Of course, but I think it was a major strategic error. Now there's no reason to have a free account. What's the use if you can't look at all your photos? They're are smugmug now, which is fine, Smugmug is a fine business, but they aren't Web 2.0 where the goldmine is.
- Stephen Pickering
Goldmine? Not according to the profit and loss accounts of all the Web 2.0 companies. There is potential, but all the social websites are having a much harder job successfully monetizing than Google did with SERPs for example.
- Gordon Saunders
Exactly. Apply the Serps to Flickr, Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook
- Stephen Pickering
You can't, the main barrier is that the mindset of visitors is different in those venues.
- Gordon Saunders
So what's Twitter and Facebook going to do, and for that matter FriendFeed? They certainly aren't going to charge subscriptions.
- Stephen Pickering
Twitter has real-time search and data-mining possibilities, Facebook is already trying contextual advertising (but it is much less effective than contextual ads on SERPs), FriendFeed is a tricky one. FF is not big enough (yet) to compete with Twitter's offerings, on-screen advertising is likely to underperform, leaving exit by acquisition, or...?
- Gordon Saunders