TechFold - Bold tech & web commentary

Bold tech & web commentary

TechFold is technology discussion, commentary, reviews, and opinions from well outside the valley. There's no koolaid to drink here, and TechFold is not in SL, or on Twitter.

RedHedd.com - social networking for…. redheads.

RedHedd.com is a social network for redheads, which as their press release states, is modelled on MySpace. Well, yes, it looks like a red-themed MySpace clone, and seems to have all of the same features, as well as a niche vertical to appeal to and generate buzz around.

But: is it a business? IMHO - no. Its attempting to monetize what could as easily be a Facebook group by building it inside its own walled garden. No doubt it could garner a small, yet dedicated following, but I don’t see it as sustainable in the long run.

This isn’t a critique of RedHedd specifically, btw. That’s a critique of vertical social networking as a business model in general. The only organizations that are capable of cashing in on vertical networks are white labeller / aggregators like Ning that can pool miniscule revenue streams from thousands of properties; even that model is marginal IMHO.

At the end of the day, why join another network when your existing memberships (Facebook) provide the same group features and social networking functionality with a larger member pool to draw on, and without the added overhead of another membership?

facebook, ning, red, red hair, redheads, redhedd social networking

TechCrunch’s worst post

Cool - TechCrunch is running a contest: point out TC’s worst post, and win tickets to the Web 2.0 expo.

IMHO, the worst type of post is the breathless, sychophantic, hyperbolic “enthusiasm” post. In TechCrunch land, the post - or rather stream of posts - that brings it altoghether is the coverage of Ning’s initial launch.

Starting in October with the quivering “ZOMG they just launched, were profiling now!!11!!!one” post by Michael, TC quickly followed with Fred O’s fawning launch missive.

Then - hahaha - the post in the search results is the following Febuary - with “Ning R.I.P.?” from Michael. Whoops - in retrospect, TC recognized that keyword-ballistic press releases and Internet celebrity backers do not a successful venture make. In fact, Ning sucked, being a strange mishmash of un-functionality and missed opportunities. Eventually, Ning switched courses entirely, dumping the “web-development for the layperson” battle cry and re-purposing themselves a social network white-labeller.

So that’s it. People ride on Scoble and Rubel for falling head over heels for whatever the day’s buzz-worthy technology is, but TC does it too. Call me a snarky person, but my favorite posts are the honest appraisal one’s, like TC’s coverage of Google Base - golden!

arrington, contest, ning, techcrunch techfold

5 Suggestions to make Teqlo a Survivor

Teqlo is a company that needs to find a strategy and a community - or it will at best languish in obscurity. Like Ning in its prior incarnation or Yahoo! Pipes, Teqlo aims to turn the average Jane or Joe into a developer - “A Mashup Platform for Everyone Else!” Teqlo’s everyone-friendly platform consists of an often confusing UI that allows you to link a limited selection of widgets together via a limited set of interactions to create an application which you can then run in your Teqlo account.

What Teqlo has missed are the same two points that drove Ning’s recent self-reinvention as a canned social network host, and what will keep Yahoo! Pipes a curiosity:

Conjecture #1: There’s a big difference between those who would create something new, and those who wish someone else would create it.

Conjecture #2: Those motivated enough to create something don’t need an “everyman” platform in which to do it.

Human nature is a pain in the ass when it contradicts an idea that sounds golden on paper. Teqlo’s stated target market is the very small slice that includes those with motivation but without a traditional web skill set - an awkward, small middle ground between the masses and the technically competent.

If you recall, Ning had a gruesome, flat-growth year trying to grab this market before they switched value propositions and streamlined their business model. Teqlo is heading for the same place.

Teqlo need not end up as an eBay firesale, however. IMHO, their challenge is the same as Ning’s: market segment identification. Teqlo has a unique and valuable infrastructure that should be tailored to increase acceptance in a few key, revenue driving segments.

To get there, Teqlo needs to open up their platform, and segment their marketing:

Make the “everyman” platform part of a larger segmentation strategy, and focus on the “motivated people” and find ways to make their work easier. Ning has targeted a single segment in their relaunch - social networkers; in doing so they’ve gotten out of the tiny slice left by conjectures one and two above.
Publish a widget spec so that the Teqlo community isn’t dependent on Teqlo for functionality. If WordPress can do it, you can too. Keep all of the widgets GPL’d too to spur community development. See what widgets are developed and let this inform your strategy. Support the widget community like Ballmer supports developers.
Enable external publishing of applications. If the functionality is there, enable it already, see how its used, and let that usage inform your strategy.
Clean up the vocabulary. Are they “Teqlets” or “Widgets?” What’s a “teqlet” anyway? Is a “PowerPack” like a template, or something else entirely? The mishmash of un-words makes the creation process difficult to parse out conceptually.
Aesthetics of the process: Implement a cleaner UI on the application builder. Again, IMHO WordPress sets the benchmark with their easy handling of plugins, themes, and widgets.

That’s it in a nutshell. Teqlo no-doubt has great value tied up in their plumbing, but without a strategy (other than “build it and hope they come”) informing its deployment and a community contributing to the project (as opposed to just using it), its going to fizzle away.

api, ning, pipes, techfold, teqlo widgets