Adapt or die.

“Adapt or die, that’s the unofficial motto of the Internet.” (Edelman)

How many, so called great websites went down in recent months. Not only is there MySpace, a website growing beyond the control of its builders, but also SecondLife, not to mention other once so successful stories.

We don’t have to spend too much time chatting about MySpace. When it first came off, it was an instant success. People could add their profile, keep in touch with their friends, upload music and so on. But it was the success that meant the failure in the end. The builders had no clear vision of where they were heading to. The website kept growing, more and more companies got involved and sponsored messages became the biggest deal in MySpace-land. Younger people soon realized this was not what they wanted – it lost its ‘coolness’ – and went on searching for other communicational websites. This meant of course the success of Facebook. So far the only negative aspect of this website is that you can not (yet?) personalize your own page. But I have the feeling this feature might appear in the future. (David Louis Edelman, 2007)

What about SecondLife? I must admit, I never was too fond of these websites but I try to be at little biased as possible. Just like MySpace, SecondLife boomed like no other website. Everywhere, people were talking about their latest discoveries. You could hear stories of people making millions of US dollars on the website in just a couple of days. But all good things come to an end. I wanted to see the current situation in person so I logged on once again – and probably for the last time -. Nothing but empty streets and the few people running around were trying to sell me some products I have never heard of before. Goodbye SecondLife.

“Few technology companies have succeeded in the long run with the mantra
-Why change?-.” (MacManus)

So, what can we learn from both cases? I you are unable to adapt quickly, your business will run dry. Next we try to sum up some elements that make your website a success.

People often tend to copy successful stories. Yes, this might be a success in the short term but probably – I say probably because there are plenty of other stories – it won’t work in the long term. So what you really ought to aim for is finding what you and other people desperately need. And please don’t make things too complicated. People are bored with complicated features. Keep things as simple as possible. Another element that made different successes, like YouTube and Flickr, work is that they begun small but had a clear vision of how they wanted to grow. I mentioned the fact of copying before but it’s necessary to be different.
And finally, just like in sports, it is very important not the let competition stop you, but, on the contrary, let it motivate you. (Richard MacManus, 2007)

References:
Richard Titus, Adam Hutchinson (October 28, 2008) More than just watching TV [online] available from <http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/10/watching_tv_is_more_than_just.html> [February 22, 2009]
David Louis Edelman (January 24, 2007) The end of MySpace [online] available from <http://davidlouisedelman.com/technology/end-of-myspace> [February 22, 2008]
Richard MacManus (September 5, 2007) 10 future web trends [online] available from <http://readwriteweb/com/archives/10-future-web-trends.php> [February 22, 2009]