Re: UKNM: Communities: Fact or Fiction!

[Nabil Shabka]

Was about to reply to this original posting in the first instance but got

sidetracked.....Decided to now however as, in a market economy, people can

have different views on what can be successful business model.


Clay Shirky wrote:


> > This was a bit of a surprise to me.  I had always assumed that aiming to

> > create online communities was a sensible aim for building traffic, and

> > that therefore it would be a sensible part of any business model.

>

> Unlikely - community is usually measued in the thousands, with the

> number of truly active participants numbering in the hundreds. Traffic

> needs are usually measured in the millions, with repeat traffic

> measured in the 10s or hundreds of thousands.

>

> Community can be a fine addition for those that want it, but the only

> 'community' sites that have that kind of scale are value-neutral

> homesteading places like geocities.

>

> Look at hte failure of places like Echo and the Well to become viable

> large-scale businesses.


I believe that a well structured community will be the ultimate business

model.  As regards Echo or the Well - what was their business model to begin

with, they focused on the meeting place not the revenue.  Just they got it

wrongish does not mean that the model is not viable.


> > 1. Can people think of any commercially viable community based sites?

>

> Geocities et al. iVillage-style sites which seel an idea of community

> while remaining primarily publishers is another stab at the

> problem.


I wouldn't actually call Geocities a community - communications makes a

community, not 3.5mn websites. ivillage and women.com I agree.


> > 2. Do they agree that a community site which is not just an online

> > version of an existing brand can form a viable basis for a commercially

> > successful site?

>

> Disagree.


Totally agree that it's possible.


> > 3. Are there any commercially viable sites in their own right at all?

>

> Of course. Yahoo, Amazon, FedEx, slashdot, on and on.


I would tend to agree with Clay with one caveat, some of these sites haven't

proven that they're commercially viable yet (Yahoo or Amazon - will they be

Well stories?) and sites like FedEx are an add on to an existing business, not

commercially viable sites in their own right.


Nabil


> > 4. The million dollar question ­ Is there any published info on how

> > websites make money with real­life­example income streams?

>

> news.com, industry standard, silicon alley reporter, forrester,

> jupiter, ...

>

> -clay


--

Nabil Shabka

BiblioTech

50 Carnwath Road

London,  SW6 3EG

UK


http://www.BiblioTech.net


Tel:  44-171-384 6980

Fax:  44-171-384 6981


********************

UKNM is sponsored by Excite UK, visit us at http://www.excite.co.uk.

Email Khalil Ibrahimi

khalilexcitecorp [dot] com (mailto:khalilexcitecorp [dot] com)

 to advertise on Excite.

********************

Change your UKNM subscription use http://www.chinwag.com/uknm.html