Web 2.0 entrepreneurs - make it relevant to everyone
I subscribe to Techcrunch, a weblog on what’s new in tech businesses and products. On a whim, I followed the links to IMEEM, a free (and now legal) music site. Very cool - tapped into some modern classic blues, courtesy of a site search on ‘blues’ which led me to a playlist by someone called Pitviper. Which I’m listening to right now, as I type this. And which I can share with my friends.
What’s this got to do with business? Prompted by a post from Mike Riversdale (just one of the many seriously smart folk at Fronde), it struck me too that most of this potentially very appealing entertainment/social stuff on the internet is hidden behind a snarky, tech-cool, in-crowd mystique.
Here’s a hint for the budding Web 2.0 entrepreneur. To quote ex-uberbanker Jonathan Sibley (now a university lecturer in Oz), the boomers are the richest generation the world has ever seen and they outnumber everyone else big-time. Now I reckon that most of them haven’t got beyond email and search. Find a way for them to access all this great Web 2.0 stuff, make them feel welcomed, and don’t scare them off before you start. You’ll also reach that younger mass market that won’t admit that it’s not really tech-confident. Do all that, and you’ll make a bundle of dough.
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June 21st, 2007 at 6:41 am
Kind of in keeping with my “You want broadband?, You can handle broadband!” post. No amount of trickery with tech stuff is worth squat unless it pulls the punters. Look at the spending demograpraphic and that a significant incentive to make it readily accessible. And not just for the tech’s at fronde and xero but for the general public. Maybe design departments at IT companies should hire a bunch of boomers with significant IT exposure to test concepts and applications pre deployment?
June 21st, 2007 at 9:28 am
I totally agree.
I suspect the ‘buzz’ around Web 2.0 comes not from the service providers themselves but the commentators, bloggers (I stand guilty of it myself sometimes) and other ‘not actually making web apps to be used’ type people.
But some do get a little ‘up them selves’ about how cool and “the next Apple” they are.
I always tell my mates that “Web 2.0″ is a moniker to ignore. It’s just a website that does stuff - if it does stuff for you, use it, if it doesn’t then move on.
PS: thanks for the shout out and compliment, I leave the PC for the kids with chest puffed out.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:29 am
Web 2.0 for the masses?
It’s called TradeMe.
Web 2.0 for boomers? You are soaking in it - your very own blog.
Beyond that is merely a discussion around exactly what you mean when you say ‘Web 2.0′, which is another can of worms altogether - although one that has been opened and pretty well consumed by thought-leaders working within the online space.
PS: Sibley’s comment is a little disingenuous at best, and a little jingoistic at worst - boomers are essentially a post-war western construct. One could also argue that he is saying “the number of people that you don’t market to is larger than the actual market that you do market to”. Specific products and services within the 2.0 space target younger groups for deliberate and important reasons. Others choose to target different target markets (geni.com, xero.com) to suit.
June 21st, 2007 at 12:31 pm
[…] 21st, 2007 An excellent post by Wil Schroter here that relates to what Jim and I have been talking about with regards design of software and […]
June 21st, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Thanks - great comments. Web 2.0 is just an insider term for the current wave of what’s happening on the web - and insider terms are handy. TradeMe and eBay are examples of C2C business that very deliberately made themselves accessible to everyone, made a tonne of cash as a result, and educated lots of people on what the web can do. Likewise dating sites. I’m not saying every web business should target boomers (another sweeping but useful generalisation), but if you’ve got a product that should appeal to boomers (or anyone else) and, importantly, that you want to sell to them, build that into your design thinking. However, some businesses should not go anywhere near them.