Web 2.0 Bites the Big One (someday)
It's funny to look back on your life.
This page was a political page where I wrote all manor of prognostications (over 150) on the heavy subjects of the day, and quickly grew bored. I deleted every one of those post when I decided to utilize this space for something else. Well, every post but two.
Jan 1, 2004. Looking back so much has changed, and so much hasn't. My love of writing has led me to start one of the more popular weblogs in Nashville - NashvilleHype! - it's also led me to want to start this one again, only this time, no politics!
The other thing that hasn't changed; I'm still an 'idea' guy. I have one right now. It's a Social Network and it's in Alpha (meaning it sits in my head). That's what got me interested in what will be the current subject of this blog - all the hip new 'web 2.0' stuff. /turn buzzword off.
Can you still make a billion dollars by starting a SN? I think so. I'm not inclined to believe it's impossible - I think the key now is to do something novel. I know, apparently that's pretty hard to do as places like mashable point out - one copycat after another doing what they were born to do - fail.
How many YouTubes, Digg's, Photobuckets, Slides, et.al. do we really need? Once one goes to the top it's kindof hard to knock it off unless the value proposition is better for the customer - hence the rise of MySpace and the fall of Friendster. MySpace, for all its flaws, turned out to be something people wanted in a User Interface (UI). Go figure. Snap Preview is cool - love that utility - and what (to me) embodies a winner.
One place I like to visit is CNET's Top Ten Dot Bombs. This is where you can find out how much money was spent on loser ideas like Webvan ($300 million), Boo ($160 million), and Go ($790 million) - holy shit! It's a good thing to remember when pitching your idea. The people you're pitching to might be powerful, and they might control the purse strings, but they are far from infalible.
What will happen with my idea for a SN? Well, it's doubtful that anyone will do it. Everyone is looking for riches in a different direction. So it's entirely possible I could make a billion dollars for someone and a little pocket change for myself.