Image via WikipediaVery interesting Semantic Web Gang from September, and a rather interesting panel I should add. It is no secret that I am a big believer in the Semantic Web and other “semantic” technologies although in varying degrees.
The page for the podcast seems to be down, but I will try and pen down some of the things that jumped out at me. It’s one of those things that you really have to think about when you’re building a platform business and who your target audience is.
IMO, it’s essentially impossible to build a consumer-facing business where your top selling point technology-based platform, and semantic companies are learning this harsh reality. In a B2B case, it’s possible to sell a platform, assuming it provides some compelling functionality and capabilities, but consumers don’t care about platforms, they care about functionality, so the trend of companies pushing capabilities and essentially “productizing” their platform is a trend that’s going to define “semantic” companies and hopefully that is one piece of marketing labeling that will die an early death.
But there is a third leg when it comes to the web. One of the best things Metaweb has done in recent months is to position Freebase as a data platform and not a destination site, or so it seems. In other words they have positioned themselves as a platform that can be leveraged by others to build those consumer facing products. I don’t know how they plan to monetize. Perhaps they will continue to do that with Freebase as a destination site (does anyone have an idea?). Similarly Calais is also targeting developers. On the other hand Twine is focusing in a different direction by making itself a destination site, which is not as compelling a proposition, especially since you don’t get the kind of quantum leap in functionality and productivity needed to switch over from your existing tools. Instead of becoming a destination site, it should suck in data and use the underlying infrastructure to help you find more relevant and interesting information. There are only so many interfaces one can use at any time, so I am not going to change my interface unless there is a really good reason to do so.
This is not a rant against Twine, which I do use (mostly via the daily digest, which should be a hint in itself), but rather one in flavor of the developer facing platform. We need to figure out how to monetize that model, a model that does not lend itself to advertising support, nor to the ability to generate tons of eyeballs, but to allow other people to build on top of their capabilities.
Semantic randomness
The page for the podcast seems to be down, but I will try and pen down some of the things that jumped out at me. It’s one of those things that you really have to think about when you’re building a platform business and who your target audience is.
IMO, it’s essentially impossible to build a consumer-facing business where your top selling point technology-based platform, and semantic companies are learning this harsh reality. In a B2B case, it’s possible to sell a platform, assuming it provides some compelling functionality and capabilities, but consumers don’t care about platforms, they care about functionality, so the trend of companies pushing capabilities and essentially “productizing” their platform is a trend that’s going to define “semantic” companies and hopefully that is one piece of marketing labeling that will die an early death.
But there is a third leg when it comes to the web. One of the best things Metaweb has done in recent months is to position Freebase as a data platform and not a destination site, or so it seems. In other words they have positioned themselves as a platform that can be leveraged by others to build those consumer facing products. I don’t know how they plan to monetize. Perhaps they will continue to do that with Freebase as a destination site (does anyone have an idea?). Similarly Calais is also targeting developers. On the other hand Twine is focusing in a different direction by making itself a destination site, which is not as compelling a proposition, especially since you don’t get the kind of quantum leap in functionality and productivity needed to switch over from your existing tools. Instead of becoming a destination site, it should suck in data and use the underlying infrastructure to help you find more relevant and interesting information. There are only so many interfaces one can use at any time, so I am not going to change my interface unless there is a really good reason to do so.
This is not a rant against Twine, which I do use (mostly via the daily digest, which should be a hint in itself), but rather one in flavor of the developer facing platform. We need to figure out how to monetize that model, a model that does not lend itself to advertising support, nor to the ability to generate tons of eyeballs, but to allow other people to build on top of their capabilities.