Internet Is Killing Our Economy?

I am sitting at the library, and this thought just came up. It's a really interesting (or devastating) thought. Here we go, sit tight, and read on.

The internet offers us everything we can think of, for free! There is free streaming (Justin TV), free chatting softwares (msn), and even free kisses (kiss me in 3D). We are not going to get out of the economy crisis by having everyone watching TV shows, gossiping with friends, and kissing monitors at home.

Disagree? Think the websites that offer these free services will keep the economy rolling by making a lot of money? Let's look at this closely.

The common business model for web base businesses is to generate lots of users to create expensive advertising space, and rely on the sales of these advertising space as the only source of revenue.

Sounds like a good plan, but in the year 2009, this business model doesn't work anymore! Why?

First, we have to understand that these online advertising spaces are often ignored due to the excessive use in the past. Second, some of these ads might be advertising for a service that other websites are offering for free! These two reasons alone can explain why online advertising is not that effective nor attractive, and it just can't be relied on as the only source of revenue anymore.

So let's summarize this. Web base businesses that offer free services have an unattractive business model, and moreover, offline businesses are negatively affected by the free online services as well.

All these things will only slow down the economy.

Does anyone disagree? Please provide me a dose of optimism.

PS: Next time you wish for a free web base service, wish at your own risk, because more free services lead to a bad economy, and a bad economy leads to a smaller salary...for you.

Opportunity for...Guerilla Marketing!

First , the success of advertisements is almost impossible to be measured accurately. Second, advertisement's ability to draw attention is decreasing as well, because there are just too many ads from too many companies everywhere! Threfore, in the middle of an economy crisis, companies choose to cut their advertising budget.

This is an opportunity for your business! When everyone is holding their ads back, it's the perfect time for you to push your ads out. Imagine how much more attention you'll get competing with 1 ad instead of competing with 10 000 ads.

You might be saying, "I know I should advertise, but my advertising budget is 50% smaller as well". Well, you just have to be creative, and not rely on the traditional media channels like TV and Radio. Try "guerilla marketing", the unconventional and low cost advertising that grabs everyone's attention. You'll just have to keep your employees (to generate creative ideas), and don't give up on advertising!

Take advantage of this opportunity, think hard, and impress! Your ad might even end up on YouTube if it's THAT good! If you're stuck, check this video out:

Take Advantage of a Viral Video

There is an extremely popular video on YouTube recently. It features a woman "going insane after missing her flight". Insane is an understatement. The woman was simply out of control. She was screaming out displeasures, slamming her fists, and writhing on the floor. Check it out yourself:



The number of views have increased by a million in the last 21 hours! The video has drawn more than 3.1 million views ever since it was posted on YouTube 5 days ago, and edited videos (i.e. the same video, but with English subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHp7tn9yfm4&feature=related) are being posted rapidly as well. This definitely qualifies as a "viral video".

This gets me thinking. A business can easily step in right now, or even a couple days earlier to take advantage of this kind of viral videos. Through a negotiation of compensation, the person who posted this video can put the name of a business on the video for advertising purposes. For example, Air Canada can pay $10, 000 to have a message that says "If this poor lady chose Air Canada, this will never happen" pop up at the end of the video. Done deal! Easy business!

There are many ways around this as well. The person who posted this video can offer different things at different price levels. For example, $20, 000 to name the video after a business, or $5, 000 to have a pop up window visible for 5 seconds.

I'm sure there can be a lot of details in a negotiation like this, but all I know is that the person who owns the video has nothing to lose by accepting the unexpected compensation (maybe a minute of work to put the message in the video), and moreover, it's an awesome deal for businesses to only pay thousands of dollars for literally millions of views.

Superbowl Commercials on Youtube

Everyone is crazy about the Superbowl commercials, because they are simply awesome! People actually turn their televisions on just to watch these commercials.

Watch this hilarious Superbowl commercial, which is voted best on YouTube:


Major brands spend millions of dollars to create and air commercials in between a Superbowl game. To be more precise, CBS charged $2.6 million for a 30 second commercial during Superbowl XLl last Sunday. These numbers won't shock anyone as these expensive commercials air time has been a tradition for years.

And for the last few years, there are millions of people (including myself) who go on YouTube to watch these Superbowl commercials. You can watch any commercials anytime. YouTube had to take a lot of these videos off due to copy rights, which then makes watching these great commercials much harder. I have to Google and search for secure websites, which is such a hassle.

Guess what?

YouTube finally figured everything out. First, major brands set up accounts on YouTube, so they can upload their commercials on Youtube. Second, there is a ballot on YouTube(http://www.youtube.com/adblitz) for viewers to both view and vote for the best Superbowl commercials. This is perfect in two perspectives as normal viewers like myself can watch these hilarious commercials anytime I want, and major brands like Doritos can gain more exposure from their commercials.

Good job YouTube!