We also took out some fields to simplify the user experience, as well as some filter options. We removed the history (recently viewed) items... all things that were distractions. Ratings were removed and will come back in a better form in a future release.

Where is Twine headed from here?

The rest of the year will continue the user experience focus, fine tuning. Our 2009 focus will be on opening the platform with an API and focusing on the semantics, with smarter recommendations and a richer structure to content. Upcoming will also be the ability to add RSS feeds, people tracking, etc. which can help add recommendations in your interest feeds. And, of course, on monetizing the site.

In an economic downturn, monetization is the question everyone is asking. How does Twine plan to monetize the site?

We'll be rolling out a form of marketing within Twine. We hope to be to marketing what Google was to advertising, with a new form of personalized, opt-in direct marketing. Rather than display ads, although that will also be a possibility, we'll have items marked as sponsored content items, and Twines will be made about products and product categories. We have some patents pending for how we'll be matching this type of marketing with users, and hope to create a noiseless environment.