1st March 2013
Reblogged From parislemon
Notes: 157
Over the past few years, a bunch of web-based marketplaces have gotten popular – Etsy, Kickstarter, AirBnb, to name a few. Many of these business ideas had been tried before but are succeeding only now.
When a trend like this emerges, it’s always interesting to ask “why now?” For example, for almost a decade, entrepreneurs tried to create video sharing services like YouTube, but only succeeded when certain key dependencies – broadband, digital video cameras, a version of Flash that “just worked” – became widespread.
I asked Roelof Botha the “why now” question regarding web-based marketplaces. He said something I thought was really interesting: marketplaces depend on trust, and trust requires knowing the reputation of a prospective counterparty. Today, for the first time, you can get background information on almost any prospective counterparty by searching Google, Facebook etc. Or put more simply: we finally have an internet of people.
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Is there a better snapshot of the current awkward relationship between technology and humans than Google autocomplete?
Got an invite to the New Myspace. Here’s what it looks like.
I just got a “Voice” on Facebook
Is Pandora scared? Probably.
What do you think?
Interesting entry point. Listen 3 times.
- ‘Madonna’ gets listens and royalties(?) for each play.
- Spotify gets more opportunities to serve ads targeted to people who like Madonna.
- You have to endure at least 3 hours of Madonna to see the concert, so they’re getting true fans not entry junkies.
So can I win Black Keys tickets for listening to them on repeat all day yesterday??
“we finally have an internet of people.”
It seems to me that forced auto-following is becoming a new standard for launching apps and platforms.
In the past week, I’ve created accounts on Jig, Oink, and Soundtracking via my Twitter credentials. When I check my profile, I’m already following a chunk of people. Even more, I already have a handfull of followers (see below picture). It’s been two minutes since I signed up, even I can’t convince myself they were all waiting on the platform me me to join, found out, then followed me immediately. So how did it happen? Double Auto-follow.
It is nice to see the same early adopters everywhere I go on the web, but I’m intrigued that there is often no prompt telling me you’re about to follow x # of people and you will automatically follow anyone who joins the platform that you already follow on Twitter, forever, from now on. It’s not opt-in.
In some cases, like Jig here, it’s not even opt-out, ever. I get what this function does for viral growth and early connections, but as more people keep joining that don’t expect auto-follow to happen, it seems inevitable that there will be a backlash.
What do you think?
UPDATE (12/12/11) - Thanks to Nick @ Jig for the response:
These search buckets on Spotify are great, especially the the focus on Public Playlists. I’m betting people will be naming playlists to get discovered.
What does the new Spotify have in store?
Quick impressions: There’s a new focus on Friends in stream and favorites, you can play music directly through the apps, and Songkick scans your Spotify library (though not your playlists, etc).
And if you want to load up a preview of the new Spotify for yourself, head here.
Rock on.
