Collaborative annotation of web pages is far from a new concept. We’ve covered the field previously; there is a variety of startups competing in this space all offering similar feature sets.
Singapore based SharedCopy though looks like it might be the next step forward.
It’s annotations on web pages, and more.
Like Fleck, SharedCopy does not rely on a browser plugin. Annotation is delivered within the browser and without the use of JavaScript.
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Registering though has its advantages. Bookmarking is built in and users are provided with profile/ bookmark list pages and user feeds for sharing. Pages can be saved for public viewing or for private reference. It’s a nifty add on that makes it more than just an annotation site; it’s potentially a De.licio.us substitute as well.
Like other annotation sites, SharedCopy also supports sending annotated pages to friends, complete with a tinyurl style shortening service.
One particular feature makes SharedCopy stand out from the crowd, and yet if the company was based in the United States it would potentially be a lawsuit waiting to happen.
SharedCopy takes a snapshot of the page being noted, similar to Google Cache, and uses that page as the basis for annotations.
The benefits are obvious. Where as Fleck loads a fresh copy of a marked site, SharedCopy shows a cached version of the page as it was at the exact time it was marked for annotation. The feature guarantees that what a later visitor sees is exactly what the original user intended. Links are provided to the original source site.
I know some publishers are not going to like the idea that their sites are copied. It’s lost page views and there’s potentially SEO considerations with the duplicate content, and yet no one really complains that much about Google Cache, or even Archive.org
The site comes complete with Twitter and Basecamp support with easy posting to both via a bookmarklet.
In its April review, Startup Squad called SharedCopy a good choice, and it’s exactly that. If it takes off other players in the market will have a game of catch-up to play. It’s a package with features that for me at least, make a lot of sense.