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.
I wonder how long it will be until we talk about search engines/web portals like television channels. Lots of them are streaming TV shows now, including Google Video which is streaming the premiere of Everybody Hates Chris (Via John Battelle):
If you haven’t really checked out the Podbot website, you definitely should! One of the things you’ll find is a collection of video that we recorded throughout the creation process. Some of them show us talking about what we’re learning, and others are more fun, like the Podbot driving over Micropets.
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