Came across this info graphic in an Inc.com article and noticed a few things:
What does this graphic say to you?
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There is a fascinating theory in economics called The Tragedy of the Commons . It destroys shared resources around the globe and probably has frustrated you a time or two. Think of the coworker who leaves a dirty microwave or the family member who drinks the last glass of milk and you will see the tragedy at work. A more grave example is industrial polluters who do not clean up their messes. Some argue that the absence of a spotlight changes how people behave.
When we move into the digital realm the commons become even more tragic. Over the first two decades of the Internet’s life we saw seen millions of malicious attacks that take advantage of the community focus of the web.
Third parties like payment processors and marketplaces are usually needed to verify, authenticate, moderate transactions across the web. Bitcoin’s eliminates this need for a third party via distributed ledger systems. This turns turns the entire community into a spotlight. Each and every action is logged with all participants. This is quite simply revolutionary and has a multitude of applications. Companies that can use Bitcoin and crypto-currencies to eliminate the tragedy will win in the long run.
What are your favorite applications of crypto-currencies?
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There has been a lot of talk lately on the future of Twitter so it seemed an appropriate time to weigh in as it is one of our favorite websites and investments.
From a consumer perspective the beauty of twitter is it’s simplicity. It is truly a social network for all. No matter what your interests are there is something for you on twitter. 140 characters can be manifested in thousands of use cases. It allows for both one to one communication and one to many which creates millions of fascinating conversations.
From a business perspective twitter sells the best advertisements in the game right now. Their promoted posts are approximately 6-7% effective which is quite literally hundreds of time more effective than banner ads. Believe it or not you are more likely to survive a plane crash than to click on a banner ad. Why are these advertisements so fantastic? because they are tailored to your interests.
Ex. You follow Pepsi, you follow Coke so you might be receptive to an advertisement about RC Cola.
Ex. You follow Chipotle, you follow Moe’s so you might be receptive to an advertisement from Taco Bell.
The beauty of these interests is that they are know as evergreen or durable interests meaning you will probably be interested in them for years to come.
So now that I have professed my love for Twitter its time to add value and plan for the future. Here are three things I want for twitter
Twitter does its best work in the first five minutes after a disaster, and its worst in the twelve hours after that.
— Matt Roller (@rolldiggity) April 15, 2013
So there we have my simply vision for twitter’s future. What do you think? Love it? hate it? Let me know.
The Internet of the future will look very different from how we enjoy it today. A driving force of this will be the recent explosion of social technologies. Just look at how someone just 5 years younger than you uses social technology. Then look at how your parents use these same resources and you will see social is here to stay. We are fortunate to live at the dawn of the “social era”.
As with with everything else in life there are only two ways to monetize the social web of tomorrow:
In only a few years we have gone from sharing friendships to sharing thoughts, pictures, steps and even beers. It is almost a certainty that these technologies will grow stronger, faster, smarter in the coming years. The real question is whether or not we chose to adopt them. Perhaps we will live in a world where sharing is the norm and truly frictionless.
Privacy and anonymity are all the rage on the Internet these days. Whether it is disappearing video or sharing secrets we now have the ability to leave our identities at the door. Perhaps the future is a more personal internet.
The current answer is to become selectively social. Despite its often lamented efforts with G+ Google gets how it should work. G+ is brilliant. Having the ability to categorize people into circles is ideal. The problem is nobody likes the task of putting people into buckets, we want it done for us.
Adam Smith will tell you that specialization is key to national prosperity. I believe that this will apply to the internet as well. We are already seeing the start of it with the Saas Revolution : niche products for niche industries. The really winners of the future will create products that appeal to a niche instead of everybody.
It is simply amazing that the consumer Internet is not yet 20 years old .It has not graduated college and it cannot legally buy a beer. It has not decided what it wants to do with the rest of its life.
I am very excited to watch the Internet mature and you should be too.
Mike Smith, management consultant by day and venture capitalist by night. I 
, underdogs & roads less traveled