Way back in 1997, Dmitri Eroshenko and I started an online directory of Internet access providers. (ISPcheck still exists, sort of, as iNet Interactive's HostingCatalog.) Prospective advertisers told us that dialup was well and good, but they're much more focused on growing their web hosting business. Because in addition to getting online, customers now wanted to BE on the web for all to see.
Almost 9 years later, Rich Cannon says it's time for web hosting providers to take the next step. Having a web presence continues to be important, but what really interests the masses now are web services. Netcraft recently reported that there are 85.5 million active websites on the Internet; MySpace alone has almost as many members. Of this group, 15 million also share videos and images via Photobucket, and smaller subsets might vote on news headlines via Digg, compose documents with Writely, or build shopping lists on Stylehive. So Rich sees a market for web hosting providers to become distribution channels for reusable, plug-and-play code modules that form the building blocks of web services.
I thought Rich's suggestion sounded like a good plan, but after reading this O'Reilly Radar discussion on Cyworld, I'm not sure it's far-reaching enough. I knew that Cyworld is an enormously popular South Korean social network; its 15 million members represent almost 1/3 of the nation's 47.5 million population. But until now I wasn't aware that it's owned by SK Telecom, a wireless provider. "Minihompies" (or 3D virtual rooms) on Cyworld are accessible via both web browsers and wireless devices. Basic accounts are available at no cost, but SK Telecom sells $300,000 per day in add-ons.
The FunkySexyCool folks say that their mobile social network has been a profitable source of subscription revenue for Australian wireless providers. And I'm sure Artificial Life's V-Girl is an excellent money-maker for its Hong Kong telco partners. But in comparison, Cyworld creates so many more exclusive opportunities for SD Telecom to monetize its userbase.
In this post a few months ago, I wondered if GoDaddy could leverage its domain registration relationships to build a social network. The more I think about it, maybe it's not such a bad idea. As SD Telecom shows, an infrastructure provider need not limit itself to being just that.
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