Flipping Web Sites
I read an interesting article in Business 2.0 this month (June 2006) entitled “Flipping Web Fixer-Uppers” regarding a new trend in online entrepreneurship – purchasing underperforming sites, improving the content, infrastructure, and/or marketing to build traffic and revenue, and then selling them for a profit. This has been facilitated by sites such as SitePoint and eBay where whole sites and the businesses built around them are auctioned off.I took a look at SitePoint, and there are a lot of sites that I would never purchase, but there are a few I found that I would consider. As the article in Business 2.0 says, the key would be finding a site about something you are passionate. I do not think that a techie would be able to flip a site on modern art, nor would a musician be able to turn a profit on a site dedicated to advanced data structures.
I do think that this kind of entrepreneurship has merit, as I have personally visited many a site with potential but which has been neglected. There are many destinations on the Web that simply need the tender love of someone who really cares about the site’s topic in order to blossom. Virtual real estate certainly has tangible value, so it is natural that this kind of opportunity arose just as it did for neglected homes in hot housing markets across the country.
Some of the sites for sale are quite comical. My favorite is SaveToby.com, which I had run across before. It involves threatening to eat an innocent bunny, and the viral momentum it had a few months ago is worth a blog post in and of itself (stay tuned).
If you are interested, visit these sites to see some of the Web properties currently up for sale:
Senate Campaign Study on CNN.com Blog
We got a short and sweet mention of our campaign study on CNN’s blog, the Situation Report. Here’s the relevant snippet:
“An extraordinary study examines how well candidates for Senate are utilizing online technology in the 2006 campaigns.”
Podcasts: The Teachers of the Future?
An article on the BBC reported Friday that a college professor at Bradford University in the UK has replaced classroom lectures with podcasts. Professor Bill Ashraf feels that the quality of his lectures is compromised by the large size of his classes, some of which contain as many as 250 students. Using Dr. Ashraf’s method, first year biochemistry students can listen to lectures on their own time and send questions to the professor via text message.
Apparently, Professor Bill Ashraf is not alone is his use of podcasts to supplement or replace classroom lectures. Locally, American University’s Washington College of Law has begun offering podcasts of guest lecturers in order to accomodate students’ busy schedules.
The University of Minnesota has also started offering various podcasts to students that give advice for stress relief during hectic times during the school year. The University is also considering using podcasts for spreading information about orientation, life after graduation, and even computer tips. At the University of California at Berkely, about 40 courses are reproduced in podcasts, providing students with a method of reviewing course material during finals periods or in the event that they miss a class meeting.
If that’s not creative enough for you, check out a new school opening next year in Melbourne, Australia. Coburn Senior High School plans to allow students to download podcasts of classes at on-campus internet cafes on a routine basis. The school will have a technology focus, and will be built despite the 2003 failure of Moreland City College, established on similar principles to Coburn.
Elementary schools have even jumped on the podcasting bandwagon. Jamestown Elementary School in Arlington, VA has been “pen-podcasting” with an elementary school in Scotland, where children as early as kindergarten have been introduced to iPods and other computer technogoies in the classroom.
Global Cyber-Campaigns: How does the US Measure up?
After finishing our 2006 study of political web campaigns, we became curious as to how American politicians’ campaign websites compared to those in other countries. We looked at similar studies conducted in the UK, Germany, Australia, Finland, Hungary, and Sweden, and drew some conclusions:
Countries with parliamentary systems of government tend to have websites that are highly centralized. In countries like the UK, Germany, and Hungary, very few individual candidates maintained websites. Rather, parties would maintain websites containing all candidates’ information. As an example, only 9 of 323 candidates in Hungary in the 2004 EP elections maintained websites, but all the parties had active sites.
Campaign websites worldwide are lacking in their interactive capabilities. We found that, across the board, candidates are failing to take advantage of interactive strategies the Web provides users. Despite the development of new technologies, websites have consistently remained “top-down” in nature, providing online versions of traditional campaign materials, and have been described as “old wine in new bottles”. It seems that candidates may fear losing control of their political message and the content on their websites, and are thus reluctant to use resources developing tools such as bulletin boards, chatrooms, or comment functions on blogs and articles.
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Is the Internet Really Leading to Better Discourse?
Among many, there seems to be a belief in the intrinsic value of online conversations. The world is flat. Ordinary people are being empowered. Governments and corporations are being held accountable.
It is all true to an extent. But I think the story that isn’t being told enough is how divisive and pointless much of the online conversation really is. A few examples I’ve come across the last few weeks:
(1) I’m a San Antonio native, huge Spurs fan and geek, so I went online and read some of the discussion about the heartbreaking Dallas – San Antonio NBA series. Not a productive use of my time. I’m fairly certain most of the posters were drunk. Flame wars. Personal attacks. Awful language. Two posters were so upset with each other that they were making arrangements to meet in person so they could fight. The Internet Tough Guy in action.
(2) Sadly, much of the political discussion taking place online isn’t much better. Republicans are racist! Democrats are socialists! Blah, blah, blah. Sure, occasionally substantive, important discussions break out. But just as often people are simply seeking out others who think just like they do. The result isn’t enlightenment, it is the hardening of beliefs and division.
(3) I recently read an article about the rise of a trend called Internet hunting in China. It’s quite disturbing. In essence, some Chinese Internet users are using the web to carry out personal vendettas. In one case, a husband used an Internet message board to post a diatribe accusing a Chinese student of having an affair with his wife. An online mob formed against the student, with some supporters of the husband organizing online to hunt down the student. An online mob!
The point has been made many times by people a lot smarter than I am: the conversations taking place online are a reflection of human nature. In many cases, the anononymity provided by the Internet brings out the worst in us.
I don’t really have a big point here. I just would caution that the online conversation isn’t as enlightened as many evangelists would have us believe. And in many cases the conversation is tearing us apart more than it is bringing us together.