Battle of Web 2.0 – omy vs xin

Most of the people have been to local portals like omy.sg or xin.sg already. They are the new generation of news information portal which adopt the Web 2.0 design concept. You see big icons, more audio/video, blogs and some elements which cannot be found in earlier generation of the web site. Mediacorp first launched the xin.sg and followed by SPH's omy.sg.

The term Web 2.0 only emerged in these few years. Actually, the definition is not so clear cut. Example of such portal is like Flickr, Meebo, Blogger etc. A typical Web 2.0 portal is more interactive and accepts user content.

Let's examine what they have put into the portal to attract more readers.

News
omy focus mainly on local and world news. In some of the news, they allow people to listen to voice translation, watch video and participate in news discussion. xin contains all types of news like local, world, business and sports. They also have video and allow people to comment. The video content is generated using the past tv news.

Entertainment
omy entertainment section contains the entertainment news, music and movie review. It also has video and allow user comment. xin's content focus on local artist and some other region entertainment news. They also have music, movie review and video content.

Lifestyle
Everybody has their own unique selling points. omy has shopping guide, collector, car test drive, food, multimedia, games section etc. xin has food, comic, books, technology news etc. However, omy appears to have more sections on this topic.

Forum & Blog
Both provide forum for the user to participate in all kind of discussion. omy hosts some of the blog of local famous people. xin provides links to Mediacorp singer/artist's blog.

Unique section
xin:
Poll – Allow user to vote on one topic
DV Campus – Show case student DIY news
Blend into Singapore – Provide information for new immigrants
Special report – For current hot topic

omy:
Citizen journalism – Allow user to report news and photo
Showtime – Highlight special
Y-zone – Place for the young people
Lobang – A user participation classified section

After going through the two portals, there are certain similarities. The font and pictures are bigger, more user participation, discussion and visual components. Everyone has their own unique contents. People would be spoiled of choices. Or just simply visit all of them!