A VC - Latest Comments in My 140Conference Talk

Re: My 140Conference Talk

RWK: disruptive tech/guerrilla — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:20:48 -0000

My youtube is an educational channel for gifted and advanced students, actually, making any student gifted and advanced.

Google naturally favors youtube videos for its search results so between my 20,000 subscribers (across 3 channels) and page one google visibility for keyword searches, If I start a series on "how to do long multiplication in your head," Then, make the last episode available exclusively to community members. The kids sign up.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:10:20 -0000

right, but what that says to me is build engagement with facebook and
twitter and get free traffic

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Melcrum — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:01:22 -0000

Great talk. I've seen similar trends as you on sites I manage that (1) consistently churn out new content and (2) are engaged in Twitter and Facebook. Sites I manage that don't do these two things get pretty much no traffic from Twitter or Facebook, however. So I think it is a particular kind of site you are talking about here.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:04:11 -0000

I'll check it out and get back to you

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Mark Essel — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:26:45 -0000

Wrote up the idea/gathered the thoughts. Mockup included. The mockup could apply to any social media interface. A collaborative effort between meta data/meaning tools and social media would be idea. Monetization for Web2010: http://www.victusspiritus.c...

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:20:14 -0000

Hmm in this context means I need to think about it

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Vladimir Vukicevic — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:44:08 -0000

Hmm = "Interesting and potentially good" or Hmm = "What the hell are theses guys talking about?"

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:54:15 -0000

Hmm

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:43:07 -0000

Cool idea

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Vladimir Vukicevic — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:58:44 -0000

I think that's a great idea. It retains some of the "personal touch/trust" since it connects to actual passed links by real people, but it also is able to scale those links to a potentially viable ad model.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Vladimir Vukicevic — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:55:35 -0000

I agree, that's one of the few different reasons that popped the dotcom bubble. But I think that now, almost 10 years later, we live in a different world.

Membership fees are just one of many different types of potential income. Advertising is still important but it will have to be different from before. The reciprocity you mention is spot on.

Because of this, I think that advertising shouldn't be eliminated as an option and a large opportunity. Advertisers are looking for partners now as opposed to just a channel - as the downfall of newspapers and the success of Google has shown.

With the scale that social networking is reaching, figuring out new models can't be that difficult.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Mark Essel — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:21:02 -0000

Vladimir, don't forget the dotcom 2000 IPO bubble popped because of a failure to consider and implement monetization. Users don't automatically donate cash because you give them something great. Businesses do when you make them more revenue.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Mark Essel — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:18:28 -0000

Very excited about monetization potential for not only social media (facebook/twitter/friendfeed) but for web content in general. The economy of the internet is evolving. I labelled gratitude as the virtual currency in social media, but that is usually shown with thanks and a link.
I'm worried about one hiccup. If passed links are the currency, how will advertising piggy back on them. Anytime I'm paid to refer something, my genuine recommendation has had all it's value removed.

I alluded to an alternative form of monetization as a comment a few days ago on your blog (http://www.avc.com/a_vc/200.... An advertisement window (very Googlish) based upon the meta data (semantic) of passed links.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Henry Yates — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:01:14 -0000

This blog reads like a one to one conversation with your audience - your 140 talk achieved that as well. I think the Steve Jobs's of this world are particularly good at achieving that, which is part of the reason it makes them so engaging to listen to.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

charliepinto — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:43:10 -0000

Of course! It's an idea I have been playing around with. Now I just need a CTO to help me build it out :)

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Vladimir Vukicevic — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:31:35 -0000

Twitter should think about developing some sort of pre-click link verification system, maybe in collaboration with Norton or VeriSign.

Who knows, that could be another potential revenue source. Verified links along with verified accounts.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:44:15 -0000

To be honest, I winged it.
I forgot that I had to talk about passed links so I spent about five mins prior to the talk going over my passed links posts from memory and then just went up there started talking.

I don't plan on doing that again but I think you are right about slides

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:44:14 -0000

Thanks. I didn't know who did that

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:44:13 -0000

I agree about url shorteners.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:33:19 -0000

Can you build it?

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:33:17 -0000

They never were for people who are pushing the envelope

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:26:11 -0000

I didn't realize that youtube is that good at driving traffic. I've not seem it in refer logs myself. What kind of community do you have?

Re: My 140Conference Talk

Vladimir Vukicevic — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:16:58 -0000

Profitability is inevitable when there is a participatory audience of millions. That type of mass possesses inherent value that can pretty easily be tapped.

Re: My 140Conference Talk

fredwilson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:23:48 -0000

Follow the money

Re: My 140Conference Talk

David Fishman — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:14:31 -0000

As many hav said, really insightful, thank you. The one question I have is how will the SN's stay alive without a profitable business model? I run a ton of sites and also have seen the increase in traffic from the major and even some minor but well targeted SN's. I just dont know how of any of these sites/companies are going to be able to sustain their business without becoming profitable.