re: UKNM: Communicating trust poorly: Zoom.co.uk

[David Bentley]

>Questions:

>

>1. Why aren't Zoom up front as to who *and* what they are?


The whole ISP thing isn't their main focus for the site though it may be

their main offering.  From looking through the site they are clearly trying

to be everything to as many people as possible for the least amount of

expenditure.  The list of categories that they cover is unprecedented for

an unknown Internet brand, I would hazard a guess that only Yahoo do more.


News; Weather; Whats On; Footie; Fashion; Money; Shopping; Prize; Draws;

Jobs; Travel; Magazine; Find Friends; Search Engine and surprise,

surprise...Free ISP.


Yet none of the services they offer on the site are theirs (except the

clothing and the gadgets).  It seems to be a site limited to links.  I lost

count of the number 'contibutors' or 'partners'.  The major content source

is ThisIsLondon but i never saw any notices of "Supplied by..." or "Brought

to you in association with..." or even a copyright message, and none of the

content is repackaged for their site and audience.  It makes me wonder

whether they have actually licensed the content or whether it is a sneaky

trick of looking like a service provider but not really offering anything

except links...


As such the site fails to deliver much.  I wouldn't go their for any of the

sections listed because they offer a very sparse listing on every subject.

But then again I am sure I am not a target audience.  It seems to be

unfocused and shallow.  Even, as Chris mentioned, their shopping section

seems incongruous with the audience...


It seems to me that they are trying to make a play as a "portal", by

capturing customers into the free ISP trap and giving them a rather poor

offering as a services and content provider as cheaply as possible.  It

does also seem to be a portal for their brands - which really shouldn't be

clumped together.


The whole site confused me (and the Azhar brain, no less!) and I assume it

will confuse the average Internet beginner.  The content is not in keeping

with the brands that it is associated with and in the end may even make the

whole "connecting to the Internet for the first time" experience a

unwelcome one (but i may be going too far!)


Perhaps Arcadia should get a little more focused on the audience that is

trying capture and supply a service which would ease peoples' web

experiences rather than adding to the confusion.


The whole site does bring up a number of other questions in my head...


There is a Free ISP gold rush at the moment - who is gonna benefit from it

all?  


As with local ISP's c.1997 which were bought up by Pipex etc. is there

going to be one company that will benefit from buying all the disparate

free accounts in a year or so time?  


Will it be AOL?


David

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