DISQUS

DISQUS Hello! How To Split An Atom is using DISQUS, a powerful comment system, to manage its comments. Learn more.

Community Page

How To Split An Atom

Jump to original thread »
Author

The Web’s Dirty Little Secret

Started by sbspalding · 11 months ago

If you gave me one month, I could show you how to triple your traffic. No, this isn’t a sales pitch or the intro to a twelve step program, it’s a point of fact. In one month I could show you how to become a successful content producer, not a weblebrity mind you but orders [...]




These icons link to social bookmarking sites ... Continue reading »

20 comments

  • Adrian Nadeau

    11 months ago

    Sweet Post, really like your points in it. Makes a lot of sense.
    reply
  • Steve Olson

    11 months ago

    Steve,

    Great insights. Most people just don't have time and don't care. And you're right, they won't until it solves a problem for them. The upcoming generations may make the social media mainstream if we can hold on that long. And if the whole thing doesn't morph into something completely different in the next several years. The other question is... What happens when a few big newspapers shut their doors. What will happen then?
    reply
  • sbspalding

    11 months ago

    That does worry me a little. The fact that we have displaced a certain percentage of popular media means that we have a responsibility to try to hold it together for long enough for someone to make something of it.

    Hopefully, it won't be too long. Recently I've seen some pretty cool uses of social tech in research and development, now I just need to start seeing some viable commercial applications.
    reply
  • raoulpop

    11 months ago

    You hit the nail on the head with this one, Steve. Thank you.
    reply
  • Stupid Blogger

    11 months ago

    Someone else who thinks the whole 2.0 sphere takes itself just a wee bit too seriously. Fab post, but unfortunately I don't think either one of us is going to change the "web 2.0 is now" views of the early adopters...
    reply
  • sean808080

    11 months ago

    Some great insights on what many of us have been seeing & feeling for quite some time. The assumed utility of services like twitter create the illusion that they really add value when they really just connect people no differently than other methods. It will still take the ability to create needs & wants to get people to part with their dosh.

    Speaking of which there is a woot off going on!

    :-)

    sean808080
    http://sean808080.com
    reply
  • ophelia_chong

    11 months ago

    The most important bill I pay is the cable bill. I bundle my cable, internet and phone into one bill. So what I pay for is, is access to the internet. Once I am on, I don't want to pay again. Unless it's for business (ie my flickr and portfolio site). Everything else, I will not use if I have to pay for it. Even twitter. If I had to pay for it, I would switch my favorite twitterers to my IM. Because 95% of the tweets I see are ephemeral thoughts floating around, not that interesting to pay for.

    What would I pay for? Hardware. Hardware that lets me take the internet with me anywhere (ie iPhone, blackberry etc). What I haven't seen is hardware that allows me to not have to work for a living.

    :O) ophelia
    reply
  • sbspalding

    11 months ago

    Well, I hear they keep a few pieces of that hardware in the U.S. Treasury. I don't think they like giving out sample copies though.
    reply
  • Christopher Harley

    11 months ago

    I think, by default, many people are buying into social technology as they're buying into GPS/Mobile-Tech. If our reputations precede us, then location awareness creates a need for reputations that exist in the ether that we've created and nurtured for the sake of sharing with others. As an exercise in personal brand management, it's important to me that I always create a persona worthy of a good first impression. The importance of this new media persona is still little understood and even less valued. With that said, I'm sure that in the near future even the plumber down the street will bare greater transparency for the sake of capturing more attention.
    reply
  • sbspalding

    11 months ago

    Possibly but as it stands the tools aren't "good enough" for him/her to build that persona. They don't make sense in a broad sense and it isn't clear how a social media identity would help a plumper.

    You're probably right but as of right now, I don't think the systems are in place.
    reply
  • Maggy Young

    11 months ago

    Great post Steve. You've hit on 'The emperor has no clothes' angle. Internet tech tends to exist in a self serving vacuum, which is one reason why much of web 2.0 may not endure. Also the more tech enhancements are added, the more barriers are created to mainstream adoption. The mainstream don't want to think how clever your site is, they want to get some simple use from it & be off - think Google, Ebay. Another Google killer may be an illusion - we need to find something which fulfils another big need in a really simple way. When you have thought of it let us know.
    reply
  • MasterCKO

    11 months ago

    really good points! Great article.
    reply
  • Tyler

    11 months ago

    Seesmic video reply from Disqus.
    reply
  • sbspalding

    11 months ago

    That's the point, startups like Cuil are cute but they don't do anything interesting. Incremental improvements in search are barely interesting from a technical standpoint let alone for the mainstream.

    Bitter? Nah. There are tons of things to be bitter about and the web isn't one. Just raising a point.

    Thanks for the video comment!
    reply
  • Joe

    11 months ago

    This a very interesting. Thanks for your insight.
    reply
  • Kimski

    11 months ago

    I hardly read entire posts, I scan. But, I read every word of this one. Thanks. My thoughts exactly!
    reply
  • gregorylent

    11 months ago

    and that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it is. great article about mainstream vs.edge reality of life. .... the only thing missing ... no one really has a choice as to where they are. because of who they are. because life is like it is.
    reply
  • Flug San Francisco

    10 months ago

    Well done Steve,
    I really enjoy reading your posts, as they are well structured and sophisticated. Well, I don´t believe that it is in our responsibility to hold something together and to wait for a messia to fulfill a miracle. The next generation has to decide on its own whether it wants to keep the web2.0 alive as well as we have to. Maybe there will be something much bigger and better in the future, we´ll have to wait, see and make the things we´re thinking they are right.
    reply
  • Billigfluege

    2 months ago

    I guess your are not from Frisco, you are from Gelsenkirchen ;-)
    reply
  • mlm prelaunch

    1 month ago

    not so dirty I supposed, Its just a matter of understanding the concept and the flow. The dirty part...its up to the user :)
    reply

Add New Comment

Returning? Login