Lee’s Interviews: SiteHoppin

Introduction

This is a post from Entrecard Blog!
From today I will be making a weekly Interview with a Entrecard member. Most of the next 10 interviews are already planned but I will be looking for some more in the next few weeks.

Today’s interview is with SiteHoppin blogger Jung ‘Max’ Lee. As many of you will know Site Hoppin is a way of browsing other Entrecard blogs with just a click of a button. He also has many other types of sites for you to hop over at the click of your mouse.

This interview is a way of getting into the crazy mind of the Video Blogger and seeing if we can find out what else happens

If you would like to have a 10 question interview with me please message me over Entrecard and we can see if we have any free spaces.

You can also read this interview on my Blog along with some other Entrecard posts including the U DROP / I FOLLOW Movement

SiteHoppin Interview

Your one the few Video Bloggers on Entrecard at the moment. Do you think that video blogging has gained you more viewers? (Link to one Video: here)

I actually started out video blogging because one day I got too drunk and thought it’d be cool to make a drunken video. I wasn’t going to keep doing it but it seemed like people in general liked funny videos so I kept going. I think video only helps if your blog topic is entertainment. If your blog is purely informational, most people probably rather read then watch.

SiteHoppin has changed a lot in the last few months. How do you think it will evolve in the future?

Well, we have added a lot of features so I think the site will continue to grow. The greatest thing about SiteHoppin is that it’s a mix of many little things here and there, no one can copy us, especially our videos.

You use beer a lot in your videos, site and your whole business design… Do you think you may have a problem?

Well, it really just started as an experiment and initially we did get some people offended with beers everywhere but in the long run, we’ve picked up a lot of drunk people on the internet, and we can’t change that since most of our users are beer lovers. Lol, yes, I’d probably be “labeled” as an alcoholic in America. But where I come from, Korea, drinking daily is a tradition passed down from over 2 centuries ago. My whole family drinks well, my dad, my mom, my sister, my cousins, my uncles, etc… etc… I am actually “one of the most sober” ones who can’t keep up. Excessive drinking is probably a problem for any culture, but a bottle of Soju daily or your favorite brew is recommended for a happy life. My grampa use to tell me that I can do anything, just do it in moderation, and I think I am doing that.

How much have your learnt from SiteHoppin?

SiteHoppin has taught me that you have to keep adding new features and innovating your site whether that’s a blog, wiki, or whatever. It’s not really what you add but that you keep improving it, whatever it takes.

Do you have any advice for anyone starting a widget based website?

Yes, if you are going to start a widget based website, make sure there’s a community to run the site. Without the community, it’s an empty site and widgets have been around for more than 5 years already, people have only marketed them as “widgets”

Heck, you can even start your own 125×125 exchange site using this software here:

http://phpwebscripts.com/easybannerpro/history.html

But without major modification, I doubt you will get anywhere near Entrecard. Spottt is simply re-marketing an outdated technology whereas Entrecard has actually improved on it ten fold.

How much of your idea came from Entrecard? And how much of your users come from Entrecard?

Well, I did get the Beer Credits and Beer Widgets from Entrecard. I did, at one point, even make a site called, EntreWiki.com. Other than that, Entrecard just came at the right time for me to adapt the site hopping system to drop cards. But I didn’t make SiteHoppin to drop cards faster, I actually based the site concept on StumbleUpon, I wanted to make a site like SU except let people stumble sites like TV, automatically. You go to the Apple store and it’d be cool to have all their computers hopping automatically to a new site while people walk around, sorta like TVs are playing themselves. People shouldn’t have to type or click anything, they should be able to “watch” the web too.

We are going to make a SiteHoppin remote control for your TV later down the road, so you can watch the web on your TV.

When you do you think your site will be able to earn you the living you expect to get from it?

Well, I guess hard work and luck both have to be there. We’ve just started an online stock market where people can buy a share of our total web traffic. If that takes off, I think I could make a living from SiteHoppin.

Where did your idea for SiteHoppin come from?

Well, mostly from lots of brew really. I used to go bar hoppin’ every weekend couple years ago. I went to almost every party in San Francisco. Couple months ago, I read about “blog hopping” from GyuTae over at WinningTheWeb.com and I thought it’d be cool to make a site called Site Hopping. SiteHopping.com was taken so I had to go without the g, so SiteHoppin.com

Who do you look up to in the blogging world?

Well, I do look up to Phillip Torrone at Makezine Blog, his blog got me started blogging couple years ago while I was working for a microcomputer company called Comfile Technology. He’s a cool cat and a good speed blogger. Back then, I didn’t even know what a blog, wiki, or anything was. Heck, I didn’t know php, mysql, ajax, or any of that. If it wasn’t for his blog, I’d probably still be selling microcomputers.

Do you have any other projects you will be working on in the future?

Well, I used to make a lot of sites in the past and couldn’t focus on anything so I think I will have to stick with SiteHoppin for now, so no.