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Shrinking sign-up forms and getting your data in other ways

I’m sure I can’t be the only person who’s noticed that the amount of information people ask for in sign up forms is shrinking rapidly. Even relatively “involved” services like basecamp only have a few form fields to fill out (9 with 1 optional for basecamp) and this has been dropping recently.  I seem to remember signing up for Hotmail (back in the day) and it took ages. I seem to remember it taking a number of screens, each with a few fields. Now, even hotmail is one screen with 15 or so fields, and in the Web 2.0 world, even thats alot.

So whats caused this shift? In an environment (i.e. the web) where its always been an unwritten rule that the most valuable thing around is your information, why are they no longer asking for it?

Answers after the jump… (more…)

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The Number 1 Web Application Success Theory (so says I)

I’ve written previosuly about web applications trying too hard to be desktop applications, things like AJAXWrite but then something comes along that changes your perspective on it all. Well, OK, its not really changed my perspectives, web applications should be just that, web applications, but its certainly helped me forge my opinion on why some things just work.  Its all about skimming the top 20% percent.
More after the jump…

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The real enabler of Web 2.0 Applications - Not AJAX but Contextual Ads

I was going to write an article exploring the different business models organisations can adopt in the world of Web 2.0 applications but it just came down to one thing, contextual ads.  Just as a quick preamble, there are three main sources of revenue for web applications (as opposed to online shopping which is clearly a money in exchange for goods or services deal), Subscription, Venture Capital and Advertising.  Its extremely rare for there to be a one off payment style transaction when it comes to a web service.

As someone who has studied Business Models for a number of years, this facet of the Web 2.0 is something I find fascinating.  When you hear of a new service launching (which is, lets face it, daily) its intriguing trying to guess the type of model it will follow.  And some sites will even combine revenue streams or make them scalable.  Given the choice I think all Web application purveyors would choose the subscription based model.  You have a baseline of steady income every month and in general, aren’t affected by trends or downturns ins pending.  There are some services which wouldn’t work with a subscription model, so it becomes a skill in deciding an appropriate revenue stream for your application.  Venture Capital is another potential source of revenue.  The problem here is that its potentially hard to come across and if you do find someone to invest, they will more than likely want your soul in return.  So this leave us with advertising, and more specifically contextual advertising.

More after the jump… (more…)

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Why the next batch of Internet Success stories won’t be driven by developers

Its almost an unwritten rule that to launch a successfull web application you have to be able to dig deep into code. Theres always been this stereotypical image of some guy typing away in a darkened room trying to get the latest “next big thing” out to the masses. I don’t know about you but thats always the impression I conjour up when thinking of services like del.icio.us and Slashdot. What those of us who monitor the Web 2.0 world are increasingly finding, however, is that the new services that are launching at a rate of 20 a day, seem to be set up with marketers and strategists already in place. This seems to be harlping back to the dizzy days of the dot com bubble 1.0 when companies we’re invested in so heavily they had the disposalable cash to hire these sorts of people.

We also seem to be seeing an increasing number of “ideas” people who are happy to hire help in from outside. Aknowledging the danger of sounding like a tech journal writer, I would say this is an illustration of a paradigm shift in the type of people entering the industry. It would appear that these days (I always feel old when I say that, which seems like alot these days…) the people driving the technology evolution known as the Web 2.0 are not technical. And therein lies the beauty.

At the moment, we’ve reached a stage where it is technically possible to do pretty much anything on the web. Even a moderately skilled programmer can create things we never even dreamt of five years ago. That leaves the potential for multiple services to spring up with incredibly similar feature sets. Therefore companies are always looking for an edge, something to elevate them above the competition. This is where the people who would have been sitting on the periphery of of a project a few years ago, come into their own. Personally, people who deal with marketing tend to rub me up the wrong way. Inevitably they will latch onto the headline grabbign features and not the details that stand applications out as unique. Speaking of details, thats the business I’m in, and I’ve suddenly realised the market for _me_ is strong and strengthening. The reason? I’m an analyst, I go and speak with users and note down what they want. So you end up with a customer driven product as opposed to something that simply addresses a technical curiosity of a developer. The outcome? Sites that are focused and uses technology as an enabler. Its important to remember that most people see computers, the internet and suchlike as tools, things they use to help them complete tasks more efficiently. Having someone who can emphasise with users, get into their head and quantify their needs clearly gives an application a huge boost.

Just to add a bit of clarification, this isn’t a pitch to sell my services. I’m already running at capacity. This is more a heads up to people currently embarking on a development project. Take a step back now and then, try and look at things from a users perspective. Someone who hasn’t been pulled into the hype, someone who has no pre-requisite knowledge, someone who really doesn’t care that your Javascript is asynchronous. Talk to your users and check out your competitors. Usually, in the Web 2.0 world, applications have feedback forums, check them out for suggested and requested features. Poach your competitors users by offering the services they want.

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