January 5, 2005
the crack theory:
From Om Malik: I have learnt exclusively that Six Apart, the parent company behind hosted blogging service TypePad, and Moveable Type is about to acquire Live Journal, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is a mix of stock and cash, and could be announced sometime later this month, according to those close to the two companies. If the deal goes through, then Six Apart will become one of the largest weblog companies in the world, with nearly 6.5 million users. It also gives the company a very fighting chance against Google’s Blogger and Microsoft’s MSN Spaces.This is how a lot of software companies make their money, by initially giving away their software for free. Of the people who take them up on their offer, a certain percentage will want more/better features, and they'll be willing to pay cash for it.
I first started blogging on a cheap n' nasty Blogger site. Within a few days I knew I wanted to upgrade to Movable Type. No messing around.
It's how crack dealers make their living. First get the customer hooked by giving away free samples, then once he's a total addict you start charging him the real money.
Their Typepad hosted-blog service is evem more cunning. They give you the first 30 days for nothing, but if you don't start paying after that, Zaaaaaap! Your blog vanishes forever into the ether. And if you've already taken a semi-addicted shine to writing in your blog, you're not going to let that whole month's worth of pouring-you-soul-out disappear forever, just for the sake of saving a few bucks. So out comes the credit card. Ker-ching!
So I'm guessing MT think they have a good chance of converting a certain percentage of the LiveJournal users into paying MT customers- a much better chance than if they didn't own it.
Sounds like a plan. Sounds like the glass pipe needs another refill etc.
[UPDATE:] Danah Boyd isn't too thrilled about this merger. She calls MT "mainstream" whereas LiveJournal she equates as more community/tribal. There might be an unforeseen and destructive cultural clash, which is a pretty valid concern [Thanks to Didier for the link].
Blogs are mainstream now?
Posted by hugh macleod at January 5, 2005 1:03 PM | TrackBackAnother thing I've noticed is the "Mac-esque" snobbery suddenly associated with Movable Type versus Blogger/other free blog software. I smell another clique-turned-customer-loyalty-trend developing.
Any computer game fans out there may remember that the first Warcraft game was promoted in exactly this fashion.
I worked at a game developer at the time, and in one of the trade mags, there was small ad wherein you could get the first few levels of this new game for free if you responded to the ad.
One of my co-workers went for it, and as he (and the rest of the office) soon discovered, it was a fantastic game. A couple months later, the full version of the game was released, and by then, we were all foaming at the mouth for it.
Warcraft went on to become a juggernaut franchise, but it's earliest incarnation was in the form of a free 3.5 inch floppy disk.
Posted by: Craiger at January 5, 2005 2:20 PMFunny that you mention this. I logged into my Typepad blog today and noticed I have 2 days left. I'm definitely hooked so I'll be throwing plastic shortly. Addiction is an apt analogy.
Posted by: Erik at January 5, 2005 2:35 PMPlease read this post(http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2005/01/04/the_cultural_divide_between_livejournal_and_six_apart.html) on the potential pitfalls of this buyout. It would be easy for Six Apart to make a mistake.
Posted by: didier at January 5, 2005 4:31 PMdanah is a girl
Posted by: btw at January 5, 2005 6:18 PMCrack is the ultimate capitalist model, or perhaps more accurately, the ultimate spawn of Darwinist Capitalism.
Even though it's not free, the iPod is Apple crack to create more Mac owners. Hugh's Creative Manifesto and Hughtrain are Gaping Void crack.
Another question: Why are we so addicted to being snobbish about technology? Are people that invested in being on the leading edge, or even worse, being "edgy"?
Posted by: Timbo at January 5, 2005 8:01 PMBlogs aren't quite mainstream, but they're very close to being there.
According to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4145191.stm , 32 Million Americans read a blog in 2004, up 58% from the year before.
Microsoft have produced their 'for idiots' blogging tool (MSN Spaces). Google bought their 'for idiots' blogging tool (Blogger). Yahoo are clearly thinking about morphing Yahoo!Groups into a Group-Blogging-With-Messageboard service (Note for example that http://blogs.yahoo.com/ redirects to http://groups.yahoo.com
With the backing of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and the undying love of the high-circulation left-of-centre broadsheets, blogs will be mainstream long before Hugh becomes 'the Brian Tracy of creativity'.
Posted by: Zarathustra's Son at January 5, 2005 9:03 PMYou need to save your money and use a Wordpress blog--- hehehe..
Posted by: DJ Coffman at January 5, 2005 10:21 PMJust in case you didn't know, LiveJournal already has a for pay service and I personally know many people that have paid for it so they can customize their pages and blah blah.
About the whole culture war. If MovableType keeps LiveJournal like LiveJournal and doesn't try to turn it into something else, how are all the 16 year old girls going to even know the difference?
Posted by: Phil Larson at January 6, 2005 6:32 AM