Are you familiar with Very Short List? If you are, you can stop reading here. If not, check it out. I personally think it's one of the best online services out there.
The idea is simple – a daily email with a single recommendation on something cultural. It can be a good book, a great movie, a DVD to buy, or maybe a short clip on You Tube. Some recommendations are for free stuff, and some are for stuff you need to buy. Overall, it's a very simple service that has opened my eyes to great things. Some examples include the great commercial for Bravia, the adapted do-it-yourself music video of Bob Dylan, The emotional British advert for Lloyd TSB, and most recently a great review on the amazing Mad Men DVD.
In my opinion, VSL such is a great service because it manages to combine a few great things:
- Great content - their editors know what to pick and recommend.
- Easy to consume - A single email a day, with ONE recommendation only. Never more.
- Somewhat Interactive - Responsive to its consumers (Every month, you get an email with the 3 most favorite recommendations as were "clicked" by the crowd).
I wish there were other similar services that will provide the same value but in other disciplines. Maybe Digg is moving to that direction with their new upcoming recommendations, and Outbrain (A Gemini Portfolio Company) is definitely providing similar values with a different service. As a consumer, I am hoping someone will come out with VSL for world events - a single email (every day) with a summary of the best (Doesn't have to be the most important) global story of the day. I personally raise my hand for that.
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