Beyond Facebook: How Will Today's Students Use the Web of Tomorrow?
Erica and I made our way over to Gotham Media Venture's offices for a panel discussion on how the students of the future will use the Internet. The panelists included Ariel Aberg-Riger of Fourth Story Media (FSM), Jordan Goldman, CEO of Unigo, Kate Hillis, co-founder of Qwidget, James Rohrback, CEO of GulliverGo, and Michael Staton, CEO of Inigral. I recall leaning over to Erica and remarking, "These panelists are younger than us!" But as it often goes with new media, youth is an advantage and we were ready to listen as our peers talked about their new products, ideas and strategies for building brands and communities online.
One of the key points discussed was how to bring together online companies (who primarily sell a product) and sites that focus on user-generated content (UGC). Much like the five-year-old social network Facebook, that relies on UGC and participation, the trick is to figure out how to monetize that space.
The challenge, and perhaps opportunity, which Michael Staton noted, is to engage site visitors and charge for content. However, the key is not to sell content, but rather to sell a community's trust.
While we have already seen this idea in practice with the likes of Yelp and Wikipedia, FSM took the concept to an entirely new level by using the Internet and new forms of technology to enable girls (ages 13 and up) to submit their own story lines to The Amanda Project. The premise behind The Amanda Project's concept is to create online niche communities not only centered around a brand or product, but also around feelings and beliefs. The idea is for this to maximize user participation and partnership.
In short, The Amanda Project is unique because it is an interactive, collaborative mystery series which relies on UGC through the form of books, the Web, mobile phones and other media to solve Amanda's mystery. Right now, a group of girls are taking part in the beta testing.
The Amanda Project goes beyond what you see on the web because the business model will also market merchandise with, for example, the logo of Amanda's high school. On the way out of the event, we bumped into a former Hollywood film producer and new media aficionado who commented on Ariel's idea.
"I think this has the potential to be the most successful out of all the start-up ideas we heard from - mainly because there is a tangible piece of merchandise that will be marketed."
Time will tell and we will certainly keep our ears open for the projects that are set to launch soon from these young CEOs. If nothing else, all of the panels we attended at Internet Week opened our minds to different ways to build communities through trust, make the most of a limited budget, and how to always think outside the box in the rapidly changing communications world.
That's all for this edition of Internet Week '09. There are several worthy Unconferences (that's new media speak for Conferences without strict agendas) coming up - so stay tuned to see what the Spectrum Digital team learns!
Anthony Phung, Intern
Tags: facebook, fourth story media, gotham media, internet week 2009, Internet Week NYC, qwidget, Social media, social networks, the amanda project, unigo, user-generated content
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