Feedonomics

Marc Canter frames the data portability debate as a power to the people struggle. I agree that the data is already out there, but after we “take it to the streets” who will provide the solution? Is he looking for data portability legislation? Does he want a government Data Security Administration to provide a data safety net for the masses? Will he form a free data party? The data problem isn’t political, it is economic. It will take a viable, free-market economic model that allows for a true data economy where thousands of companies can afford to offer data services. If the current economic model makes sure that only a few companies can afford to manage our data for us, then we are guaranteed to have a data oligopoly.

Dan makes the logical suggestion that people should be willing to pay $5 a month to use a reliable Twitter. While that is a desirable goal, he defeats his argument by also noting that:

Those who can build an audience, such as Twitter and FriendFeed, and before them Google, Facebook, and dozens of others who turned into giants, have the scale to develop monetization schemes that a loyal and fanatic user base won’t summarily reject.

The goal should be an economic model that allows thousands of companies to make money, not dozens. Dan is perpetuating the “get rich” fallacy that has so distorted the Web. The goals should be much simpler: provide a quality service, make money, pay salaries. As long as the goal is to strike gold, the risk everything for the big strike mentality will dominate. It isn’t that people won’t pay for Web services, it is that the providers of Web services aren’t looking to get paid. They are looking to get bought,

Eirepreneur is a blog focusing on microbusiness, businesses with fewer than five employees that run on a shoestring. Eirepreneur’s Grazr widget is a collection of feeds from entrepreneurial experts in Ireland and the rest of the world, plus links to good information about this fast growing segment of the world economy.