Jyte is a new service that leverages OpenID to allow users to start a discussion on any “claim” they care to make. Other users can then vote and discuss those claims. Users can give each other credibility points regarding any topic by tag. It’s a nice, full featured site that could come in handy for all kinds of different discussions. It’s more timely than ever now that OpenID is gaining more widespread support every day. The best thing about OpenID is that it allows a single sign-in across all sites the support the protocol. If you have an AOL/AIM user name, you can now use it to log in at all kinds of different sites, including Jyte.
Jyte is a nice, lightweight service with a lot of possibilities. There’s a lot of sophisticated social networking type features included. If you’re looking for a polling feature with more personal accountability and context this could be just what you’re looking for. The site is a product of Portland, Oregon’s JanRain.
You can log in to Jyte with any OpenID login, which as of last week includes AOL. I used JanRain’s MyOpenID.com service, but if you want to participate in a discussion you can also log in like this: http://openid.aol.com/
http://jyte.com/widget/claim/many-techcrunch-readers-would-be-interested-in-jyte
As you can see above, there’s a nice embed function. Claims can also be subscribed to by RSS. Users can make related claims and there’s a similar claim filter upon submission to decrease duplicates. Participants in Jyte discussions can be limited by group membership via the API‘s “social whitelisting” feature.
Only a few things have disappointed me about the service so far. The embeddable widget appears to be very limited in the length of the claim displayed. It would also be nice if I was given the option to log in from inside the iframe widget instead of launching a new page. Finally, as you can see via the claim below, if I make a claim just for discussion I’m automatically listed as being in agreement with it. In this case, I don’t.
I think Jyte provides a good look into the cutting edge of online conversation. It may also prove useful in and of itself. Of course that’s likely only true if OpenID sees widespread use. That’s what I think – how about you?
http://jyte.com/widget/claim/openid-is-just-a-bunch-of-elitist-hype
Marshall Kirkpatrick is the Director of Content at SplashCast and will be assisting with TechCrunch while Michael Arrington travels.