Since the 1990s, there have been very few successful attempts to make money providing content online. Direct commerce online has proven profitable, with eBay enabling a new marketplace. Google has helped buyers find products. Amazon has even reached a viable scale. Underneath this infrastructure, individuals and small businesses have been able to create profitable businesses.
A few content sites are generating enough advertising revenues to be viable. The original thesis was that traditional media companies and individuals could create an infinite number of content sites. Self-publishing tools proliferated from GeoCities and others. I wondered how many people had time to continually dedicate time to creating content that anybody, even family and friends, would want to read. The reality is that amateur publishing is hard to maintain. While some smaller publishers survived, most failed.
Is there anything different about Blogs that could enable significant, new advertising-supported or other business? I don’t see it yet. Google and Yahoo should be able to create some incremental advertising inventory providing tools. Companies that create those tools could make modestly attractive acquisition candidates for the major services.
I do see blogs as an intriguing way to communicate to friends, family, and professional constituents. Compared to the first generation of publishing tools, blogging is easier to start and maintain. It's easy to see blogs providing value to small groups.
As more people seek honest advice before purchasing products and services, can blogs provide a forum for influencers to reach larger groups? Opinions posted on ecommerce sites have become somewhat tainted. Blogs may seem more independent and trustworthy. Unfortunately, fake blogs have become major news. Given how rapidly these were oncovered, there seems hope for creating constructive opinion platforms with blogs.
For delivery of media content to large groups, RSS could prove a key enabling technology. There may even be application of RSS to enterprise content delivery.
I still expect the vast majority of communication will still be email.
However, part of the reason I started this blog is to find how how the medium evolves.
I agree a blog is not a big business. Blogs are part of a platform. I expect an opensource model to emerge. I see how to make money. I'll keep you posted.
Nice meeting you today at AO breakfast. I was impressed with your views and analysis.
Posted by: John Furrier | February 17, 2005 at 01:52 PM