One Internet business model mega-theme, that I discussed in a prior post, is the Internet as a tool to shake up established markets by disrupting existing methods that consumers use to manage search costs.
Another mega-theme is the Internet as an evolution of better (or at least more novel, fun, or cool) tools with which individuals can express themselves. I can chart a chain of tools from when I first started using the Internet: interest-based UseNet groups, listservs, GeoCities and other “create your own website” tools, blogging tools, YouTube, Facebook and social networking sites, Twitter, Tumblr and microblogging sites, photosharing tools etc. When consumers find a better way to express themselves, whether by finding more convenient ways to share and publish content, or better reaching audiences, customers flock to these sites creating valuable properties for entrepreneurs. In particular, the recent “expression” tools have made expression easier and easier. When you think about the limited opportunities for most folks to have a meaningful megaphone pre-Internet, and the degree to which people take advantage of their ability to express themselves now that they have them post-Internet, it is easy to understand the value-creation opportunities that the Internet has opened up, as there is a whole new level of human expression that has been enabled.
[...] business model mega-theme revolves around expression. It gets its power from giving individuals a bigger soapbox, motivating expression through facilitating the communication of ideas and opinions. We have [...]
[...] post, which discussed “enablement” as an Internet business model, I linked back to a post from roughly two months ago about Internet-enabled expression as a foundation of successful [...]
[...] has gone a long way toward fulfilling that vision of empowerment of self-expression. I have written before that the history of the Internet can be tracked in terms of business models that make [...]
[...] See some of my prior posts on the Internet’s history: from its role as providing us better soap boxes over time, to enabling expression and sparking an unprecedented conversation among hundreds of [...]
[...] enabling the expression of its users and encouraging creativity and content production. See here. Curated sets provide another method, template and format for creating and sharing in a way that [...]
[...] the options — and continued opportunity — to replace them with more dynamic forms of content creation and distribution. Share this:EmailPrintFacebookTwitterLike this:LikeBe the first to like this [...]
[...] of a screw in the system that could lead to much better outcomes. So, for example: people want to communicate better, and better, simple, and more interactive interfaces like Twitter and Facebook exploded by [...]
[...] If you want the full posts, the first excerpt is from this post, while the second is from this post: My first exposure to the Internet beyond CompuServe and AOL was upon entering college when [...]
[...] frictionless. We’ve talked a lot about that on this blog. See for example this post. These types of ideas are particularly lucrative because while the information is valuable, [...]
[...] comes down to this: it’s depressing. The power of the Internet in terms of giving people voices, disrupting middlemen and institutions, and organizing people in networks means we can do a lot [...]
[...] one of the great thing about empowering everyone with a soapbox is that there is more of a likelihood that there will be some people who will not be co-opted, [...]