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I can't help but feel that the Internet is hamstrung by overreliance on advertising as a revenue model ... All of the opposing forces you describe simply evapo

by rusk 8y ago

I can't help but feel that the Internet is hamstrung by overreliance on advertising as a revenue model ... All of the opposing forces you describe simply evaporate if you charge a fee for access to the API. Something small and unobtrusive but which would at twitter scale add up to an awful lot of moolah. Because you're not trying to monetise your users beyond that it doesn't really matter if loads of people stop using because the network effect isn't important. But at the end of the day it's all about monitoring the activities of mass populations as much as it is about direct advertising revenue, and that's too priceless for the big corps to let go of.

_cs2017_ 8y ago
Why would network effect not be important? Even without the advertising model, your profits would still depend on user count, no?
- rusk 8y ago
  No, that's not the network effect I'm thinking of. To wit: The value intrinsic in the relationships between your users ("The Network") - to the point that you want all users whether paying or not.
  - _cs2017_ 8y ago
    That would be just as important for a subscription based service. If your friends use the service, you're much more likely to continue using it and keep paying the monthly fee.
    - rusk 8y ago
      Yawn
ams6110 8y ago
It matters if loads of people stop using it to the point that you can't keep the lights on. I'd suspect that "loads," in fact the majority, of twitter users would not pay anything out of their own pocket to use it.
- rusk 8y ago
  These remarks don't really address the points I was making. Firstly, if people want to use it, and pay for it, even small charges at mass scale pay off. Something like twitter doesn't cost a lot to run in particular at unit cost. If they don't, GOTO 10: "the Internet is hamstrung by overreliance on advertising as a revenue model" How else do you monetise your service?
- mulmen 8y ago
  Sounds like it isn’t very valuable then.
zbentley 8y ago
> Something small and unobtrusive but which would at twitter scale add up to an awful lot of moolah. That only works if there is something else preventing competitors from monetizing end-user attention instead. That's possible, but (I don't think) probable.

by rusk 8y ago

_cs2017_ 8y ago

Why would network effect not be important? Even without the advertising model, your profits would still depend on user count, no?

rusk 8y ago
No, that's not the network effect I'm thinking of. To wit: The value intrinsic in the relationships between your users ("The Network") - to the point that you want all users whether paying or not.
- _cs2017_ 8y ago
  That would be just as important for a subscription based service. If your friends use the service, you're much more likely to continue using it and keep paying the monthly fee.
  - rusk 8y ago
    Yawn

ams6110 8y ago

It matters if loads of people stop using it to the point that you can't keep the lights on. I'd suspect that "loads," in fact the majority, of twitter users would not pay anything out of their own pocket to use it.

rusk 8y ago
These remarks don't really address the points I was making. Firstly, if people want to use it, and pay for it, even small charges at mass scale pay off. Something like twitter doesn't cost a lot to run in particular at unit cost. If they don't, GOTO 10: "the Internet is hamstrung by overreliance on advertising as a revenue model" How else do you monetise your service?
mulmen 8y ago
Sounds like it isn’t very valuable then.

zbentley 8y ago

> Something small and unobtrusive but which would at twitter scale add up to an awful lot of moolah. That only works if there is something else preventing competitors from monetizing end-user attention instead. That's possible, but (I don't think) probable.