Web 2.0 Business Model

After 16 years battling with Internet (both in technological schemes and business models) I am having a “déjà vu”. In the year 1999 I was reading, as crazy, books and magazines about Internet, by far, Business2.0 magazine  and the books of  John Hagel III : Net Worth  and Net Gain were the best. In the technological side the books about Java and XML programming of Deitel Collection deserves special mention.

I became so obsessed that after finishing my doctorial thesis about the effect of Internet in the tourism sector (what else?) I began to work, to create, to do consultancy for internet companies that, when I was lucky they were related with the tourism sector!

At first hand, I began to see the evolution of Internet technology. I saw the pass from Static HTML pages to Dynamic Pages thanks to Java Script (then a secondary language and nowadays one of the most important if you want to earn a living in Web 2.0) and heavy use of Data Base (then all SQL orientated and now complemented with Not-Only-SQL).

I have also seen the evolution from “my site” to syndication portals, where the focus change from the 3C’s (content, commerce and community) “my site” can offer to the 3C’s I can get or send through Internet from any site which I have a commercial and technological agreement.

Then as today, advances in technology bring new business models. People that say “it’s not the technology is the business model” usually are the same ones that say that high kicks in Martial Arts are not effective. When you are unable to do something or unable to have a clear framework about it your tendency is to dismiss it or to say that it isn’t important.

The fact of the matter is that Business Model and Technological schemes are equally important and it’s very important for continuing the innovation flow to create new business model based on the advanced that new technologies allow. For that reason I teach both, technology schemes and business model, fact that is highly appreciated for my Touristologists (in my dreams!!!)

Obviously, it is equally important not repeat the same business model over and over.

In the year 2000 the blast of the first Internet bubble happened, basically because it appeared a saturation of the same business model:

I create a website, I get a lot of visitors and I can get money from publicity.

This business model is a good one when you are the only one who is using it. When all the webs try to use the same… You don’t have a business model you have a recipe for disaster. The web 1.0 bubble blast wasn’t for bad technology it was for a lack of new and adequate business models.

Nowadays, the same story seems to repeat over and over again. Technology is improving, Cloud Computing (IaaS, Paas, SaaS See the video from this post for more information) Mobile applications with augmented reality and LBS (location Base Services) Big Data methodologies to analyze unstructured information from SnS, blogs… and to help organizations to make better decisions…

BUT again the business model that some of the new websites are using is already dead. It was good at the beginning but when everybody is doing the same is worthless.

I create a website where people share recommendations and experiences, they can group to get a discount by volume and they are able to benefit from flash sales. …

This business model is not bad BUT it is the same over and over!!! As happened with web 1.0 …

1) There are so many doing the same (Not specialization whatsoever)

2) The big gorillas are already there and it is not possible to compete against them.

The time of generic Web 2.0 websites is over. If you don’t get many users the site won’t be competitive enough. To get a lot of users you will need a big investment and even if you are successful, the big gorillas will do something cheaper or better.

As a Touristologist, consultant and entrepreneur I have the wonderful opportunity to see new companies and to me it’s clear if they have a competitive advantage or not.

I’m willing to create new enterprises and I encourage all my Touristologist to do so, but only if me or them can become a winner, otherwise it’s better to wait for the right occasion!

The other day I read a post in twitter “To be an expert in social media you have to show results the rest are just war stories” Not bad!  But better than show specifics results that can be the success of today and the failure of tomorrow, you have to prove that you have a framework that allows you to deal with new information, new websites, new business models, new technological schemes and then take good decisions.

"There is nothing more practical than a good theory." said Kurt Lewin, especially when you apply it in reality and it works! A good theory persists on time and it’s always true. The success of an experiment can depend on the circumstances, change them and you can pass from success to failure in a blink. This can be a case in point… Einstein 1 I Wanna Be Famous 0 

At the end of the day all successful business models in Web 2.0 era must deliver the 3 C’s (Content, Commerce, and Community) in the three ways that, to me, define web 2.0:

Customized: Not all the content, commerce or community just the one that I need for objective and subjective reasons. You also have to take into consideration that the same person can need different things in different circumstances. So, think about different versions of ME. And all that in the place where I am. So, related to my current geo-location.

