The Internet Continues to Evolve… To Your Benefit
If you were expecting a blog from Jeff & Rich, don’t be disappointed. As they continue to create more content, answer questions on the radio show, and take the many calls and emails they’ve received since the latest Costco Connection Magazine was published, I offered to provide some of my thoughts, or at least some comments on recent stuff I’ve read.
An interesting interview with Bradley Horowitz from Yahoo by Wall Street Journal columnist Lee Gomes. The opportunities for everyone to create their own online business have grown, but don’t be caught following a crowd with a “me-too” idea. Make sure you’re following your own path with something you believe in. Too many ideas stem from a “get rich quick” plan that usually includes selling to Yahoo or someone else.
This Washington Post article takes a longer perspective on where we’ve been with Internet businesses. You always hear about the winners, and we forget the others. There are still huge opportunities to start businesses using the Internet as the foundation. But expect that change will continue. Today everyone talks about user generated content from YouTube and others. Tomorrow it will be someone or something different.
It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur, and everyone can be one. I’m a testament to that, as is anyone who’s at StartupNation reading this blog and joining the StartupNation Community.
John Siverling
August 4th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Youtube is actually an interesting business model.
Unlike the more derided and unsound business model of Myspace, Youtube is able to learn from those flaws. For one, the barrier to inappropriate content is significant due to the nature of the video format. Moreso is its advertising targeted to the specific video being shown instead of a site-wide impression which is also not shared with the content producers who upload videos. While patently unfair to them, it ensures YouTube has a solid handle on cash flow. Anyone wishing to make a living producing shorts online will have to make YouTube their first stop.
However, there are significant flaws beginning to appear. While the danger of inappropriate content and underage users is somewhat decreased than on social networking sites such as Myspace, the occurence of content that infringes on copyrights increases. While YouTube has been smart to ally with big media producers such as NBC and E! Entertainment, it has started to earn the enmity of smaller and individual content producers. A photographer from Los Angeles recently sued YouTube for displaying his copyrighted work on the site.
While these problems need to be solved and dealt with, Youtube rests on a more solid foundation than many other online community-driven ventures. And even if they do learn from their mistakes, it is definite that another entrepreneur will (and some already have) adapt Youtube’s business model and hard lessons for their own venture. They could even be reading this blog.