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If you attract a large number of eyes, you can always monetize them somehow. Also, at this point, it's unlikely Twitter-ers would use a clone of Twitter, becau

by palish 19y ago

If you attract a large number of eyes, you can always monetize them somehow. Also, at this point, it's unlikely Twitter-ers would use a clone of Twitter, because everyone is using Twitter.

ivankirigin 19y ago
I heard something about facebook status messages duplicating what Twitter does. But I think your view is pessemistic. Isn't the whole point of startups that users aren't loyal and will change to a better service? So if you monetize by adding something annoying, people would change to a new service that doesn't have it. Who, for example, makes money on blogging? Premium services are a small part of the market given the free tools to do it.
- aston 19y ago
  You imply that adding monetization weakens the product. That's not always true; Google's search ads are a great example where the results are enhanced via the monetization. Even in cases where the product is diminished, that effect is not necessarily enough to drive away your audience. Especially if you have strong network effects in play.
  - ivankirigin 19y ago
    True, I made a blanket statement. Network effects can keep a product strong. But it doesn't make you money. "Get Eyeballs" can't possibly be all of it.
    - aston 19y ago
      At the moment, it's the best anyone in web 2.0's got. I agree, though, I'll reserve my jubilation for when I see a billion-dollars-in-revenue web 2.0 company appear.
acgourley 19y ago
I think this statement will be repeated for years and years. The problem is that at some point it will only be used to poke fun at our past selves for taking the idea too far.
- palish 19y ago
  If you have a large audience, and you can figure out what at least one person wants, you can monetize the audience. Are you thinking you're going to make millions your first try or something? Small steps.
  - acgourley 19y ago
    Just don't turn a good rule of thumb into a religion.
    - deleted 19y ago
      [deleted]

by palish 19y ago

If you attract a large number of eyes, you can always monetize them somehow. Also, at this point, it's unlikely Twitter-ers would use a clone of Twitter, because everyone is using Twitter.

ivankirigin 19y ago

I heard something about facebook status messages duplicating what Twitter does. But I think your view is pessemistic. Isn't the whole point of startups that users aren't loyal and will change to a better service? So if you monetize by adding something annoying, people would change to a new service that doesn't have it. Who, for example, makes money on blogging? Premium services are a small part of the market given the free tools to do it.

aston 19y ago
You imply that adding monetization weakens the product. That's not always true; Google's search ads are a great example where the results are enhanced via the monetization. Even in cases where the product is diminished, that effect is not necessarily enough to drive away your audience. Especially if you have strong network effects in play.
- ivankirigin 19y ago
  True, I made a blanket statement. Network effects can keep a product strong. But it doesn't make you money. "Get Eyeballs" can't possibly be all of it.
  - aston 19y ago
    At the moment, it's the best anyone in web 2.0's got. I agree, though, I'll reserve my jubilation for when I see a billion-dollars-in-revenue web 2.0 company appear.

acgourley 19y ago

I think this statement will be repeated for years and years. The problem is that at some point it will only be used to poke fun at our past selves for taking the idea too far.

palish 19y ago
If you have a large audience, and you can figure out what at least one person wants, you can monetize the audience. Are you thinking you're going to make millions your first try or something? Small steps.
- acgourley 19y ago
  Just don't turn a good rule of thumb into a religion.
  - deleted 19y ago
    [deleted]