So blogging works for book-lovers, Frank Wilson can attest, on his physical meeting with Nigel Beale: "Not that many years ago, he would have been a book lover in Canada and I a reviewer in Philadelphia and anything we knew about each would have been purely accidental. Thanks to blogging we are part of a worldwide network of kindred spirits. Admission to that network is based on mutual love of books and reading and writing." And "that global network of book lovers is only going to grow and strengthen. Whatever the future of publishing may be, it is a future that will be inextricably bound up with that network." Here's Patrick Lennon, for example, on book reviews and word of mouth.
But what's going to keep it all going? Making a viable business model out of internet enthusiasm remains elusive, as described by Chris Anderson of the Long Tail. Facebook and MySpace may be mega-popular and valued in the stratosphere, but just look at how their ads are doing. As Chris writes, "the traffic today is still mostly going to Facebook and MySpace. But as they struggle to target ads based on the faint signals of consumer behavior in a generic social network, the smart money is going to the niche sites, where laser-focused content and community makes targeting easy. The Long Tail of social networks isn't just more satisfying if your community is actually about something, it's richer, too." Chris also points to this post on The Challenge Dividend blog, providing chapter and verse for the smart money being on the small, subject-focused, "deep" social site.
But what's going to keep it all going? Making a viable business model out of internet enthusiasm remains elusive, as described by Chris Anderson of the Long Tail. Facebook and MySpace may be mega-popular and valued in the stratosphere, but just look at how their ads are doing. As Chris writes, "the traffic today is still mostly going to Facebook and MySpace. But as they struggle to target ads based on the faint signals of consumer behavior in a generic social network, the smart money is going to the niche sites, where laser-focused content and community makes targeting easy. The Long Tail of social networks isn't just more satisfying if your community is actually about something, it's richer, too." Chris also points to this post on The Challenge Dividend blog, providing chapter and verse for the smart money being on the small, subject-focused, "deep" social site.
See also Patrick Kurp's 'Enlivened':
http://evidenceanecdotal.blogspot.com/2008/05/enlivened.html
Posted by: Dave Lull | 19 May 2008 at 20:54