On Communities and Content
contrast.ie
contrast.ie
We have about 21k users on ridewithgps.com. The focal point of the site is the mapping functionalities for planning and logging bike rides. Users create this content by either drawing a prospective ride on a map, or, by uploading a log file from a trip they took. There are very few accounts that have no routes or recorded activities on them, because the site exists to provide utility to a user. With 134,000 maps, that's 6.4 maps per user. By creating an account, users are compelled to start creating maps because it is directly useful to them to do so! However, users can also add less important content: a mini-profile for their bike, photos, comments etc. The amount of this less utilitarian content that users create is significantly smaller. Photos, for example, are 0.3 per user. Comments are 0.1 per user.
What does this mean? Make sure your site provides a strong utilitarian aspect for your users! Provide them with value, not just another place register and store generic content.
But I don't think they're making money off of me. I should probably donate now that I have a real job, since I'm a pretty heavy user. Another cool way they could make money off of me would be selling ads tailored to the kind of riding I do and the kind of bikes I ride, since I've given them that information. That'd actually be pretty cool.
As far as donating, I am working out how I want to handle early donors considering we are nearing the launch of paid accounts. We will be treating our early donors well, they will receive much more than they might otherwise for a normal paid account, but we haven't put any actual "policies" in place. I am constantly surprised by the levels of donations. We received a $200 donation at the end of last week from a single user! The average has been around $22.50 - I have intended on writing a blog piece on it, but haven't managed yet :)
Giving the user access to stuff they want to buy, when they want to buy it and where they want to buy it, without giving them anything they don't want, when they don't want it, etc is a great value offering for both user and advertiser, it's great that you've got the attitude that advertising has to be beneficial for the user, but remember that it's also beneficial for the advertiser as they don't have to waste money or time on people that wouldn't buy.
If you've got access to your users bike choices, mileage and location, just contact all the bike servicing shops you can manage and offer them a deal, I will bet money the majority will take you up on it.
And, I mentioned donations because he directly referred to donating money to our site! I was just giving him the headsup on what we are thinking in terms of donors and our premium accounts, since we should be at that point within a month.
The gist of it:
The one major idea behind the Del.icio.us Lesson is that personal value precedes network value. What this means is that if we are to build networks of value, then each person on the network needs to find value for themselves before they can contribute value to the network. In the case of Del.icio.us, people find value saving their personal bookmarks first and foremost. All other usage is secondary.
The very simple fact is that Elepsis's post is quite literally a restatement of the 'invisible hand.' Here is the one passage from The Wealth of Nations where Smith uses the term:
"He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. …[H]e intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never know much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good…
"…[E]very individual, it is evident, can in his local situation, judge much better than any statesman or lawgiver can do for him. The statesman, who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it."
Elepsis's comment highlights a quote from an article about del.icio.us saying that personal benefit comes first and without personal benefit del.icio.us not only would not work, but there would be no substantial public benefit produced. If anything, this is an even stronger statement than Smith's statement of the 'invisible hand.'
Your comment is somewhat of a non-sequitur. You seem to be attacking the thesis that the market should exist entirely free from the activities of the state. This has nothing to do with my original comment. It's irrelevant if the 'invisible hand' metaphor was only used once—the fact remains that Elepsis's quote is a very straightforward restatement of the 'invisible hand' metaphor. Trying to turn that into some ideological flamewar about free-marketers is unnecessary and unhelpful.
On the one hand, there's the observations put forward (most strongly, in my encounters, by Scott Adams on his dilbert blog) that content is essentially in a race towards free. The value in this situation is those companies that can sort, aggregate, or point you in the right content direction (HN fits this group; so does Google).
But then there's the fact, and this article makes the point, that without content there's no value. Whether user-generated, expert-driven or otherwise, we do need some content, and no doubt some content is far more valuable than others.
My strength is undoubtedly in created meaningful content. Does that make me valuable, with the right connections, or a sucker with skills that are soon to be comparable to blacksmithing in NYC or making cars in Detroit?
On a side note, noticing that this is .ie, I can't help but try to read the article in my head with an Irish accent. But I've been watching a TV show set in Scotland recently (The Book Group, on Hulu), so I'm pretty sure I'm actually reading it in some bastardized Irish/Scottish accent that would surely get me killed in either place.
As earnubs pointed out, my accent is Dublin, so if you're thinking scottish you're way off :)
Maybe we should press on with the Contrast podcast :)
To avoid incorrect profile data, it might be implemented so that if a field is never given focus, it would be treated as blank.
[edit: wasn't clear]
This.