FanLib: FAIL

[stewardess]

December 28, 2007 — The Christian Science Monitor holds forth on the good and bad in the "digital race" of 2007. In their annual summing up, FanLib is the "bad" object lesson for "Web 2.0"Digital race? WTF, dudes! It isn't a race, it's a freaking big bang spreading outwards in every direction

Comments

[angiepen]

I think it's a step in the right direction that they even recognized that FanLib fucked up; they could easily have tsk-tsked the selfish, whiny fans or something. The whole point of the article was the relationship between big business and the "new" internet, so it's not at all surprising that they took the POV what companies can do online for their own benefit.

Angie

[stewardess]

I'm probably expecting too much of them. CSM is a big business, and reflects those values. Still, this really irked me:

Companies need to understand what motivates audiences before creating business models around them.

Calling fanfiction writers and readers an "audience" is missing the point spectacularly. It's like calling a major league baseball player a "sports fan."

[stewardess]

By the way, I just had a personal reminder about the intense greed currently surrounding "social networking."

An old friend is developing a product that will be sold online and at events. It's not fandom related, but it's similar in its narrow appeal and need for word of mouth. A marketing guru told him he needed "affinity marketing," and thought they should build a social networking site just to sell the product.

Totally bats? Yes, indeed. It would be like setting up one to promote... reproductions of tin flour canisters from the 1950s. Really a small niche, and not profitable enough to justify the labor and expense.

I told my friend social networking would happen around the product with or without him. :p

Perhaps one day corporate America will understand social networking is not something they can buy or build, but people, millions of them. Right now, though, they believe it is a magical, inexhaustible gold mine. It will be the next bubble to burst.

[lttledvl]

Perhaps one day corporate America will understand social networking is not something they can buy or build, but people, millions of them. Right now, though, they believe it is a magical, inexhaustible gold mine. It will be the next bubble to burst.

I don't see that happeninng until companies (US or otherwise) realize that not everything in the world is sellable. Though admittly, they are pushing that route too.

[angiepen]

But if you're publishing Pro Athlete magazine (or trying to get a certain target population to come and "live" at your Virtual Sports Field social networking site), and you're selling ad space in whichever of those venues, then that baseball player is your audience. That's how they're looking at it. FanLib isn't there primarily to spread fanfic around -- they're there to sell contests and ad space, and the fanfic is just the lure they use to attract their target audience

waiter, this food is terrible and the portions are small

[stewardess]

Please forgive me, because I'm going to have two somewhat contradictory views. And it's long. :)

One, did FanLib screw up purely as a business? Yes, as the CSM article outlines, and as you describe above. All along, they've shown a total lack of respect and understanding for their audience/users/customers.

Two, was the entire concept of FanLib flawed from the get-go? I think it was. FanLib should never have existed, even if they had done everything "right."

We all know how FanLib screwed up. But the ways they messed up are inherent in the "user generated content" business model.

I got a FanLib news alert from the Wall Street Journal today. I was excited—Wall Street Journal! —then found it was an error; there was no mention of FanLib. But the article was still on topic, because the author believes corporations miss the point of the Internet and related new technology: that it connects us

Re: waiter, this food is terrible and the portions are small

[angiepen]

I see where you're coming from, and I agree with what you're saying. The corporations just don't understand what it's all about. And I agree that it's because they're still seeing us as a passive mass of wallets to which they can peddle stuff

Re: waiter, this food is terrible and the portions are small

[stewardess]

I've debated on whether or not to show you this, because it's kind of hideous and may ruin your week. It's the new trend in online advertising:

Web Playgrounds of the Very Young

From a business point of view, it's a work of genius. It's the new approach that is needed, building on wildly successful advertising endeavors of the past, instead of piggybacking on user generated content. Sort of Disneyland meets the Pet Rock.

The corporations' advertising panic is explained. They aren't merely worried about cashing in on new trends. They are desperate to fill the growing void as viewers abandon network television, use tivo to block ads, and so on.

Attempts to co-opt existing stuff is failing (Second Life, for instance). Future successful advertising could very well look like Club Penguin.

*boggles*

Re: waiter, this food is terrible and the portions are small

[angiepen]

You've got to be a registered member to read that. :/ Give me the gist, maybe...?

Angie

Re: waiter, this food is terrible and the portions are small

[stewardess]

Oops! You can register for free. And give them false data. :)

It's about corporations creating their own version of Second Life-like worlds for pre-schoolers. They don't have to buy advertising because the entire thing is an advertisement, like Disney World.