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Docstoc - the Web 2.0 way to share documents
By Michael Lundberg | November 21, 2007
A couple of weeks ago, I got an invitation to join Docstoc, a community driven site for sharing documents online. Think of it as the YouTube site for documents. Unlike many sites, this site has no web crawlers for indexing random documents. It relies entirely on its users to submit and tag content. Both anonymous and registered users can upload content. Once that document is uploaded, other users (registered users only) can rate your document from 1 to 10, tag (that’s tag, as in a metadata tag) your document, or leave a comment. It also offers some useful statistics on the documents like the number of times it’s been downloaded. Lastly, you can also see related documents and other documents uploaded by that user.
A recently implemented feature which is similar to YouTube gives each document a unique link and an embed link. Anyone can use the embedded link to attach a document to a blog or other website. That’s a very slick feature that I’m sure will see some usage if the site continues to draw users. I’ve embedded a document below, so you can see how it works. I found it by searching for “Docstoc”. From the notes, it was an early presentation and site mock-up from the CEO, Jason Nazar.
Some site and service highlights:
- supports a good variety of file formats: .doc, .xls, .ppt, .txt, and .pdf
- all documents are free - no subscription is needed
- allows anonymous document uploads
- unlimited upload ability
- documents are organized by language (most are English) and categories, making it easier to find what you need
- documents can be downloaded or emailed (email is a nice touch!)
- registered users are given a profile page (for example) and can keep their uploaded document private
- if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can put a request in for particular type of document
Things I’d like to see:
- Integration with Google Docs (documents, spreadsheets, presentations)
- The ability to convert .pdfs to .docs and vice versa
- Inline comments - this would be especially useful in the many legal documents indexed on the site
I originally had an invitation to the site, but since then Docstoc has gone public, so there are no free invitations to pass out (as here and here). Even though it’s technically still in beta, I found it relatively easy to use. Give it a try and tell me what you think! And tell ‘em Michael send ya!
Note: I’ve noticed some formating issues above. This also happens when I embed YouTube videos. There’s a problem in my Wordpress theme that I need to work out… (sorry ’bout that!). The formating problem has been fixed. It was an error related to the way that Wordpress handles embedded flash. It had nothing to do with the theme or CSS.
Topics: Web 2.0 |