Syndicated: Getting and sending the 3C’s relevant for your users from any place in Internet BUT aggregated and manageable from your site as a single point of control. This will allow you to get the leadership of the chain of value and get commissions as you develop Your Own Butterfly Strategy

Last but definitely not least, all ready to be improved with the features provided by virtual communities: Recommendations, aggregation, other members (Pro-Am) leading the creation, communications and commercialization of services…

In order to do that you have to create business process that cover not only the company but all the chain of value. Finally, you can combine all this features with a Freemium Business Model

Paul Valery said “Science is a collection of successful recipes” ” and I add AND FRAMEWORKS that help you to deal with reality. For that reason Touristology and Web-Engineering are sciences!

What do you think can be the following slide a tool to assess the business model of a website in the Web 2.0 era?

Maybe you prefer the LAST version...

Can you use it in order to assess the websites that I explain in previous post?

www.gidsy.com  Here

www.superfly.com  Here

Can you use it in order to assess YOUR future entrepreneurship project?

Still connected…. I didn’t hear no bell!!!

Bottom-up Touristology paraphrasing Tao Te Ching

One of the concepts that is harder to understand for my Touristologist is the difference between Super3 and my own 1,2,3. To me is automatic, but has not merit. 1,2,3 theory is my brain child. I use it as a normal framework in my own travel/profession/career/adventure as a Touristologist and, as you know,… practice makes perfect.

So, maybe it’s a good idea to explain several examples of new business model that appear recently in the tourism field and try to use 1,2,3 theory to clarify some ideas. Shall we?

Few days ago, a former student and nowadays a comrade in arms in Touristology army, showed me this website gidsy 

 Jordi-  She said “You must take a look to this website. It recalls me a lot of the words that usually you use in class like… pro-am, prosumer, servuction…”

So, I decided give it a try… and she was right! I liked the web, the business model and the technological scheme. I got so impressed that I shared it in twitter  and I thought “Someday I’ll have to explain this web deeper” Guess what? This day is today!

Let’s see the functionality of the web. For instance, you visit the website select a city then an activity (for instance history) and you see the offer of a men connecting the dots between shamanism and quantum physics!

 

In Touristology terms that means a butterfly strategy website where normal people (Pro-am) create, communicate and commercialize their own tourism services (Servuction) to normal people from around the globe which, directly, buy these activities/experiences.

So, what do you think? Super 3 or my own 1,2,3? The ball's rolling......Place your bets!!!

Jordi! What does this website has to do with Bottom-up Touristology  and Tao Te Ching?

Because I strongly believe that any tourism destination should potentiate something similar.

 What? What are you saying? – Ask the man/woman-clearly-not-a-Touristology in charge of the promotion of a tourist destination.

 That maybe it’s a good idea to help them. To teach them the ideas of  in Layers Segmentation, International Routes and Viral Marketing in Layers.

This would be the best way to bring tourists to any destination avoiding focusing on low prices and instead focusing in high experiences.

That Touristology have to become a normal knowledge for any inhabitant of any tourism destination. That is the only way of become successful in XXI century.

Welcome to Bottom-up Touristology!

Tourism destinations of earth! The time has come to change the way you create, communicate and commercialize your tourism products or, at least, to reorganize the way you spend your budget…

Spend less on mass-media ads saying that you are the best, less on tradeshows, less on … and more in Touristology! More on your people, the most important tourism resource in any destination. In this way you will offer..

More specialized tourism than generic tourism

More international routes

Less focus on local tourism and more focus on international.

Uhmm… Specialized? International Routes? International Tourism? Does it ring a bell to you?

As I said before this is a Cambrian moment for Touristology. New ways to create, communicate and commercialize tourism services and we’re lucky enough to watch/participate/study this evolution.

