I originally wrote this post for the new blog of my friend Arik Czerniak (co-founder of MetaCafe), Accelerate.co.il dedicated to startups, tips and execution. The blog is in hebrew, and i originally wrote the post in english, since i can't write in hebrew (kindly translated by Arik). Here is the original.
It is amazing to observe the tectonic moves of the attention switch on the web. I remember a few years ago, It was all about portals, emails and their multi service approach. Then search and its fantastic monetization machine. Then it was all about blogs and its peripherical services including blog search, RSS readers, top widgets like MyBlogLog (a big blogosphere darling)...Then came the social networks: they were always there but for some reason they attention switch came late.
Now the new web darling is the real time web, with Twitter and co being the new stars. I would mention to other areas of attention switch: online gaming (taking time from TV attention) and mobile web (taking time from computer's attention but also creating new opportunities of interaction).
The attention switch is first observed at opinion leaders' level then consumers' level, meaning that a significant number of users (would say at least 100k monthly active) spend a significant part of their daily surf time on the service (visit at least twice a week). This attention switch then spreads to your peers, now even faster thanks to the virtus of the social connections (please stop the BS about Social Web expression which is meaningless) meaning, the connection layers social networks enable (facebook connect being one example).
This should drive enough entrepreneurs to want to create monetizable services based on those services (if those do not manage to do it first). In the case of Twitter many companies generate revenus on their back thanks to this attention switch
The web is in permanent evolution and this is a media property that has the potential to drive a significant switch of our attention more than any other media (TV can do it but too slowly with VOD and Satellite, Radio never really managed, and printed media is done)
Good entrepreneurs know how to create properties that captivate or monetize this attention. Sometimes on taking from an existing service (think email vs social network for young generations) sometimes by creating new opportunities never thought of before (think Blogs vs tradionnal media).
We all feel that the web as we know it today is going to be soon different. New generation of users adop new services faster than any previous generation and the cycles of innovation are faster. Entrepreneurs have to adapt themselves to this reality: this means that the lifetime of your service as conceived from day 1 is likely to change radically 5 years ahead
More than in any industry the Darwinian ability to adapt yourself is key. Good entrepreneurs have this ability.
