Is it too late?

Given the current state of the WWW and how virtually every single community site concept has already been created (we've got DeviantArt, GFXArtist, Live.fm, PureVolume, MySpace-for-Bands, LiveJournal, just to name a handful) would you say it's too late to start an original website?

But then again, considering the cheap cost of advertising, server rental, and increased venture-capitalist spending, are we seeing the dawning of another .com boom, but this one one started by the indies and not corporate america?

There is always something newer and shinier.

alwaysmc2 wrote:

There is always something newer and shinier.

Just because something's newer or shinier doesn't mean it'll take off, you have to wean users of an existing system off first. People are still using Windows XP instead of OS-X, for example.[1]

[1]Inflammatory, yes, but you get my point.

There's always the possible future of having to pay fees to have your site served quickly enough to be viable for your users...

No, it's never too late. New technologies will arrive and enable you to create something entirely new not possible before, or  drastically improve upon an older concept.

It's just a matter of having the imagination.

Of course not.

But your idea has to be good, your implementation excellent, and you have to stick it out. 

Most people fail between those. Usually the last.

It's also false to think that "every single community site concept has already been created."

It is, however, absurd to think that you'll be able to create an entirely original concept. Or hell, you might - but I doubt it will be succesful.

Some people wanted to close down the U.S. patent office 150 years ago because there was nothing left to invent.

It may not seem obvious or possible now, but, someone will come up with an idea that will turn into the next Google.  That's why "they" are billionaires and "we" aren't.

Heywood_J wrote:

Some people wanted to close down the U.S. patent office 150 years ago because there was nothing left to invent.

It may not seem obvious or possible now, but, someone will come up with an idea that will turn into the next Google.  That's why "they" are billionaires and "we" aren't.

Like when the Write (spelling?) brothers made the first airplane and people realized "Oh, that is possible.  I didn't think it was." and than all sorts of planes stemmed from that.

All we need is a little insperation.  But that is hard to come by.

Heywood_J wrote:

Some people wanted to close down the U.S. patent office 150 years ago because there was nothing left to invent.

Cute story, actually fiction. Still, it's quoted almost everywhere....

The point stands, however: new technology enables different ways of doing things.

One key fact to note is that enabling technology never invents interaction; it simply changes it. 

Communicating over distanced turned into letters and then telegraph, then faxes and phones, then email and IM, then video conferencing, and eventually holographic conferencing.

Succesful changes solve problems.

Search is a good example - it solves the problem of finding information in a large collection of poorly organized information, with unreliable data, which is impractical to sort through and organize. Of course, it's just a means to an end - Google's genius was in its advertising.

The "social networking" space is still in its early infancy.

I haven't seen a system that properly implements reputation (which is really the entire point of a social networking system).

Nope. It may be a little harder now then a few years back but I think there is still room for originality. I also think that (I need to watch my language) has yet to discover web 2.0.No boom.

edit: oh come on pRon is not a bad word.

"The best way to predict the future, is to create it.", Alan Kay.

The european online poker market doesn't seem to be filled yet. At least my pal claimed that, with help of a study he paid for, when he tasked me to write a platform for this crap a week ago.

To create a new product or service must balance these three 'simple' rules. 

1) It must be viable
2) It must be capable
3) It must be desirable

It's no guarantee of success but certainly where any good business person should start.

Sometimes I do catch myself thinking that it must be 'too late', however, I do agree with everyone else that it just has to be a good idea, etc.

I did have a pretty good idea for a community 'of sorts', but I never got around to coding the application that would be used as the hub of it.

Also it would be hard to get people to inhabit it.

Angus Higgins

just look at Digg. It basicly over ran slashdot in a short space of time with 1000s of hits per day