Today I read this. It basically says that Yahoo is about to announce the closure of Yahoo Photos, in order to support Flickr, acquired also by them in 2005. This is directly related to the quick growth of Flickr in the past months (although Yahoo Photos still has a larger number of images uploaded).
But the most important thing here, is that as a Yahoo Photos registered user, you’ll not be forced to switch to Flickr, instead you have a number of options (including important competitors such as Photobucket and Kodak Gallery). So, for me as a user, this means I’m truly important for Yahoo. This also applies to a series of developments they’ve announced in the past few months.
This brings me to a question. How effective can a similar action be on a much less developed country (in a “techy” manner of speaking) like Mexico?
Obviously the consumer is also the priority, but what about the market competitors? My guess is that probably they would use your own actions to confuse current and potential users. Probably they would make all they can to turn that right back against you somehow.
This may sound a bit exaggerated, but in a country where it’s consumers are 5 years behind in basically everything that matters online, ignorance, and the lack of online culture comes as a great threat. Probably you are thinking “why should I care about my competitors?… That is so 2k!” and I would say something like “Exactly!, about 5 years behind”.
In my last post I mentioned Dixo, my own online project that was born from a personal need, which was the lack of places to express real opinion. So, a friend and I decided to gather people and some other friends that had been working on traditional media over the past 10 years in Mexico and I introduced to them blogs and podcast as a possible new media, that would fit this empty space, and that we would not have to deal with editorials anymore.
It’s been around a year and a half since we launched, and still, each and every time the concept is introduced we have to start by giving the definition of blog (I won’t even mention with the podcasts issue). So we’re still in the process of creating an audience, but this came as a handy tool for our competitors to take advantage. Pointing the obvious, the internet does not work as old media. Thus that last post where I mentioned how we get to make the rules in terms of new media. But still, how can you pretend to make both competitors and users act under this new rules with the lack of culture I mentioned before? The other question that comes to my mind is whether Yahoo’s recent activity work as well with it’s massive audience here in Mexico?
Good initiatives, wrong place, or maybe just the wrong time. I’ll keep you posted.
pues dixo te ayuda a expresarte, e intenta llenar ese “espacio vacÃo” que dices. pero tambien esta plagado de publicidad y anuncios (tal como sucedÃa hace 5 años.!!). yo pienso consideras que no es el lugar o tiempo correcto porque no es tan rentable como te gustarÃa. no subestimes a tus escuchas ni lectores, no tienes que explicarnos que es un blog cada vez, ni enseñarnos la palabra podcast. mejor alienta a tus escuchas a crear su propio espacio de expresión. he escuchado algunos de tus podcasts y en ninguno se comenta al respecto. o quizas pienses que es mejor asÃ… sin competencia (esa idea tambien es bien vieja por cierto).
well is true that dixo helps you to express yourself, and tries to fill that “empty space” you say. but it’s also packed with publicity and adds (just as 5 years ago.!). I think you consider you audience the wrong place or time ’cause is not as rentable as you would like. don´t underestimate your listeners or readers, you don’t have to explain what a blog is, or theach us the podcast word either. you better encourage your listeners to create their own expression space. i’ve listened some of your podcasts and not a single one comments some about that. maybe you think it’s better that way.. without competition. (by the way, that’s the old way to think, isn’t it?)
Está bueno ir viendo pequeños cambios por dÃa, jaja. Ahora funciona el feed, hasta ayer no lo encontraba.
Va a ser siempre en inglés?
Peluka:
Sigo trabajando en este blog en tiempos libres, la verdad es que no esta cerca aún de estar terminado asà que habrá mas cambios.
En cuanto al idioma pues he decidido hacerlo en ingles para que en otros paÃses se enteren de cosas que estan sucediendo en latinoamerica. Asà que contestando a la pregunta, si… siempre será en inglés.
Intentaré comentar en inglés entonces, jeje.
carlos:
Dixo is packed with ads as you say, because its nature is to be so, if not, it could not survive in any way.
When I say we’re 5 years behind as consumers is in our online habits, but that’s not problem, the problem comes when I have to explain what a blog is to advertisers (not consumers).
I consider the wrong place to be Mexico and the wrong time now, because three of the top 100 most visited websites are pornographic and other 3 are related to foot ball, but I’m sure this will change an Mexico will use blogs and podcasts as a way to get the information they want.
I have no problem with competitors as long as they play fair… If someone comes out with a new podcast or blog I would not consider it as a competitor in anyway, instead, it’s another reason for advertisers to believe in us, so I see them all as partners in a common target.
But when a mayor company with unlimited resources comes out with something that pretty much something like my project, it eats all my chances to sell something (that’s how it works, it’s all about contacts) and at the same time, it eats your chance to get traffic by distracting users.
In terms of a big shark company, there’s no such thing as partners.
So, I’m talking about a specific project with specific needs with specific competitors that DO NOT play fair (I’ll post about this in the future).