Jan 15 2007
Tollbooths As Revenue Stream?
Just quickly.
I mentioned the other day how myself and others are questioning the underlying value of ThisNext, CrowdStorm, MySpace, and all the other new “social networking” technologies, especially in light of the recent $10 million purchase of MyBlogLog by Yahoo! I also asked how such “social networking” companies plan on making money off of these technologies?
Could “Virtual Tollbooths” be the answer. Is this the missing-link of relatively stable revenue streams? Check out this interesting article from GigOM on the subject. As aptly noted by the author:
What if MySpace suddenly decided to put up tollbooths and all the players within the MySpace third-party ecosystem had to start paying the mothership access fees?
Without doubt, a strategic shift in policy by MySpace along such lines could cause significant ripples, if not outright panic, among many of those vested in the MySpace economy.
It would also answer at least some of my questions.
UPDATE: If anyone has read the article I link to in the post, as well as it’s associated comments, it appears that the whole concept of “virtual toll-booths” may be nothing more that an urban legend generated by internet profiteers looking to gauge public sentiment regarding a potentially new type of revenue stream.
Welcome the the wonderful world of the internets.
[...] Original post by A Bowl of Stupid and software by Elliott Back [...]