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A 1.5 Billion Dollar Website!

by sublerjr
17 replies
Warriors,
I was on my way home from work today when I was listening to fox news; it caught my eye when they started talking about Face Book. Being that I don't go to Face Book or have anything to do with it, I don't know a great deal about them. Shep said that the website is five years old and have over a one hundred fifty million members. The owner is the youngest Billion air in the world. He's currently worth $1.5 B or something like that.
The point that I make or ask is how you create a $1.5 B website like that. Of cores there are a lot of niches out there and many avenues that one could take. It seems to me that the ones with members such as Face Book or online dating sites seem to do very well. Socializing looks to be popular these days and doesn't look like that will change any time too soon.
I am thinking of going this rout; maybe a dating site or some form of a social network! Any thoughts, would love to hear from all you . Thanks sublerjr.
#billion #dollar #website
  • Profile picture of the author Sam Rodrigo
    Trial & Error, while keeping your costs very LOW! Many of these sites have values on paper. FB has a value based on a MS purchase of their stock.

    Your best bet to monetize an online property is to use *memberships*.

    Success,
    Sam
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    • Profile picture of the author shaddai
      Socializing looks to be popular these days and doesn't look like that will change any time too soon.
      Socializing has been popular over the course of history, not just lately. The lately part has been socializing on the internet...that part's relatively new. Facebook didn't build the core infrastructure needed to make Facebook fly, it's members had already built the relationships that are Facebook's backbone. Without the relationships to fuel it, Facebook is a just a cool php script.

      Anyway, I don't think that Facebook is going to 100% corner the market on social networks though. But, I do know switching to another network for me would be tough. I've got 150 buddies on there, and I'm gaining about 10 more a week.

      Maybe the 1.5bil idea is boiled down to offering a web based platform for common human behavior?
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      • Profile picture of the author Wah Bhatti
        they banned me so im billding my own its in beta at the moment Freetribes.com
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        • Profile picture of the author Andy Money
          The company is WORTH 1.5 billion. He doesn't HAVE 1.5 billion. There is a difference. Anyway, these sites aren't that desirable, they just aren't that profitable and even if someone buys it from you they are going to have to figure out a way to monetize it still...

          Today marks the 5th year Facebook has been up too. I don't think they've turned any significant profit yet either, right...?

          So, web 2.0 sites are "blips" in my opinion because once something comes along that is just as viral and sticky (and can make money more efficiently) sites like this will be a thing of the past, no one will want to support them. Imagine a social networking site so practical and sticky you could EARN money by using it (and doing nothing but what you normally do on Facebook) that's the type of stuff that is on the way and it will make things like this seem like web 1.0...
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  • Profile picture of the author LegitBlogger
    It's not everyday that one creates a home run like Face Book, Digg, Twitter and the likes, but it does happen. I don't think there's a step-by-step process on how to do that, but hey - you might wake up tomorrow morning with some inspiration on what and how to also create yours... who knows,
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    • Profile picture of the author KarlWarren
      Sites like Facebook, Faceparty, MySpace, Bebo, ProfileHeaven, Friends Reunited etc, all have one main thing in common...

      They are sticky. Meaning that people have to participate in the site on a regular basis to gain maximum benefit.

      It just so happens that I was looking at internet millionaires on the Sunday Times Rich List the other night.... hopefully the following link doesn't break:

      Search the Sunday Times Rich List 2008
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  • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
    What Facebook and Google did to become billion dollar companies is that they found existing popular site models (social networking and search engines, respectively) and just did it better. Facebook came after Myspace and now barely anybody under the age of 20 uses Myspace. Google came after Altavista and the like and now nobody "Altavista's" anything.
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    • Profile picture of the author Andy Money
      Sites like Facebook and Twitter are blips on the web 2.0 timeline, they'll poof and disappear once more profitable, more useful and more practical solutions come out which is really just around the corner.
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      • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
        Originally Posted by Andrew Maule View Post

        Sites like Facebook and Twitter are blips on the web 2.0 timeline, they'll poof and disappear once more profitable, more useful and more practical solutions come out which is really just around the corner.
        I agree that Twitter will probably die out, but as for Facebook, you'd have to be insane to think millions upon millions of users posting photos/videos, writing on walls, playing poker, making events, etc, will just up and leave. No offense...LOL.

        To make social networking more practical, you'd need some insanely futuristic technology that someone else needs to think up first before the Facebook guys do.
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  • Profile picture of the author lburrell
    It's a 1.5B dollar site b/c everyone and their mom uses it. it would be tough to recreate that same success without a truly novel idea
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    • Profile picture of the author sublerjr
      Originally Posted by lburrell View Post

      It's a 1.5B dollar site b/c everyone and their mom uses it. it would be tough to recreate that same success without a truly novel idea
      NOVEL IDEA, that's what I'm thinking right now. Novel Idea.
      Thanks Ibirrell and every one ells! PS one idea like Face Book and I'd never touch a computer again, promise$$$$
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  • Profile picture of the author JayMartins
    They were the first.

    End of thread.
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    • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
      Originally Posted by JayMartins View Post

      They were the first.

      End of thread.
      See my post above. They were NOT the first at all...they copied successful business models.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vadym
    I read in the newspaper recently that more and more communication is beginning to happen online. People are generally more willing to chat online with their friends than go out to coffee and chat with them.

    So social websites, dating websites, and such would make a lot of sense to be the ones that would be the opportunities if you're someone looking for that "one big-time idea".
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  • Profile picture of the author Johnathan
    It's a combination of having a good product, at the right time, at the right place, and a bit of luck.

    And yes, it is correct that it is not 'necessarily' anything "new".

    Look at these ideas that have been copied and recopied:

    ICQ - An internet messenger
    Microsoft copied them, with MSN Messenger

    Myspace - social site for teens
    Facebook - social site for 20's

    etc, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jon Alexander
    if they can successfully monetize it, he could become a REAL billionaire.

    Don't forget, until adsense etc, google was just another search engine, burning thru investor money.
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