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PodClass - online course startup or wiki platform?

Podclass is another startup in the online course/learning space. Like video upstarts SuTree or 5min, Podclass aims to be a community oriented clearing house of online courses; unlike other options, however, Podclass goes beyond video, and wraps a paid-content model around it all:

Podclass has been designed to enable multiple users to collaborate on any topic and create course content for group learning. The course content can later be sold as a paid online course or distributed freely. “The option to sell content makes Podclass unique,” says Gil. “It’s just one more reason for people to contribute.” [from Press Release]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that sounds like a multimedia wiki with an optional pay wall. And that’s not a bad thing.

At the moment, Podclass is pretty quiet with a limited number of courses and communities. Founder Gary Gil is working hard to capitalize on some hype, however, starting with a collaboratively built course about monetizing Facebook - certainly a topic of interest as of late. See the press release for more.

A recommendation for Podclass after reading the press release: back off the hype train. That press release hits on every buzz word - social media, 2.0, digg, facebook, crowdsourcing, etc. Hyped keywords, however, are by definition a flash in the pan - and most of those mentioned have flashed and gone already. If you’re serious about building the business in the long run, focus on communicating the core value proposition, not on trying to piggyback pageviews on buzzwords.

Which brings us to that core proposition. As with any content startup, Podclass faces the chicken/egg conundrum - without compelling content, there’s no community; without community there’s no compelling content. Differentiating in this space and attracting content and community are not easy task - but not impossible either.

My suggestion? Follow the Apple example. Apple entered into a crowded DAP market by creating an offering that was overpoweringly superior in a few key points (synch simplicity, design), and had parity in all others. Podclass needs to pick two relevant service differentiation points, build the crap out of them, and then communicate & evangelize them.

Second Suggestion: Compelling seed content. Monetizing Facebook sounds like a good start, but there’s a couple of other perennial winners that will get traffic and backlinks: SEO springs to mind as a natural. Contact some pop-blogger SEO gurus and get some interviews on camera, and throw them up - a series of half-hour webcam interviews would be a popular resource.

Anyway: Bottom line is that Podclass looks to be a solid, if not overly differentiated offering in a crowded field. A focus on the differentiating essentials and building out an attractive content library IMHO would position Podclass for solid growth.

5min, course, learning, podclass, sutree tutorials

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