BetaBubble

I linked to a post today from DV Guru (an excellent site that almost makes me wish I was back in the video biz). It's a comparison between 10 video sharing services. There are still more, like eyespot. Doesn't that seem a bit much? Read the article, look at the differentiation.

Or is this just another example of the long tail at work? Does Web 2.0 need the short tail?

I think the average person out there would have a short temper with everything being "beta." They wouldn't know what that is, really. That's changing, as companies like Apple release highly anticipated and used betas-- like Boot Camp. But overall, this beta overkill is getting really old. You'd think Google, with its vast minions of clever mathematicians, would be able to figure out something simple, like, say, email. Maybe not.

But the money keeps flowing. The terms keep growing too. I've already heard Web 3.0 bandied about. People are arguing the semantics of "user created content" or hell, even the word "content."

It's all content. This blog, that ad, my kids' drawings on the fridge. It's what you do with it that's important. Here's what will be interesting to watch: how all those bits and electrons are harnessed. Study places like Engadget, MAKE, the activity of the blogosphere, YouTube, interest in Google... it's all leading up to a symphony of connections, and a cacophony of distribution.

What to do? Make your own voice. Play with the toys. There's another lean time coming, as the marketing winds will soon shift a bit. But, as they say, you have to be in it to win it. Video something cool and put it on YouTube. Start a blog about kidney beans and crochet (or be lazy and create a Squidoo lens). Shoot, go start a business online. The time is right, and the water is fine.

more later...