List
Business Models on the Web
Gil & Frank Discuss Business Models (Podcast)
Twitter $ (Video)
Economics of Giving It All Away (WSJ)
Disrupters: ecommerce (Video)
Business Models of News Websites
5 Business Models for internet Startups
Questions
How is social media changing accepted and/or successful business models?
What emerging technologies are considered disruptive?
Are there traditional business models that are successful with ecommerce?
Intial Response
1) Less is More. This business approach, held by NextJump and Alice, stands in direct opposition to the theory of the Long Tail. They have been successful thus far, as have Amazon and Zappos, who each take a Long Tail approach, so there doesn't seem to be a clear winner on this point yet.
2) Don't use data to guess. THANK YOU. There's a healthy balance to seek out here - if you use data poorly, you may become a spammer but if you use it well, there are privacy issues to consider. We are certainly in the "Era of Privacy" as a nation, trying to fumble our way to the edge of a blurry line.
These articles are all relatively new when it comes to academic study, but in the technology genre, so much has already changed since the early 2000s when many of these were published. One interviewee indicated that print media was still superior to online media for promoting discussion and elsewhere online sites were criticized for not leveraging interactivity significantly. At this time, the landscape has drastically changed and Twitter has been a part of the transformation. With its simplistic 140 character approach, Twitter has made information more accessible and relevant as users choose who to follow and can identify and search for trends. Increased access to the internet via broadband has certainly played a part, as predicted.
Twitter has also addressed another perspective shared several years ago - that online sites could not be a collaborative, continuous source of news. With iReport on CNN and headlines with shortened links provided via Twitter, this could not be further from the truth.
Today I watched a live TwitCast where Zachary Levi, an actor on the television show Chuck, used his smartphone video camera to provide a live feed from the set via a link from his Twitter account. As a follower, I was entertained and it was fantastic!
I was surprised to learn that ads provided over 82 percent of revenue for traditional daily newspapers.
Evan Williams made the distinction in defining Twitter as an information network rather than a social network, which I found helpful and true, based on my own experience. That definition changes my perspective on how Twitter can be used and what it can accomplish.
Twitter seems to be in great need of a defined revenue model, which they do not have in place today. At some point, regardless how popular, a technology tool has to be self-sustaining rather than funded by venture capital. Williams indicates that there are plenty of opportunities, one which is to extract value already realized by corporations with existing Twitter accounts. Whether that makes it into their final plan is anyone's guess; he's pretty tight-lipped about their revenue model, no matter who asks about it!
You consistently provide insightful, relevant commentary and this post is no exception. For some reason I'm not as concerned about Twitter's long term prospects. It seems to me the most formidable challenge is finding popularity and they obviously have done that at a high level. To me gaining access to consumers is a very valuable accomplishment. I trust that the access can be leveraged in a profitable manner. Creative approaches and solutions will emerge that capitalize on this access.
ReplyDeleteIn saying this I'm aware that I'm guilty of a fundamental mistake that many have made: failing to formulate an explicit plan. But, nonetheless I feel confident Twitter's revenue and profit opportunities will be myriad. Stay tuned!