I had an interesting conversation with Riya’s VP of Marketing Beth Kirsch at last month’s Affiliate Summit on the topic of monetization of web2.0 platforms and whether we’re on the back end of another bubble that’s about to pop.
Beth had some great insight, being on the front end of monetization and web2.0 with Riya/Like.com. What I said that night (at the ShareASale and ABW Party… so some of what I said was fueled by the liquid muse of peach vodka’s and tonic that Swetal Patel kept forcing me to drink) was that I don’t believe we’re in another bubble. Instead, I see this phase of web development as a natural progression as we expand and attempt to grok the limits of connection, sociology and communication that the web is presenting in its present state.
However, I don’t doubt that bubbles move in cycles. Circles and cycles are what make up this universe, from the very elemental foundations in the smallest bits of matter up to the largest stars that grow too hot too quickly, go supernova and seed the vast emptiness of space with the building blocks of new stars, planets, moons and perhaps life across the universe.
It’s a fun topic to debate… is this a bubble? Are we heading towards a pop as the housing market seems to be slouching towards now? Cranky Geek John C. Dvorak thinks this is Bubble 2.0…
The current bubble, already called Bubble 2.0 to mock the Web 2.0 moniker, is harder to pin down insofar as a primary destructive theme is concerned. A number of unique initiatives, however, are in play here. Let’s look at a few of the top ideas floating the new bubble.
