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Document Name: Web -4.0 : Why Internet start-ups seek old-technology Document Description: Considering investing in print or online media? Make sure you know what its future plans are or you could wind up invested in a different media to the one you expected. We all know that media empires are built joining TV and Radio, or TV and print and a lot of those have moved online. The others are on the way. So, why would new Internet start-ups be looking at old technology? If in the age of clicks to bricks we can finally accept that the online world hasn’t removed the need for bricks, that mortar and clicks are not mutually exclusive (I can live in my shop-house-business building but not the web-site that promotes it) we should agree the two (i.e. physical world and online) are or at least can be complementary, overlap or co-exist. No breaking news there, but take another look at how those old world businesses got started, whether bookstore, print magazine, radio station, cable or TV they all had one thing in common - fairly steep capital requirements from the outset. Now take a look at the Internet and realise that with public access to Internet from libraries, it is possible to start an online business for $0.00 or $10 a year if you want a domain name, and of course you can add more over time. They key point here is that business start-up costs has been driven about as low as it possibly can, given a wide source of sweat equity. We’ve already seen Internet radio stations and now they sweat in fear of royalty increases - will they be forced to close or enter the “real” world of radio-wave transmission - no wi-fi doesn’t count here …? We’ve been able to see movies and TV programming over our broadband connection for some time already and with the advent of YouTube seemingly endless amounts of online-destined content creation. Now TVs that can pull in movies from the Internet and we have come full circle. It’s only a matter of time before some of the home-grown blogs, or 2 man startups that gain critical mass on the Internet foray into the print world. I like, no I love online media. But print is powerful. It’s still there after the computer crashes, in a power cut, or when my friend’s check their email. I have several blogs in mind, the endpoint of which - in my mind at least - is in print and maybe even a radio then cable TV show. I did it before - its wasn’t sleek like a Lynx - my first print newsletter mailed free to customers was first created in e-form on my 2-line dial-up support BBS (bulletin board system.) just a few years before Netscape and the wonderful ‘Trumpet Winsock’. The inspiration for this article was here in another post at BahtSaver. Author: John Thompson - Contact Author Publisher: John Thompson Licensee Name: John Thompson Reference URL: http://bahtsaver.com/2008/08/web-40-why-internet-start-ups-seek-old-technology/ Copyright: All Rights Reserved Registration Date: 8/31/2008 10:52:42 AM UTC Views: 247

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