Comments on: Do blog commenters reflect the general readership? http://www.cshblogs.org/cshprotocols/2008/05/09/do-blog-commenters-reflect-the-general-readership/ Sat, 17 May 2008 06:21:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Richard Gayle http://www.cshblogs.org/cshprotocols/2008/05/09/do-blog-commenters-reflect-the-general-readership/#comment-16299 Richard Gayle Sat, 10 May 2008 17:17:38 +0000 http://www.cshblogs.org/cshprotocols/2008/05/09/do-blog-commenters-reflect-the-general-readership/#comment-16299 Some very good points. The numbers are pretty typical, especially for Web 2.0 activities 'in the wild.' That is, most everyone is commenting in their free time, that intellectual capacity time Shirky talks about. As for a business model, it depends on the size of the community. 1% of 100 is small. 1% of 1,000,000 is a possible model. But not for many. I don't expect to see too many people making a living just off of Web 2.0 on the Web. It will be the tool-makers that make money. Just as Levi Strauss created a company from the Gold Rush. Well, it is fun to dream of one big, happy community but these tools will work best for scientists in their daily work when used to increase the diffusion rate of innovation. Getting information away from email into more accessible locations will help collaborative approaches tremendously. Some very good points. The numbers are pretty typical, especially for Web 2.0 activities ‘in the wild.’ That is, most everyone is commenting in their free time, that intellectual capacity time Shirky talks about.

As for a business model, it depends on the size of the community. 1% of 100 is small. 1% of 1,000,000 is a possible model. But not for many. I don’t expect to see too many people making a living just off of Web 2.0 on the Web.

It will be the tool-makers that make money. Just as Levi Strauss created a company from the Gold Rush.

Well, it is fun to dream of one big, happy community but these tools will work best for scientists in their daily work when used to increase the diffusion rate of innovation. Getting information away from email into more accessible locations will help collaborative approaches tremendously.

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