Where are the masses?
Is Squidoo inability to take off and reach the masses unique or maybe many of the so called web 2.0 companies need to re-examine their approach? Can it be that the concept behind many of these companies targets a small portion of the entire population?
I guess I am, at list somewhat, one of those early adopters. I enjoy technology for the sake of technology. I enjoy using a web site that was design well. I even pack my hard drive with many applications that nobody really need.
But even the most dedicated web 2.0 follower has to wonder who really need this company , or this . And when they coined the term software as a service , they meant to a real service not only a delivery method.
So before dreaming about being punched by Yahoo! Listen to this advice :
A good review in Techcrunch can get a company their first 5-25K beta users very quickly. However, I’d strongly caution entrepreneurs from taking their initial consumer adoption metrics and extrapolating them too far into the future. I believe startups will find it difficult to cross the “Techcrunch chasm” between the Web 2.0 geeks and Mainstreet USA.
If we could get access to the usage logs of the top 10 Web 2.0 properties, I would bet that their 10,000 most active users would all be the same.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Add New Comment
Viewing 12 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Those who will fail are not the ones that have a small portion of the entire population, but the ones that can't sustain on a small user base. If your RSS feed tagging and microformating service needs the MySpace user base to be profitable, you're in for an unpleasent surprise.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
My approach is to judge companies by one metric: can you make a killing from the early adopter crowd? If the answer is yes, you have a head start to go bigger.
If the answer is no, you run out of money before you can figure out how to cross the chasm.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
I think Flickr is good example for that, they solved for me real life problem and this is why i'm a paying customer.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
I've been wondering a lot about what "real life" problem means. Most of the people I talk to think it's photo sharing. I tried several sites, and I think Flickr is better for some people, worse for others. Besides, I don't think photo sharing is a real life problem begging to be solved.
Then there's attention. How do I get people to pay attention to what's going in my life? Or to pay attention to my works? Evey social interaction I have is defined by that. That's a real life problem in my book. And that's a problem Flickr solves brilliantly.
As a business that rocks. The people who value that attention are definitely willing to pay for a better service. The people who value that attention are also good at building buzz.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
And I was thinking about your first comment, some service are by definition not intended to the masses. For example your listing plugin for wordpress, this is something that intend to develop technological capability and is for now intend to very small group of users.
But most of these "services" just trying to capture enough traffic for long enough that Yahoo! will notice them and buy them.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks