Stetoscope

It might seem strange or funny but when you start-up a web2.0 internet project (here meaning a social-service) even if you know precisely where you want to go, the functionnalities and the problem you want to solve you do not know what usage will be done of your plateform. Moreover, it might take some month to realize how it will socially work. And a quick success is not necessarily a good sign.

Let’s consider two case-study : netvibes and twitter. Netvibes was an innovation with a very clear usage : “make your widget pages”. The usage was obvious and immediate. So the success has been hudge since the very first time but not really evolutive and the social application “universe” not that easy to settle. Today, netvibes has many competitors its capacity to evolve is quite reduced and they seem trapped in their own product.

At the opposite twitter which seems quite confusing at first time (just remenber your registering time), has gathered a community and its usage has really evolved from an open discussion tool, to a broadcasting tool, to a human browser, to a powerful advertising tool… Indeed, twitter’s platform has not evolved that much since the beginning, what has really changed is how its community is using it. And if think about it, youtube, facebook, even wikipedia or google has let their community build socially their inner rules.

Thanks to calacanis post about twitter’s business model we can appreciate the financial aftermath of this position. The way a community use a product is key to find and optimize a business model. Just remember calacanis reasonning: twitter’s community is on twitter to communicate to the widest people possible. So twitter must sell “some twitter’s share of voice”. The reasonning process is clear “what is the value for the community”? and then “what formula would increase consumer’s value so-much they would pay for it?”. Once you have answered those questions you know where you go. The interesting part of it is that the real risk as to capital last until you cannot answer those question, once you can the investment is far less risky (so less expensive).

May be you should let your community rule your website and communicate with them intensely to build a giant of the internet…