Don't bother looking for the 'social' buttons to share, save or bookmark this post: Leave your feedback in the comments and get the discussion started!

Posted on 25 October '08 \ Categories: blog \ Tags: , ,

Web 2.0 bubble bursts: 10 reasons why (you should be happy)

It seems that the credit crisis has speed up the process of the inevitable burst of the Web 2.0 ‘bubble’. Yahoo, Veoh, Break, SearchMe, Wikia, Zillow, Jaxtr, Heavy just to name a few. All of them had to let some of their staff go recently. And more Web 2.0 companies probably will follow, which will mark the burst in the bubble for sure.
And here are 10 reasons why and why you should be happy with that.

1.Too much Web 2.0 companies and services

Let me start with saying that there are too many Web 2.0 companies and services. I actually started once too bookmark the interessting ones, but I gave up soon enough. Now I simply search for them when I need them.
With a so much crowded web area it is only natural that some of these are doomed to be…doomed.

2.Too little time for so much Web 2.0 services

Maybe it’s because there are too much services, maybe it’s that because we have so little time. Even in the same niche there a lot of choices. Work, friends, family, hobby’s, sport. And internet. Although Web 2.0 is the ideal concept to combine all of these most of us still have to deal with all of this in real life.

3.Too much of the same companies and services

Competition is a good thing, but there are too many services which are practically the same. The distinguishing features are sometimes only tiny and al lot of them are actually more of the same.

4.Localized versions of the successful concepts

A lot of services have localized versions or clones and sometimes plain ripoffs, which might be a better alternative. Or in the worst case you might find the need to use both of them. These localized versions sometimes make the bigger international version actually unnecessary.

5.Overwhelming numbers and features

Although there are a lot of sites who list and categorize these sites and applications on different levels, the number of companies and services are still overwhelming.

6.Hard to keep up with all the services

Because the overwhelming numbers of companies it’s hard to keep up with al theses services, accounts, tips and tricks. And it’s even harder to stay up to date and make the most of a particular service.

7a.App hopping

And when you’ve found a services which meets your needs you come across a better one. The grass is always greener on the other side, isn’t it? It’s hard to stay loyal to service. You sometimes at least need to check the competition out.

7b.Start all over again

After having chosen a service it might get tempting to switch to another service, which may seem better. However this might also mean that you have to start all over again and eventually loose all that you have built.

8.Lifetime of company and service

You can not be certain about the future of a service. Even the mighty Google with their Apps have a lot of ‘downtimes’ and who guarantees me that a small company with a obscure name and service stays available all the time I need it.

9.Only tech savy community

By joining a Web 2.0 application as a first adapter I tend to forget that most of these user are only tech savy people and that my public should be broader than only these folks.

10a.Bad business models

Let’s not forget that most of these companies have a bad business model or don’t have one at all. Sometimes it’s hard to understand how a service got funded anyway

10b.Survival of the most usable

These cleansing will make sure that only solid services are here to stay and that end users can be assured of continuity.

Now that the bubble bursts, or at least is inflating, you should be happy: you have more time to spend some quality time, less services and companies to follow and don’t bother to keep update all the time.

2 Responses to “Web 2.0 bubble bursts: 10 reasons why (you should be happy)”
  1. kuanhoong says:

    I guess I am happy that the current economy downturn because the rate for USD is higher. Thus more online income.

  2. Jon says:

    Great site and a good run-down of all the problems facing startups in a slowing economy… cloning your way to success is always more difficult and sadly, an approach followed by far to many companies out there!

    Jon
    http://WoodMarvels.com – Create Unique Memories