Tag: ourmedia

A business model? What a novel idea!

Some of you might know that Meetup.com recently announced that the service is no longer free, and they will charge $19 a month. Basically the site has run into the “how do we keep this going” moment, and decided that the service is worth paying for:

If you’d like to explore alternatives we encourage you to do so. Really. As big believers in the expression “you get what you pay for” we think you’ll realize that Meetup’s worth the cost.

Today Marc Canter posted about the changes:

One good thing they did – they put their faces next to what they describe as “the bad news”. Me – I don’t consider it bad news. There’s a time for every social experiment to grow up, smell the mustard and get real. MeetUp has – congreats!

Did I read that correctly? Did Marc really say “There’s a time for every social experiment to grow up, smell the mustard and get real,” or am I misreading this? Nope, checked my glasses, I appear to be reading correctly. So what’s the big deal?

Ourmedia is a brand new site, and I’d definitely describe it as a “social experiment.” It depends on having a community of users, and because no one knows where it’s going to go, its very much an experimental project. So then, Marc, why is it a good thing for Meetup to have a business model, but somehow Ourmedia doesn’t need one? I still don’t buy the “Ourmedia will always be free” marketing spin – someone, somewhere has to pick up the bill. And just because one wealthy individual is paying for it today, doesn’t mean he’ll be paying for it tomorrow.

Ourmedia hasn’t gotten any stellar reviews, and I think the only reason they are still running is that they are free, so people give them the benefit of the doubt. They don’t expect good service, because they are not paying for it. So with that in mind, perhaps Ourmedia’s model isn’t so bad after all right? Wrong. Yesterday I mentioned that Google Video Upload was launched, and it too is free. I’d be willing to bet Google will make sure it works and is well-liked, just like all of their other free offerings.

Meetup.com got away with being free for so long because their service worked, and was relatively unique. I think it’s quite clear that the same is not true for Ourmedia – it doesn’t work, and there are better alternatives appearing every day. Maybe Ourmedia needs a business model. Maybe they should create a service that is worth paying for, and then charge for it. Maybe the people in charge should grow up, smell the mustard and get real.

Policing Ourmedia

Dickson has written up a post explaining a few more problems with Ourmedia. I also listened to the interview on IT Conversations that Dickson did, and I have pretty much the same thoughts – pipe dream. I’m ready to be proven wrong, but the policing of content will be another headache to add to the list I created a few days ago.

Marc Canter just kills me. Near the beginning of the interview, he tries to apply the term “open source” to Google, Amazon and eBay because they provide an API for their platform. Aside from the fact that Eric Raymond and others probably have a thing or two to say about that, if those three companies are open source, why not Microsoft? Microsoft is not a software company, they are a platforms company. Windows is a platform with extensive APIs. Same with .NET. Same with Windows Mobile. Same with Office. Same with the new XBOX. The list goes on.

While we’re talking about Ourmedia, if you want to know what its like for users who just go and try it out, read this post and this post from Robert Scoble. Robert described it like this: “The Our Media experience was a bit rough.”

Ourmedia has launched

I first learned about Ourmedia back at Northern Voice. The site launched today, and I must say, it looks very sharp! Definitely take some time to check it out, I know I will be.

Yet at the same time, I don’t think Ourmedia is the “wave of the future” as co-founder JD Lasica has called it. There’s a few different reasons for this:

  • Nothing is ever free! While admirable, Ourmedia’s promise to host your all your media forever should not be taken at face value. What happens when the money behind it now runs out? What happens if their servers go down or are damaged and a bunch of your data is lost? You aren’t paying them, so you’re stuck. Accountability becomes a major concern.
  • A business has to make money. This point is similar to the one above – what happens when the money behind it now runs out? It’s not a government project, so it cannot be funded by taxpayer’s dollars. Someone has to pick up the bill. Eventually, they’ll need to find a way to make money. Value-added services perhaps, and then how is it different from any other site?
  • People like to do things themselves! Why doesn’t everyone have a blog at Blogger? Because some people just like to do it themselves. To build something on their own. So how effective will Ourmedia be if not everyone is on board? I guess we’ll find out with regards to this point.
  • Specialization! Video is quite different from audio which is quite different from pictures. Is there a single way to manage, store, share, etc. all of this media? Probably, but I don’t think it’s the best way. Ourmedia will probably never do images better than Flickr, for example. Specialized services will always have their place, and will be very important.
  • As usual, privacy. I don’t think this is as important, but there will undoubtedly be people who will raise concerns and thus cause headaches for Ourmedia.

I applaud Ourmedia for getting their idea out there and ready to be used. And I wish them luck. I just don’t think it’s the revolutionary service its being hailed as, nor will it ever be.