This is my third blog.
The first one was called Material Gurl. It was about curly hair and things that girls with curly hair do. I have outrageously big, curly hair and I was sick of everyone asking me about it, so I figured if I had a blog, I could direct people their and they could get all the information they needed.
I eventually got sick of being limited to the curly hair discussion, and I wanted a blog that reflected my change of interest. Additionally, the hair blog was joint-effort between me and another girl, and I just got tired of her. So I moved on to
my second blog
was called Passion Fruit. I was about young entrepreneurship. I’m obsessed with having a business at a really young age; there is nothing I want more than to have a successful, highly talked about, business before I leave college. I tried to convey that on that blog, but I don’t know…things just didn’t feel right with it. I wasn’t really inspired to write on it and I slowly began to dislike it. If you go check it out now, you’ll see that there’s only 3 post (i think). I think I hung on to it for as long as I did because because I paid $40 for the name and domain space.
So this is my third blog.
This blog is a bit strategic; I deliberately chose Tumblr as the platform because I’m submitting to “Web 2.0 Karma”. (I’m sure your like “This girl is crazy, what the hell is she talking about?”). As I mentioned early, I am a 20 year old who’s obsessed with entrepreneurship. My latest business passion/idea has to do with a new Web 2.0/Social Networking platform. So when I heard about Tumblr some months back, I was intrigued because the creator is 22 years old. More importantly, he’s clearly on to something because the whole system is built on the infamous “community”…meaning that this whole site is conducive and reliant on everyone’s collective participation. Most blog sites could care less if you blog with each other…they just want you to blog.
My business idea is built around the community, too.
A while ago, I came across the article Ning’s Infinite Ambition from Fast Company. The entire article was fascinating, but one of the more interesting points was that Ning was destined for success because it exploited a “viral expansion loop”. In non-nerd terms, all that means is that Ning’s business model is built on the ability for it’s user base to naturally grow exponentially. So think about social networks who have seen incredible growth—namely Facebook and Myspace. Though those networks have in fact, increased exponentially, (think of how much bigger a number would be if you squared it versus multiplying it by another number—exponential growth speaks to the former) they haven’t done so naturally; a whole lot of advertising (even if it’s just word of mouth) drove that growth. But if you look at Ning, one user by definition brings in several other users, which in turn increases Ning’s total population ten fold. Everytime Ning wins just one new user, the process happens over and over again. This is natural occurence because it’s built right into Ning’s business model.
Because I want to impliment the same “viral expansion loop” idea into my burgeoning business baby (aliteration unintended), I’ve been vaguely obsessed with internet startups who are tapping that idea. To take it even further, I believe if I use said internet startups…I’ll set into motion Web 2.0 karma and I too will see great success when I launch my startup. Call me crazy now, but don’t call me at all when I’m rich.
So, one can understand why I chose to use Tumblr. Tumblr’s twitter-like “follow” feature, in addition to the ease users can add random media to their blogs makes Tumblr one smart cookie when it comes to following the next wave of Web 2.0. Another social-network-y site that I adore is
LOOKBOOK.NU
I. Love. This. Site. Obviously, someone as artistic and fashion forward as I am (I’m only mildly kidding) would love this site because it’s an ever-growing montage of young, artistic, fashion-forwardness. In other words, it appeals to my creative, lofty, idealistic side. But…when it comes to my analytical, business savvy side, I love this site because it too grazes the concept of viral expansion loops. For starters, the site is invite only. That may seem counter-intuitive to a site trying to grow it’s population, but it’s genius. It works in much the same way that Gucci’s astronomical prices actually make people want to by it more. I was invited to the site by a fashionable friend, and I have since sent invitations to at least 5 other people. Secondly, the site is built to create a following among its users. That is, anyone (if they’re fashionable enough) can become a celebrity on this site. Notoriety, even if it’s only of the internet variety, is addictive. Not only will one constantly come back to the site to make sure their popularity isn’t waning, they’ll invite others to come to the site and check them out, since the only way to get popular on LOOKBOOK is through votes, or hype as its called in LOOKBOOK land.
At the end of everything, I love the aformentioned business models because they are the difference between frequent flyer miles and a customer referral bonus. One seeks to ensure the return of that customer, while the other guarentees the return of that customer and her friend, thus bringing in two customers.
So clever yet so simple…
