Venture Capitalists Having Mid-Life Crisis 2.0
from the depends-on-how-you-look-at-it dept
In the last few months there have been a number of folks in the technology industry admitting they just don't get some of the new successful online services like MySpace and iTunes. That, apparently, has some venture capitalist types scared -- leading them to feel they need to act like they're young again to see what all the fuss is about. Of course, if you're an investor, you absolutely should do research and test out the various popular services to understand how they work. There's nothing wrong with that at all. However, the underlying theme seems to be that these VCs aren't just doing research to figure out what's going on or why a younger generation likes these services, but they're trying to actually be cool again themselves. They're trying to "fit in" with a demographic they're simply not a part of. Consider it the VC version of a mid-life crisis. It's good that they're exploring and trying to figure out why people are using these services -- but that doesn't mean they should pretend they're actually the market that these sites are targeting.
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Well of course, the internet is cool!
It has nothing to do with the quality of the service/site in and of itself, because it's *obviously* sub par. That's how it got all the people to use it and how it got regarded as cool in the first place.
I mean, really. I don't use myspace because I don't like it's feature set. even if I was gauranteed "Uber Cool Geek of the Weel" status for using it, I wouldn't take it up.
If I found a significantly more intuitive, user friendly, more what *I* wanted social networking site, I'd probably use it.
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Re: or...
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Ughh...
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> imbeciles who don't know jack found it and
> went, cool, I can have a personal spot on
> the web, not realizing that option exists
> all over the web
Oh, thank you for saying that! I feel I am in the minority in my personal hatred for mspace pages as well. I truly appreciate reading comments like yours.
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deathtomyspace..come on
but it IS what keeps people around on those sites. facebook has done a much better job than myspace and will ultimately trump myspace because of crappy quality of service and lack of adding innovative features. facebook has an ever growing number of features that ultimately allow people to connect in various ways, through pictures, conversations, "groups", parties, and more. The parties feature is used a lot by college students. It allows colllege students instant communication to friends that they want to get drunk and party. Students don't have to call around to find out about parties. They most likely have a list of them to go to every weekend! You should be able to expect that facebook will add a "blog" feature(yeah, myspace has it, but it's not very usable). Eventually, it'll get videos too.
The reason the VCs don't get it is because of stage of life. When you're in college or highschool, you're life is much more social than it is when you're old and grey. Life is all about the weekends, friends, and parties. Facebook has a good number of features without overdoing it or being completely cheesy. COOL EVEN.
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Re: dtms..come on
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all look same?
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You know what? We're not all imbeciles.
Don't blame MySpace for the overuse of the phrase "social networking" [Well, you can if you want; it's still a free country the last time I checked]. It's not laziness that brings everyone there; it's convenience. I'm able to find people that I couldn't find on IM...people who don't use their computers on an hourly basis.
I could just as easily say wtf when I try to figure out the mindsets of people who play WoW or EverCrack...but I accept that it's something I'm not into. I use MySpace, I'm not cool by any stretch of the imagination, and I don't see what's so f*cking bad about it that it engenders such hostility in people. Go ahead: Hate it, think it's nothing but garbage, don't use it! But don't look down upon people who do...we're not all emo teenagers and jail-bait. Some of us are adults who are trying to reconnect with people we want to communicate with with minimal cost.
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Re: You know what? We're not all imbeciles.
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mySPACE
mySPACE has blown up not because of it is easy to put a site up, or because all there friends are on it. Those two reasons are by products due to the fact that the owners of mySPACE solicted (sp) bands and performers to put up myspace pages. By doing that people saw it as they can be cool like individuals in the entertainment industry. To me that was the brillant idea behind myspace.
I do not have a myspace page, and I think in most cases myspaces page seem to have the look of a kid's bedroom.
What America needs is a CyWorld site like the one in Korea. Mark my words that site will be coming over to America and will be the next hype site.
As for VCs going through a mid-life crisis who really cares if they don't get it. Like it was said earlier, you do not have to act like the target audience you just need to know how to "read" them.
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