A new social networking service that has come out of Microsoft Research called Wallop raises the bar with a potentially new way of monetizing outside of the traditional ad-model.
The Wallop model is simple and pure genius. People create accounts on the site and setup their own pages using pre-built copy ‘n drag Flash components. Should they wish to personalize their pages further, they can buy Flash mods from a virtual market-place in a sort of micro-payment fashion. Flash developers from around the world are free to contribute to the market-place and split the profits 70/30 with Wallop, keeping the site ad-free.
This model has been very successful for multiplayer online games where developers create mods and add-ons for games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life and it will be extremely interesting to see if it’s embraced by a social networking user-community. My bet is that it will, especially as people begin to tire of MySpace’s crap and inflexible templates and advertising-chocked pages.
Although the service is in an ‘invitation only’ phase at present, Wallop has the potential to tap into an increasingly lucrative market and put smiles on the faces of many Flash developers who might be wondering why they went to tech for 2 years. It could also start to spin-off into other areas and rejuvenate the old-fashioned concept of paying for content online.
Michael Kinsley has written a very interesting opinion piece entitled Do Newspapers Have a Future? which is a very frank and authoritative smack-down from someone that comes from an ‘old media’ background.
Not to completely spoil the read I’ll just quote the last paragraph:
Newspapers on paper are on the way out. Whether newspaper companies are on the way out too depends. Some of them are going to find the answers. And some are going to fritter away the years quarreling about staff cuts.
While some might consider this to be a pretty bold statement, Kinsley’s prediction is based on current trends and stats (see Percent of People Reading a Newspaper) at least in the US and Europe to a certain extent. Whilst I am still of the opinion that newspapers will always retain a niche market, it’s clear that publishers need to start thinking about new business models and use their most valuable asset, “content”, in the most effective way.
Ironically, this is not what people usually shell-out for when they buy a newspaper but ultimately differentiates them from less reliable and amateur content.
Sometimes it pays to be homeless, well not really, unless you are lucky enough to be one of the 500 homeless people currently partaking in the Homeless World Cup in Cape Town until the end of the week. The aim of the event appears to be about creating publicity to stamp out poverty and not to watch a bunch of homeless people kicking a ball up and down a street pitch. The good news for South Africans is that our homeless boys are actually ranked higher than our national football team so we have a better chance of winning this world cup (let’s hold thumbs).
On another note, can somebody please explain to me what they do with all these players when the world cup is over? Do they find them employment and a house or is it one of those, “Er… thanks for your services Bob, we’ve left a little present in a brown paper bag next to your dumpster…” type of scenarios?
UPDATE: Russia beat Kazakhstan in the 2006 finals
Ok not quite, but a group of nut cases at Cambrian House decided it would be a good idea to purchase a white 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor MacBook, autograph it, and then send it on to other nut cases to do the same. Apparently all the nut cases that sign the laptop will be ‘Tech Rockstars’ and eventually the laptop will make its way on to eBay for auctioning and the proceeds will go to the Youth For Technology Foundation. They’re calling the project FollowTheWhiteLaptop and a blog has been setup to track its progress.
We could try the same thing in South Africa with people like Shuttleworth to raise money for charity. The first concern would be if we actually have enough ‘Tech Rockstars’ for starters and then whether the little laptop or little whatever would actually make it around the country more than once with the state of our postal system being as it is… I wonder.
I came across these puppies on my daily surf displayed here at the 14th China International Clothing & Accessories Fair in Beijing. They would go really nicely with my iPod and sports socks and I’m sure they would shock the hell out of passers by. Imagine these in size 11!?
The only thing I wonder is if they come with replacable parts and super-glue in case one or two of the keys fall off?
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