I've thought a bit about the ludicrousity (I like that word!) of trying to be the biggest. It surfaced again this morning as I skimmed over my netvibes subscriptions. Umair has a piece on Bebo and he links to an article in the Guardian which compares bebo to myspace. Included is the article is the following quote:
Barry Maloney, general partner at Benchmark, said networking sites were leading the second phase of the internet boom: "We think there is a whole new phase coming round and we are trying to pick the next Yahoo!"
This recalled for me a podcast of Sergey and Larry being interviewed and baited to compare themselves to Yahoo! Okay, so size matters, but it's not the only thing.
Unless, you are an investment firm looking to make big bucks. Again, I've been steeping in Cluetrain for a while, and it is starting to really shift my perspective. That pure domination play that has a winner take all mentality is the attempt to find the highest mountain (look for a near future post on "king of the hill" syndrome). This is fine, but is just a way of feeding the largest predators. Sure, in a world where T-rex is the baddest mutha of them all, you want to try to get on his good side.
But, are we shifting eras? I think maybe we are. Those faster, more nimble, and niche-like little fuzzies who like to nuzzle could be gaining a toe-hold as the efficiency of information makes it more difficult for kings to maintain their monopolistic sovereignty. I associate this with the "markets as conversations" refrain from Cluetrain, and its quickly gaining ground. Which doesn't at all obviate a T-rex taking a chomp out of a herd of mammals. Short term, everyone may wish to be a T-rex, but for the longer term, you might want to look more to the mammals (and those who are mammals may want to stop making themselves look so much like appetizers for Godzilla).
But what of the monkeys? We can see evidence of primate behavior out there, but it is still pretty few and far between. I think the monkeys are self-reflesive and autonomously self-organizing. We see lots of free-agents out there, and they are pretty much playing in the cracks (as consultants, contractors, etc.). I foresee the evolution of a culture of primates which will be able to extinctify the dinosaurs and cattle-ize the mammals (milk them down on the farm).
This metaphor has gotten way out of hand. The primate behavior is really more about radically reconfigurable alliances of independents that can look like a mega-corporation one day, and like a pack of one-person consultancies the next. We don't have the infrastructure to allow for those kind of radical fast-paced shifts.... yet. But we're quickly approaching that. This is the ball that I'm keeping my eye on.
Let the T-rex's munch mammal morsels all day long, I'll keep harvesting that rarer breed.
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