Information Collecting
"Originality is overrated", the authors of lifehack.org wrote (a concept they believe in, noting the obvious rip on "lifehacker.com"). When you take a look at Alexa's top 100 ranking websites for the US, it becomes more apparent that the most successful websites are really just a conglomeration of other people's information.
Here's a few:
1) Google- As noninvasive as websites come: just a search bar, and some colored letters. It seems to say "hey, I know you're not here to see me, let me help you send you on your way".
2) Yahoo- It's been the most popular portal on the internet for the larger part of its existence. Most popular feature is its search bar. It probably lost its first place rank because of its lack of Google's minimalistic approach
3) Myspace- A social networking hub for friends to share pictures, gossip, and flashy .gif's. Myspace isn't really anything more than a way to connect the dots (the dots being friends, see?)
4) Youtube- If videos were muslims, Youtube would be their Mecca. Everything is there, but Youtube doesnt put anything original out there.
The list goes on, listing search engines and file sharing sites, till it finally gets to the first "original-content" website: CNN, ranking at #19.
What does this mean to budding internet entrepreneurs? Don't focus so much on finding the "next new thing", but instead try to see how to get people together to share information. Ask yourself questions like "truckers have CB radios to connect to other truckers-- would they want a website?" (Truckbook.com is already taken... maybe Mytruck? Oh well...) Being a dot-connector really frees you up from constantly trying to increase a website's "stickiness", and lets you focus on simply maintaining the site itself, leaving the stickiness issue to the individual users.
Tags:
Here's a few:
1) Google- As noninvasive as websites come: just a search bar, and some colored letters. It seems to say "hey, I know you're not here to see me, let me help you send you on your way".
2) Yahoo- It's been the most popular portal on the internet for the larger part of its existence. Most popular feature is its search bar. It probably lost its first place rank because of its lack of Google's minimalistic approach
3) Myspace- A social networking hub for friends to share pictures, gossip, and flashy .gif's. Myspace isn't really anything more than a way to connect the dots (the dots being friends, see?)
4) Youtube- If videos were muslims, Youtube would be their Mecca. Everything is there, but Youtube doesnt put anything original out there.
The list goes on, listing search engines and file sharing sites, till it finally gets to the first "original-content" website: CNN, ranking at #19.
What does this mean to budding internet entrepreneurs? Don't focus so much on finding the "next new thing", but instead try to see how to get people together to share information. Ask yourself questions like "truckers have CB radios to connect to other truckers-- would they want a website?" (Truckbook.com is already taken... maybe Mytruck? Oh well...) Being a dot-connector really frees you up from constantly trying to increase a website's "stickiness", and lets you focus on simply maintaining the site itself, leaving the stickiness issue to the individual users.
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posted by antar37 at
10:31 PM
1 Comments:
huh, that's really interesting. How many successful websites don't actually focus on themselves, but others. That sounds quite familiar, where else have I read that...? ;) Seriously though, very insightful, keep up the posts.
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