Future of Web Apps - Ted Rheingold

Ted Rheingold from Dogster/Catster discussed passion-centric communities. I thought his presentation really hit on the key points to create success with a PCC. Here are some of the notes from his presentation.

Ted sat down with CenterNetworks for an interview »

MP3 Audio Downloads
(each file is one minute and about 1MB download - if you share the files, please credit me, thanks!)

• ted1 - announces dogster funding - took 2 years to feel comfortable to attract capital
• ted2 - passionate communities - moderation, groundrules
• ted3 - demonstrates catster
• ted4 - continued discussion of passion-centric communities, dogster forms
• ted5 - discussion of popsugar

What is a passion-centric community?

• Dedicated to a single particular interest
• Usually includes human profile sharing
• Nothing new
• They amplify passion thru enriched community experience

Core Components of Passion Centric Communities

• Entertainment
• Sociality
• Services
• Information

Other Features

• Design must amplify
• Moderation
• Groundrules
• Safety policies
• Wngage how they prefer

Sincerity Cannot be Faked

• Offering features that can be leveraged
• Passions do not fit into buckets
• Monetizing the long tail not for us
• Don't ignore your community

Looking at Monetization

• Advertising and sponsorships
• Subscription programs
• Selling member-made or site-specific items

Making Advertising Work

• Keep your ad sales inside
• Adveritisers need to have a direct connection to the communities passion
• CPM is almost dead
• Require advertisers to offer something real to the community

Future of Passion Communities

• For every passion there will be a site and could be more than one
• There will be tens of thousands
• Apis and badges bring the communities to where the member is
• Public and open id systgem will be used
• Web is just a launching point - cell phones, etc. -- communities will meet where their members are

Sites Ted Likes for Passion-Centric

• deviantart - 2 million members
• amateurillustrator
• cnet community
• fabsugar
• modelmayhem
• mlg
• Yahoo! autos customs
• carspace
• boompa
• feelingbullish
• socialpicks
• mybloglog
• famster
• clubmom
• craftster.org
• vampirefreaks.com
• yourclimbing
• everytrail
• cute overload
• twitter

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