The comment (re: "revenue models") was made in the context of whether or not Facebook - and Youtube, MySpace etc - provide value as businesses and whether or not they're sustainable. I guess one could argue that endlessly attracting and spending venture capital is one form of business model, but IMHO a business needs a business model or else it remains forever at the mercy of those investors.
A business model consists of several things, one of which is all your expenses; another is your source of funding. Clearly the businesses in question have got a handle on the 'spending money' part of the equation. The question is whether or not they have - or will ever have - a revenue model to balance that out. Coming back to Christine's question regarding public grounds, facilities and infrastructure: the public supports those things through their taxes, and they absolutely evaluate whether or not those services are provided value commensurate with that investment. The newspapers are filled with stories debating the relative merits of one public infrastructure project versus more spending on services? "Why is the Mayor spending more money upgrading Boston Commons when our schools are falling down?!" etc etc. I'm happy for the founders of these various companies that someone came along and paid them large sums of money. That's an indication of potential; it's not a free-pass on the fundamentals of business. Steve 2008/9/23 Jared Spool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > On Sep 22, 2008, at 12:44 PM, Christine Boese wrote: > > What if the whole idea of a "revenue model" is the wrong question? Coming >> in >> from left field here, but does anyone ask, "What is the revenue model of >> the >> Boston Commons? The town square?" >> > > I see. > > So the $496,000,000 that has been poured into Facebook by Microsoft, Li > Ka-shing, and the other venture capitalists should be thought of as a > public-service project? > > Jared > > -- ---------------------------------------------- Steve 'Doc' Baty B.Sc (Maths), M.EC, MBA Principal Consultant Meld Consulting M: +61 417 061 292 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] UX Statistics: http://uxstats.blogspot.com Member, UPA - www.upassoc.org Member, IA Institute - www.iainstitute.org Member, IxDA - www.ixda.org Contributor - UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
