If you dream of setting up your own little social networking, widgetized, diggable, video sharing, community-based Web 2.0 site and making millions out of the gate, it’s time to get real.
A gut check is taking place around the web with people realizing that, while it is far cheaper to start a YouTube.com than one of the original portals VCs sank tons of money into in the first internet gold rush, the party is over for simply launching and getting bought for millions.
Does that mean Web 2.0 is dead for the little guy? Not at all. It’s just getting started.
But the easy traffic and instant community is not so easy or instant as it was for the trail blazers of last year.
Now that everyone and their sister knows about the craze, and the fact that you can start a YouTube of your own for chump change, competition for buzz and novelty is absolutely sky high.
There is a growing list of video sharing sites. Gazillions of Digg wannabe sites. Who knows how many Myspace’s.
And everything is going vertical with smaller, niche oriented networking sites popping up where there is far more room and interest in being a bigger fish in a smaller pond.
There is some good discussion going on out there about what to expect now that the market for the first iteration of Web 2.0 is starting to normalize.
Fractals of Change: Web 2.0 – Greater Initial Investments Required
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Jack,
Do you think there is an opportunity for making “YOUTUBISH” sites for niche markets -like you are in the internet marketing niche can you see value in craeting a video directory of the best internat marketing videos?
It wouldn’t be as big as YouTube but would definatley be profitable.
Do you see in 2007 any niche that can apply video on a broad scale could make a mini niche youtube???
-Jonathan
Jonathan,
Yeah – the vertical niches have all been left untapped to date. Pretty much every video site on the web is trying to BE YouTube with general interest, accepting anything and everything.
We are building a niche video sharing site ourselves, as I am sure many people will this year in many niches.
I think the verticals are coming. There is an interesting environmental vertical for environmental videos http://www.treehugger.com/treehugger_tv/ and there is a new vertical focused on comedy http://www.superdeluxe.com/ . It will be a challenge to see how the search engines do at indexing these verticals now that they (google) competes in this space.