The Archives

• 07.22.08
  Premium Means You Should Envy Them
  Brands and Marketing

  My last post talked about Rene Girard and the concept of mimetic desire. I want to continue with some additional thoughts… Premium products are often marketed via some aesthetic base, often using visual cues (logos, design, premium materials, etc) to make others consumers ‘envious’ to the point that they feel they must have it too. The value is obvious to all who see it. It seems most web services forget that making other users ‘envious’ of the premium features they could have is a necessary step to monetization. For example, the reason that car models change design ever year or two is ...
  
  
• 07.14.08
  The Price Is Right but the Process is Wrong
  Social Media

  I have been thinking a lot about the role of price points in web 2.0. Much of the ‘bubble’ we hear about stems from the reluctance of those utilizing products to pay for them. It’s not even that there is a reluctance to pay something – there is a reluctance to pay anything at all. Wired Magazine recently featured a cover story anointing this the free economy. However I believe that the reluctance of consumers to pay for online applications points to much deeper concerns than simply price alone. Intuitively it makes no sense to me that someone wouldn’t pay ...
  
  
• 05.09.08
  Monetizing Twitter
  Social Media

  Adrian Henry from ReadWriteWeb offers the following suggestion as the ‘Ultimate Twitter Revenue Model’: The perennial debate surrounding Twitter's revenue model continues to live on…If an acquisition isn't shaping up, monetization will be necessary to keep Twitter afloat…leveraging context may prove to be a great way to drive revenues while maintaining the integrity of the platform. Essentially, this would entail Twitter parsing over the Tweets of a given user, as well as the Tweets of the users he/she is following. Common keywords, themes, and phrases are then pulled from this data and associated with that user. As a result, highly-targeted ads can ...
  
  
• 04.04.08
  Target the Wanna Be’s
  Brands and Marketing

  It struck me today that the many of the most successful business models on the web are targeted at the wanna-be’s.  Consider, the success of Urban Daddy or aSmallWorld. Are these services really being used by the elite? Hardly. The elite are on a network you and I have never heard of -- if they are on one at all. Wanna-be’s on the other hand, have aspirations. They seek conduits providing them with potential. It’s the 90% striving to be the 10%. Targeting  the wanna-be’s is also largely industry neutral; whether a huge client like Disney, or brushing shoulders with the ...
  
  
• 02.19.08
  Scoble’s Great Comment Monetization Idea
  Social Media

  Buried in the comments of yesterday’s war of words (or was it a staged coup for traffic?) between Fred Wilson and Techcrunch, Robert Scoble posted a gem. Scoble suggests that a great way for websites and/or blogs with many comments to further monetize is by letting each comment act as a mini advertisement for the author. For example, Scoble himself would pay to have his comment closer to the top or highlighted in blue. Likewise, Scoble’s new employer, Fast Company, would be willing to pay for its logo to appear next to a well articulated comment. Great idea Robert! ...
  
  
• 01.24.08
  10 Pros and 10 Cons for Facebook Being the Next Google
  Social Networking

  Cons 1.     Employees self-proclaim “we don’t do any work!” 2.     First serious attempt at monetization was a disaster 3.     Early scam artists are now investors 4.     Struck a deal with Microsoft, not Google 5.     CEO is regarded as a ‘douche bag’ 6.     MySpace still crushes FB in terms of eyeballs and MySpace really sucks 7.     The younger generation is all about Webkinz 8.     FB top engineer masquerades as a stripper on weekends 9.     Facebook’s idea of good PR is a 60 Minutes special 10.  The valuation is crazy even compared to companies making real revenues   Pros 1.     Catching up to Myspace like a Ferrari 2.     Has a war chest of cash on ...
  
  
• 01.14.08
  Startup Monetization Strategy: Brand-Claimed Accounts
  Business Models, Social Media

  There is a good dialogue taking place on business models started by Chris Anderson. However, one model I see left out is what I call “brand-claimed accounts.” In a recent post on handles and user names I made the point that many startups have begun to attract interest (use) from brands and other organizations who are looking to have presence on new media websites and apps. The reasoning for a brand to want presence on different sites could range from communications and marketing (Twitter) to advertising (Facebook Fan Pages) to Biz Dev (Jobster or LinkedIn) to SEO. While ...
  
  
• 01.08.08
  The Mistake That Some Startups Make
  Social Media

    From an investment perspective it has always bothered my that some startups launch with the goal of first obtaining scale, and only later introducing advertising or other form(s) of monetization. However, this strategy has also bothered me from my perspective as user. It wasn’t until now that I knew why. Fred Wilson over at Union Square Ventures and host of others have recently chimed in regarding Twitter’s lack of a business model. Twitter is perhaps the epitome of a startup lacking any clear money making direction and yet we all know it is coming. Facebook is another example of a ...
  
  
• 10.12.07
  The Google Effect: Suppliers Beware
  Tech'nomics

  An interesting trend is taking shape within the world of venture capital and web 2.0 startups. During the last bubble, the liquidity event everyone hoped for was the IPO. Now it seems to be an acquisition by Google (though ipo’s may be on the horizon) and who else besides Google is really in acquisition mode? With only one primary buyer in the market, the issue becomes similar to that of Walmart, in that Google now has the power to command favorable pricing from suppliers. The latest example is Jaiku. I have heard a lot of folks question why Google didn't buy ...
  
  

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recent posts

• Premium Means You Should Envy Them
• Teaching Dad About the Internet Circa 1994
• The Turning Girl IQ Test
• The Long Tail and Mimetic Desire
• The Price Is Right but the Process is Wrong
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• Techcrunch Forums Hit DeadPool