Why pay for anything with Web 2.0
Posted on May 23, 2008
Filed Under 2 Point What?
In the latest development of our stealth 2.0 company- we are going to need to be able to grab thumbnail screenshots of various links. This could of course be done with a dedicated server setup to snap and deliver, but no need to do that yet in our scaled and controlled infancy.
Thus we looked to services on the web to deliver. Our criteria was the following.
- White Labeled - meaning no ads or domains on the shot
- Prefer that we would own or cache the result and serve it ourselves - or a very very low rate for them to serve it as we would have an average of 5 shots per page impression with millions of impressions so a price per shot served could get expensive.
Spending some time searching on the web came up with a few choices
- Websnapr - They give it for free with an ad and white-label for a fee (somewhat expensive)
- Webthumb - Better prices and I think they would allow to cache
- Amazon/Alexa Thumbs - Best prices - about 20 cents per 1000 - but no caching
These were all ok- businesses trying to provide a service for a price - but then I came across the new web 2.0 entry into the field. Web 2.0 meaning that they will give you for free what others make you pay for.
Shrink the Web gives up to 250k snaps for free and allows us to cache with complete white labeling. Everything we were looking for for no cost. By the time we get up to 250k snaps we will be ready for a dedicated server as well. Not bad
This brings me to the point regarding Web 2.0 and everything being free.
You can see what is happening in the landscape is that TV/Newspaper/Radio is slowly being eroded by the new media web landscape. Meaning that the billion $$$ media giants of today are being replaced by companies started by two guys in flip-flops. These guys being able to get the users.
What this means is that there are hordes of venture capitalists who are willing to throw horrendous hordes of money at anybody that they think could be the next hit - the logic being that with a 1 million dollar investment there is a chance that these guys may be the next CBS and worth billions.
Due to this landscape - money is being thrown left and right for the sole purpose of providing the user with lots and lots of free service in order to gain their attention and loyalty.
It is all a matter of where the music stops.
Comments
Leave a Reply
