Boyink! - Spring Forward on the Web

A few months ago, I deleted about 90% of the RSS feeds and mailing lists I was subscribed to.  I was just plain suffering from information overload, and my thought was to get rid of most of it, see what I missed, and add those back.  So far, I think I’ve added maybe 2 feeds back.

As part of that withdrawal, I took myself a bit outside the “internet hype-loop”, which I was reminded of this week.

I was reading an announcement regarding an upcoming site launch, and I hadn’t a clue what it was about.  I’m guessing if I had stayed subscribed to all those feeds, and read Digg faithfully I would have known what this announcement was talking about.

But I don’t think it was entirely due to my withdrawal.  I’ve noted that the marketing around so-called “Web 2.0” sites seems to be done in a strange way - with all sizzle and no steak.  I recently bumped into an old co-worker, and asked him what he was doing now.  For a couple of minutes he went on, talking about “new channels to market”, and “Web 2.0” and “Community” and when he finished up to take a phone call I sat there, still wondering “Yeah, but what does the site do?”  After spending some time on Google I found that it’s a place for film buffs to interact with other film buffs, and the site will also sell films online.  OK, why not just say that?

Again this week, I read another announcement about a site. The first thing that struck me was that the site hadn’t launched yet - it was yet another teaser announcement with no projected launch date for the site.  It went on to hype up the features that are “in the works” and that I should subscribe to the nifty AJAXified mailing list.  Then I could help out with the private beta at some point in the future.

My reaction…was a large stifled yawn.  First - if you didn’t already know about another site that this one is related to (and I didn’t) the whole announcement was pointless.  Second - do people still get excited about sites that don’t yet exist?  Call me cynical - but call me when it’s actually launched.  Third - why is it still about the “features”?  Is AJAX still the Web 2.0 Pied Piper - gathering users in it’s wake?  And fourth - do people actually have time they are willing to spend helping out these sites during a “Beta” phase?  Methinks Tom Sawyer would have made a killing in Web 2.0 marketing…

And so your point is…..

Good question.  I guess my point is I’m still somewhat mystified over the whole Web 2.0 thing, I’m amazed that people continue to spend time, energy and money trying to make a better MySpace, and I’m surprised that the “hyping up fluff” marketing methods around these sites are still getting used.

Isn’t it time for another round of innovation?

Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.

1. Chris Huff on March 28, 2007

   I agree with you 95%.  The other 5% of me says that people want to be involved.  They want to have a say in what services look like, because they’ll be using such services once they are complete.  They long for the day when information and technology is shared to the highest extend possible.  They want to do their part in directing the future of the internet.  They believe (perhaps naively) that we can make this world a better place through open communication and group projects.  To some extent, they’re right.

   So from a business perspective, I’d say your right.  Show me the final product.  But from a progressive perspective that hopes for how things could be, all the hype might be more than just hype.  It might be a better way of doing things.

2. Tim Bednar on March 29, 2007

   As someone who will be marketing a web 2.0 product (soon), I’m totally paying attention to what you’re saying. When our project hit an obstacle and my “dates” could no longer be reliable—I just pulled the plug on the marketing side.

   http://www.plaidfile.com/

   We will still use private beta sign up for invitations. But we still will not really be marketing the product until you can sign up, pay and use it.

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