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More Flickrs of video?
Whenever I see news of a new “Flickr of something”, I giggle. But now when I see a new “Flickr for video”, I sigh. If I had a penny for each video aggregator or video directory site that has launched in the last couple of months, I could almost buy a google share.
Let me rant for a paragraph: I know people love videos, and you can see that in some products and websites - they focus on the content, not the fluff. However, there is a load of new video-centric services popping up because someone decided it was hip to launch a “Flickr of Video” (share the meme) if there was no other interesting idea out there - and you know everyone and their cousin needs to launch a web 2.0 service because (apparently) the money is out there.
Now this is a personal opinion, obviously - there’s always room for more places hosting “All your base are belong to us”. But the idea that everyone will make money out of it and that it makes sense to keep spurring out new “super cool” “the number 1″ “got video?” websites, is a little out of focus.
Fred, you’re right - before Wikipedia started getting jibes from the press, every new business was the “Wikipedia of something”. If you have to describe your product by comparing it to something else, maybe it’s not all that original after all.
Actually, this puts me in mind of your recent post about the Bay area. There are lots of great things going on there and tons of great people, but isn’t there a danger of groupthink? A lot of the stuff that’s being built right now is seemingly designed for geeks and early-adopters - either that, or it seems to be very similar to something that already exists (ie. if you’re doing anything with photos, it has to look like Flickr, since that’s the way we do things). We don’t seem to acknowledge the wider world outside of the blogophere/Bay area. Sometimes I wonder if being an “outsider” - geographically or otherwise - helps you to see things with a broader perspective. Hmmm…just a thought.
Comment by Pete Cashmore — October 28, 2005 @ 2:14 pm