Re: A money-making web site

Mark Gross (eld02471_at_interramp.com)
Mon, 22 Jul 1996 19:04:59 -0400

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On July 21st, Erik Kraft writes:

I seriously doubt that any, *any* professional site is making money. =
Almost
everyone seems to be trying to capture mindshare for some later event =
which
will let them make money, a lot of money.

He goes on to express uncertainties about the future because no one is =
making money yet.

The problem it seems is a confusion between the Web time and the time it =
takes real people to adopt new technology. If Web time is in dog years, =
then
human adoption is in redwood years. It took fifty years before the =
indoor toilet caught on. People just didn't want that thing in the =
house--in fact, the name was out house.

I think the challenge is twofold: we (I'm just as guilty as anyone, I'm =
doing web site development for a big city daily) assume that the Web is =
the killer app for home computing. The reality is that a more likely =
scenario is a robust Web market business and industrial purposes--Jim =
Manzi's betting on this. People are online at work, and more and more =
business resources are going up. Business decisions are complex and =
more tied to information than emotion, perfect for Web marketing.

The second is that we (again, assuming most here work in media or for =
agencies) seem to think that traditional media models shocked into =
interactive modes will win on the Web. In fact, software companies are =
winning and have business models that are quite compelling. Just look =
at companies like RealAudio, Pointcast, and startups like iChat for =
examples. Content may be king, but software's flush with opportunity.

Mark Gross
Cowles Media Corp

(my opinions are my own, not theirs)

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