The Media is You
Submitted by Marie on 1 May, 2008 - 10:26.
As you are probably aware, user-generated content is topping the popularity charts on the net. Millions log on to post their own web pages, blogs, videos, albums, surveys and more. They build their own community of friends, family and fans who can’t seem to get enough of it. Behind this radical shift that is challenging the traditional concept of ‘mass media’, there are companies that are raking it in big time.
Welcome to the social networking revolution! Powered by the likes of MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, YouTube and Digg, millions now log on to share the ins and outs of their life, and document their personal experiences for a potential audience of over a billion Internet users, spread across 233 countries around the world.
Money Walks, Ideas Talk
Back when the dot com euphoria was sweeping the world, many saw the Internet as the next mass medium that would dethrone TV.
Multi-million dollar domain sales were the order of the day, with Business.com commanding as much as $7.5 million, with no viable business model in sight. Similarly, Sex.com fetched a cool $12 million - another business whose value was pegged solely on being prime Internet real estate.
A look at today's most popular web sites indicates that none of these over-hyped domains lived up to their name. The value of a web business is based on the uniqueness of its offerings and the profitability of its business model. Yesterday's hot domain deals have gone down in history as symbols of the mindless greed and hype behind the dot com 'bubble valuations'.
Over a decade down the line, the most successful web sites have proved that it's not big money, but big ideas, that drive the Internet. What else could explain the explosive popularity of humble beginners such as MySpace.com, Yahoo.com, Google.com or the bandwidth-powered YouTube.com, while most richly-funded startups bit the dust?
As most dot com millionaires would agree, big money is actually a deterrent when it comes to building a successful website. Big money talks, but small websites listen. The most popular and addictive websites are listeners and enablers. They readily take the backseat, giving users easy and powerful ways to express themselves and connect with like-minded people. And therein lies the key to their success.
My Oyster is my World
In an age when the world has been flattened and shrunk to fit a computer screen, human nature hasn't changed. As technology pushes the boundaries of time and space, we retreat within to seek comfort in familiarity.
No matter how far we go, our main interest is in seeking ourselves. We passionately seek to reinforce our identity with the people, places and events we can relate with.
For me personally, I enjoy visiting the following sites:
1. Digg - This is so I can find some interesting topics/articles that have recently been dugg. It allows me to get on top of new news that's just happened. This is what I like about it. However, I don't particularly like the community, it seems so impersonal as so many new items are being dugged at such a fast rate and the comments you provide are quickly forgotten as the thread gets longer and time passes.
2. Entrecard - If I want to network and join a community forum, then Entrecard is one of the best. The majority of members are very helpful and you get to know who the people are through the forums and also by being able to visit their blogs or websites very easily.
3. Blippr - I like this site and it is slowly growing, as I love movies. I can be the first to review the movies, music and books I like and it becomes a permanent record in their database. So if someone searches for a movie title (and you have blipped it), they can see your brief review about that movie. It also has a really nice GUI feel about the site.
What web site/s do you relate to and frequently visit?
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The power of social media has definitely grown thanks to how cheap and easy it is to create user-generated content on the Internet.
Looks like the creators of Blippr also created Judge-o-Rama, yet another social website!
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Submitted by Search Engine Panel (not verified) on 3 May, 2008 - 18:09.Marie,
I visit Digg regularly but never really participated in the comments and I rarely make submissions to the network. I enjoy Entrecard more because of the solid community and friendly members. I am still new to Blippr and I must thank you for mentioning the site. :D
My favorite is Stumbleupon which I respect more than Digg. In Stumbleupon, I can say that content is indeed king. As more people rates a page, that page will surely hit other members who have not seen it depending on the category it was stumbled upon. Digg will only show you the top articles for a day or two and then it goes away.
I also like visiting news.ycombinator.com for startup news. :D
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Submitted by Louie (not verified) on 4 May, 2008 - 03:40.@Search Engine Panel - I agree, it is so easy to create user generated content these days and it's further perpetuated with the advent of many new social networking sites being created.
Thanks for informing me about Judge-o-Rama; it does seem that the company Tag Team Interactive owns this and Blippr.
@Louie - Wow, I actually helped you find Blippr? I usually find out from you and your great site on the new techno news and social media info...I'm humbled to be able to help you in some way :)
I totally agree, entrecard has a friendly community with great people and Digg is useful to catch up on the latest news but not to socialise. We have also used SU and it has also given us a fair bit of traffic to our site.
Thanks for telling us about news.ycombinator.com - it looks like a very techie site.
I really appreciate how people like you and other visitors to our site (like Search Engine Panel), who contribute such great info. that I find I'm always learning something new each day!
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Submitted by Marie on 4 May, 2008 - 12:17.Despite the real estate analogies you used in your entry, it's not real estate at all. If it were, then owning the "perfect" address [business.com, for instance] would make its owner a success [see "location, location, location"]. The real success stories in Web 2.0 are the ones with the best ways to foster community for a disjointed group of Internet users. We all want in to the hottest "club", so we flock to the latest social networking group. If someone could create a real world analogy to the best social networking sites, he or she would be mind-bogglingly rich in months.
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Submitted by Mike Riley (not verified) on 4 May, 2008 - 13:47.@Mike Riley - That's right, it's really those sites that listen to their visitors and have a solid community where people can interact and express themselves, are more successful.
Imagine a real world place/s that reflects the most popular web social networking sites - the line to get in would be really long, lol!
Thanks for stopping by :)
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Submitted by Marie on 5 May, 2008 - 00:15.I find the problem with many sites - Digg in particular - is once they become really popular they become havens for spam and spammers. Sometimes I wonder how certain articles get "dugg" so much.
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Submitted by Hibs (not verified) on 7 May, 2008 - 20:15.@Hibs - People that network well, especially internet marketers will benefit from a lot of social media sites to push their products, promotions or ideas through. That's probably why a lot of content get dugg by hundreds of people on digg, but a lot of promotions can also be seen happening in other sites such as youtube.
Once you form a strong social network with a lot of people (and you each think alike) then you can certainly promote an item, content, news, etc. far more quickly and easily so that it goes viral and hence, becomes popular.
I guess you could say, popularity has now become the eye of the beholder :)
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Submitted by Marie on 8 May, 2008 - 09:46.Marie,
Just wanted to thank you for giving blippr a shout out. We're glad you like the site and look forward to opening it up to more people in the near future. Thanks again for the positive review! We plan on doing a lot with blippr, so stay tuned and feel free to drop us a line anytime with your feedback. We're listening.
Sincerely,
JC
Chief Executive Guy of blippr
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Submitted by Jonathan C (not verified) on 15 May, 2008 - 14:11.Hi JC,
I really enjoy using blippr and it's great when you are the first to blipp a movie, music or book that you really like as you can share your experience with other people.
Thanks for dropping by :)
Cheers,
Marie
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Submitted by Marie on 16 May, 2008 - 11:05.Post new comment