Highlights from the Web 2.0 Expo Conference - May 2010

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Highlights from the Web 2.0 Expo Conference

Presented by Carol CoxMay 18, 2010

http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2010

Strategy & Business Models Track

Sessions on: News Media: Success without Google Open APIs Lead Generation Ad-Supported Communities Freemium Virtual Goods Virtual Currency and Offer Walls Behaviorally-Targeted Advertising

Plus: HTML5 vs. Flash The Internet Operating System

1. Media’s New Business Model:Success without Google

Panelists: Jessica Vascellaro (Wall Street Journal) Bernard Gershon (GershonMedia, LLC) Tristan Harris (Apture) Heidi Perry (ShareThis) Darian Shirazi (Fwix)

1. Media’s New Business Model:Success without Google

Publishers have love/hate relationship with Google

1. Media’s New Business Model:Success without Google

U-Turn Traffic

1. Media’s New Business Model:Success without Google

Publishers looking for ways to increase engagement

1. Media’s New Business Model:Success without Google

Better engagement with users from:

1. Media’s New Business Model:Success without Google

Business Models for Publishers:

Advertising (still primary)

Subscriptions

Applications

1. Media’s New Business Model:Success without Google

More targeted display ads from “social signals”

Groupon ads becoming content as well

1. Media’s New Business Model:Success without Google

Integrated and Immersive Ads

2. Open APIs:Evolve Your Business Model

API:

Application Programming Interface

Session by Sam Ramji, Sonoa

2. Open APIs:Evolve Your Business Model

Shift from Direct (buy from manufacturers)

2. Open APIs:Evolve Your Business Model

Shift from Direct (buy from manufacturers)

To Indirect (buy from retailers/middlemen)

2. Open APIs:Evolve Your Business Model

2. Open APIs:Evolve Your Business Model

Successful applications will use many different APIs

And they will take your applications everywhere.

2. Open APIs:Evolve Your Business Model

For successful companies, 80% of traffic will come from beyond the browser.

2. Open APIs:Evolve Your Business Model

Use the tail to feed the head

2. Open APIs:Evolve Your Business Model

3. Sharing is the New Lead Gen

Session by Rashmi Sinha, CEO and Co-Founder of SlideShare

3. Sharing is the New Lead Gen

Lead generation models work well on the web if done right

3. Sharing is the New Lead Gen

Wrong way = Fill out a form to get white paper/article

3. Sharing is the New Lead Gen

Better way = Don’t put up walls

3. Sharing is the New Lead Gen

LeadShare Example Pricing

3. Sharing is the New Lead Gen

Control the Loop

4. Building an Ad-SupportedBusiness Around a Community

Session by Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix.net

4. Building an Ad-SupportedBusiness Around a Community

Must get a LOT of traffic

4. Building an Ad-SupportedBusiness Around a Community

Must be distinct and be about something

4. Building an Ad-SupportedBusiness Around a Community

Why was Ning not successful?

5. How to Cash in with a Freemium Business Model

Panelists: Chris Anderson, Wired editor and author of “Free”

and “The Long Tail” Joe Kennedy, CEO of Pandora Christopher Dean, CSO of Skype Brad Jefferson, CEO of Animoto

5. How to Cash in with a Freemium Business Model

Ideal to have several tiers

5. How to Cash in with a Freemium Business Model

Need both popularity and monetization

5. How to Cash in with a Freemium Business Model

5. How to Cash in with a Freemium Business Model

Ad-supported Model

5. How to Cash in with a Freemium Business Model

Convert your heaviest users to a subscription

5. How to Cash in with a Freemium Business Model

Transparency with users is really important

6. User-Generated Virtual Goods

Session by Cary Rosenzweig, CEO of IMVU, Inc.

6. User-Generated Virtual Goods

6. User-Generated Virtual Goods

Why do people buy virtual goods?

6. User-Generated Virtual Goods

Virtual goods must have contextual meaning.

UGC site must consist of a critical mass of people who care about each other. Psychographics,

not demographics

7. How to Monetize Your Contentthrough Virtual Currency

Session by Rebecca Watson, gWallet

7. How to Monetize Your Contentthrough Virtual Currency

Digital media revenue models: Subscription/pay to play Advertising Licensing/Syndication Micro-transactions/

virtual currency

7. How to Monetize Your Contentthrough Virtual Currency

7. How to Monetize Your Contentthrough Virtual Currency

Why do users want to earn virtual currency?

7. How to Monetize Your Contentthrough Virtual Currency

Offer Wall Users can select offers to

complete and earn virtual currency (affiliate deals)

Types of Offers: Watch a video ad Complete a survey Subscribe to a newspaper or

magazine Purchase a product Trial a service or product Install an application

8. Behaviorally-Targeted Advertising

Panelists: Satya Patel (Battery

Ventures) Mathew Greitzer

(Razorfish) Fran Maier (TRUSTe) Ingrid Sanders

(TARGUSinfo) Omar Tawakol (BlueKai)

8. Behaviorally-Targeted Advertising

Re-marketing

8. Behaviorally-Targeted Advertising

Focus on a niche with long research times and/or high price items

8. Behaviorally-Targeted Advertising

Transparency and choice are key for consumers

Overall Themes

The Web as a Platform

Transition from information web (Google) to social web (Facebook)

Transparency and Openness

HTML5 vs. Flash

HTML5 advantages:

Built on the “web stack”

No plug-ins

Not proprietary

Flash advantages:

Consistency across platforms

Can access device’s web cam, mic, and P2P communication

Both HTML5 and Flash can co-exist and be successful

Session by Eric Meyer, Complex Spiral Consulting

The Internet Operating System:Keynote by Tim O’Reilly

Web as platform: Communications Identity and the

Social Graph Payment Advertising Activity Streams

Location Time (real-time) Image and Speech

Recognition Government Data

The Internet Operating System:Keynote by Tim O’Reilly

Handicapping the Internet Platform Wars:

Amazon

Apple

Facebook

Google

Microsoft

The Internet Operating System:Keynote by Tim O’Reilly

Amazon

Cloud computing platform with monetization for developers

“Thing graph” – lots of data on stuff

Fulfillment Web Service

Weaknesses: Search; Advertising; Social Graph

The Internet Operating System:Keynote by Tim O’Reilly

Apple

Building an alternative way to access info/media

Web’s first real rival as a platform

Don’t take the open web for granted

Weaknesses: no cloud platform; latecomers to advertising and location; doesn’t understand importance of data (MobileMe example)

The Internet Operating System:Keynote by Tim O’Reilly

Facebook

Social Graph

Application Ecosystem

Strategy of adding value to other sites: “Create more value than you capture”

Weaknesses: Location, general purpose computing and storage platforms

The Internet Operating System:Keynote by Tim O’Reilly

Google

Richest and most complete data subsystems

Search, ads, maps, translation, videos, payments, email, etc.

Weaknesses: anti-trust target; trying to own too much of the pie

Weaker monetization for developers

70% of Apple apps are paid

40% of Android apps are paid

The Internet Operating System:Keynote by Tim O’Reilly

Microsoft

Cloud computing platform, search, advertising, maps, speech recognition

Willingness to partner

Weakness: “Strategy tax” from legacy businesses

Thank you!

Carol Cox

@CivicLink