Now I’m excited! Touristologists… 

                      WELCOME TO OUR CENTURY! 

Time to enjoy it!

If the sage wants to stand above people,

He must speak to them from below.

If he wants to lead people,

He must follow them from behind.

Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu

Touristology challenging common sense: First international then local.

Every time I go to a tourist destination and present my ideas I know that, at the end of the seminar, someone will ask at least one of three common-sense questions:

1) “Why do I have to begin with specialized tourism? I want to bring most tourists as possible here then it will be easy to specialize”

2) “Why do I have to create and International route? I want the tourists stay here”

3) “Wouldn’t it be easy if first we focus on local tourism and then pass to international tourism?” 

I love common sense and I strongly believe that common sense is the less common of the senses! But sometimes sciences are built up challenging common sense. To name few:

Quantum Mechanics: Is it light a wave or a particle? It isn’t possible to be both!

 Cosmology: The earth is in the center of our galaxy. Isn’t it so clear that is the sun moving around us?!?

Medicine: Wasn’t it clear that cholera bacterium transmit by air never by water? Don’t miss the book “The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson” http://www.theghostmap.com/ to learn a little bit more about that and go deeper in Consilience. By the way, more about Touristology and Consilience here.

We discuss about first specialized then mass tourism and the reasons and benefits of creating international routes here. We even see how to integrate international routes in a “Recipe for Success” in another post.

For that reason now it’s time to deal with the third one…  “Wouldn’t it be easy if first we focus on local tourism and then pass to international tourism?” 

Well it makes sense begin with the easy thing and then follow with the difficult thing. Doesn’t it? Yes! But we have to remember that the easy thing have to be representative of the science that we are talking about. Touristology is a science related to Tourists travelling/moving from a place to another for travel reasons or for necessities that they can better achieve through a travel: Getting and keeping international contacts; healing wounds (both physical or psychological); learning new things (specially multidisciplinary ones); giving a bust to their creativity; improving relationships (organization team building, couple, grandparents-grandson, single parents…). Remember a “Recipe for Success” that we talked above!

In order to be a Touristologist you have to know what is going on around the world, know the necessities of Tourists (both mass and specialized) when they travel or better serve through a travel, then you study a destination, a hotel, a company (related to tourism or not) and make the link between demand a supply. Does 1,2,3 Theory ring a bell to you?

Do you really think that doing local things you will learn the experience, get the contacts, the ability… to deal with international tourism?

When new doctors want to become a surgeon they must practice with real bodies, nor with a textbook, neither with a small worm. If you want to learn Touristology you have to practice in the big league of International Tourism.

You don’t learn to create bridges building towers. A bridge is a perfect example of 1,2,3 theory, the connection between demand and supply through a chain of value which allows you to get the trust of the customer and  add value providing services which satisfy customer’s needs.

Stop pretending that you are a Super 2 (unless you are) creating more and more infrastructures without having customers in mind, and start building your own 1,2,3. Start thinking as a Touristologist does!

 

Apart from that, if you first deal with international tourism you will create something far more interesting for the local inhabitants: international contacts, cultural interchange, new visions, new perspectives… At the end of the day, that's what tourism is all about, isn't it?

So, First specialized THEN generic or mass tourism; First international THEN local…THEN international routes!!! It’s a better approach to generate value and to avoid price being the most important thing when the tourist thinks about your destination!

In this way you will achieve something very important for the tourist destination and for the future of our science…You will have YOUR Touristologists running the show, getting profits, earning a higher salary. You will have a global presence because everybody will know that YOU create, communicate and commercialize these international routes. In this way YOU will be a world leader. Remember, in order to be competitive you have to play internationally.

Then with REAL Touristologist and with international presence YOU will have a REAL multiplier effect within the local economy and contribute to the sustainability of YOUR tourism sector hereby. Because YOU will have the knowledge, the ability, the contacts to do that and much more… YOU will become a REAL Touristologist!

I love Touristology! It is not an easy thing but it’s definitely worth!!!!