The Social Web Economy: Who Are These People?
Posted by Nick O'Neill on August 7th, 2008 10:35 AMThis is a continuation in the series on “The Social Web Economy“
Web 1.0 was the only official internet bubble that we’ve lived through. That period was marked by hype and speculation resulting in the overvaluing of tons of publicly traded companies. Following the bust, a new series of companies began to emerge that were eventually classified as “Web 2.0″ start-ups. Web 2.0 is a complex thing to describe. If you’d like what’s now considered the “official” description of Web 2.0, check out the Wikipedia article which thoroughly covers the topic.
What was most important in this phase (which started somewhere between 2000 and 2002) is that you didn’t have as many ridiculous early-stage investments. If there were early stage investments, none of the companies were going public and even today we see the continuation of that trend. While there were bubbling centers of entrepreneurship (cities with a high density of members of the “creative class”), there was a lot of unrealized potential as people searched for ways that frequently would make them a lot of money quickly or at least rapidly generate a sustainable business via the web.
Many of these people were trying out new things on the general web but getting the attention of users was pretty challenging. Then in May of 2008 a fair amount of this unrealized potential became realized via the Facebook platform. A new channel opened that provided developers and entrepreneurs with a new channel to gain rapid exposure to users that would either immediately accept or reject their product or service. All of these applications were initially launched by one or two people that had an idea and stayed up overnight. Eventually millions of users were bitten in the neck, smacked in the face or sent a free gift.
While there were a few large, well-funded companies participating in the beginning of the platform, it was mostly built by individuals. These individuals were rapidly snapped up and wrapped into newly built and newly funded companies. As this mini-industry has sprouted up I continue seeking out companies and people that are adding value to the ecosystem. That’s because where there is value, there is money and money is required for an economy to grow.
In the process, I’ve identified the following participants that help make this ecosystem a reality:
- Developers
- Entrepreneur Leaders
- Advertisers
- Business Development and Sales People
- Analysts & Journalists
- Consumers
As the series continues I’ll highlight how each of these participants fit into the ecosystem as well as the following types of companies that they are building:
- Product Companies
- Distribution/Platform Companies
- Social Web Agencies
- Ad Networks & Sales Teams
- Analytics Companies
- Media Companies
Next post in series: “The Social Web Economy: Developers“.
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