Capitalism 2.0

October 7, 2005 § Leave a comment

Thoughts on the underlying principles of the Web
2.0 business model:
The design pattern for the Web 2.0 business model
(aka Capitalism 2.0) is based on authority rather than power:
  • Power comes from acquiring assets
  • Authority comes from giving power away

The way to extract value from assets is via creative self-giving rather than transactions:

1. Create community by socializing knowledge [give]
2. Create assets by internalizing understanding [learn]
3. Monetize assets by externalizing value [sell]  

This creates a virtuous cycle that grows the value network — so close the loop as quickly as possible!

So far, there appear to be four ways to monetize free knowledge :

a. Sales: get a piece of the transaction
b. Marketing: give a piece of the eyeballs
c. Support: ensure it doesn’t break
d. Rent: provide richer infrastructure

 

It will be interesting to see if this model can accurately predict (or at least characterize) the winners.

Where Am I?

You are currently browsing entries tagged with web 2.0 at iHack, therefore iBlog.