Is there a new web trend called the Lazarus effect? There might be for Irish websites WeddingsIreland.com and Muse.ie that fell by the wayside following the dotcom web implosion and are being given a second lease of life.
Hugh Durkin of south Dublin web consultancy Comado and another firm called Media Space have already brought WeddingsIreland.com from the grave 10 months ago.
Later this month the joint venture will relaunch the formerly Eircom-owned Muse.ie as a social networking site similar in style to UK music magazine NME’s popular site for launching bands.
The joint venture is also looking after Novadance.ie, a website that was very popular when the clubbing scene thrived in Ireland in 2002.
Muse.ie is set to be relaunched before the end of the month. The site was established in 1997 and was part of the Rondomondo division of Eircom that folded in 2001.
In its heyday Muse had dedicated music journalists covering the Irish rock music scene and former fans suggest it was ahead of its time, featuring music clips and videos at a time when dial-up was the only way to view online content.
Durkin told siliconrepublic.com that the aim is to not only emulate the standard of the former Muse.ie but will also cater for user-generated content such as videos.
“It will feature its own in-house editorial but users can also write their own reviews and upload videos. It will be similar to NME.com in that the site’s users can rate new bands.
“Like many people who read Muse.ie I was in school around the time Eircom folded Rondomondo. It was only recently we realised that the domain was up to be grabbed and there was an obvious gap in the market for Irish-focused content.
“We looked at the revival of old sites using Novadance as a test bed. The new Muse.ie will work like Bebo in that users can upload their own videos. We were going to launch it in December but decided to wait until we’ve gotten it right.”
Durkin explained that Comado has developed an online publishing platform that it is rolling out across various websites. “WeddingsIreland.com was Ireland’s first weddings site in 1997. Ten months ago we revived the site and it is now the second-busiest weddings website in the country.
“We’re going to be doing social networking across all the websites that we revive but it won’t be 100pc based on social networking as the sites will also feature in-house generated content and directories,” Durkin added.
By John Kennedy
