[SGVLUG] Promoting our group

[Sean O'Donnell]

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Emerson, Tom wrote:

> What I'm talking about is "meetup.com" 

When I think of meetup.com, I think of the famous words from Steve
Ballmer: "I'm gonna bury those *bleep*ing guys!", w/ out the chair
throwing of coarse. =p

> I finally took another look at meetup, and as I said, the idea has been
> so successful they are making money at it.  

I like the 'social networking' *buzzword alert* concept of meetup.com,
but I don't like the fact that they try to brand it, package it, and
sell it, like Jurassic Park.

> It is kind of a flawed business model 

kind of? *choaks* =O

*Most* web (service) based 'business models' are flawed.

[goDaddy] MEET4FREE.ORG is available!
[goDaddy] MEETUP4FREE.ORG is available!
[goDaddy] FREEUSERGROUPS.ORG is available!
[goDaddy] WEB2POINTOHFANBOYMEETUP.COM is available!

All it takes is 1 (or 20) competitively-catchy domain name(s) (obviously
not the names above), some good publicity, and a free version of that
site that could be funded by advertisements (if you insist on 'making a
 buck'), and that 'business model' will be kaput.

They could make much better money by just selling ad slots (imo), and
letting users exploit their services (for free), just as they'll exploit
their users with ads (and collect checks). I guess the advertising model
isn't as enough for them. =/

- --

Sean O'Donnell
South Pasadena, CA
sean at seanodonnell.com
http://seanodonnell.com

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