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going non-profit?
Wed, September 20, 2006 - 11:27 PM
anyone have thoughts on that?
Wed, September 20, 2006 - 11:27 PM -
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12 Comments
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Thu, September 21, 2006 - 12:04 AM
Question:
If it became a not-for-profit subscription service, could you divide operating expenses by the user base to come up with an attractive subscription price? I mean REALLY attractive, like $20/year?
Supplemented by ads paid for by other non-profits, it could be a viable model. |
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Fri, September 22, 2006 - 12:41 AM
I'm also wondering about a sliding scale fee structure. Sure, some people will take advantage of it that don't need to. But many won't, & it will allow great folks that might otherwise be shut out, to continue being part of our community. I know that (especially if the ads have a smaller presense, & are thoughtfully chosen-get 'em off the tribe posts!) I'd be fine w/ paying $20 bucks for this service- even a little more, if it's gonna improve it, & keep it going. It's brought some great people & creative stimulation into my life- online & in RL.
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Fri, September 22, 2006 - 12:43 AM
i know of some smaller, private online communities that run this way. but they are much smaller, with less than a thousand active users. they do not usually have trouble getting people to pony up the dough, however. once people begin to feel like they have a real party in making the site happen, they seem to care about it a lot more.
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Fri, September 22, 2006 - 12:50 AM
I'd say yes, it would work. ;) No one wants to leave, and it's the best online community there is, especially for Burners. And if Burners can anty up 200 bucks a year then I'm sure they can anty up a small yearly fee/donation.
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Fri, September 22, 2006 - 4:31 AM
Life, business models and paradoxes
The crucial thing would be to have those most active feeling there's the "old" vibe, for lack of a better description,
being here again. This is of course paradoxical, since we are that energy ourselves, through our willingness to give of our attention and time. Still, paradoxes is what makes life interesting. Given the number of people who have put in a lot of effort, love and TLC over the years, I'd guess there's a good chance of surfing the paradox. It would be very cool if there could be a massively consensual business model growing out of this. |
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Fri, September 22, 2006 - 7:26 AM
I would....but it would be best if it were on a donation basis. Get yer 501c3 and rock on in a free werld.
None of those stupid telethons though. I *almost* don't give money to PBA just cuz of that crizz. Thanks Mark!!! |
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Fri, September 22, 2006 - 10:16 AM
One the one hand, the problem with a subscription model is trying to attract new members to the service who don't know anything about it. And a free trial model would be unwieldy.
The main issue with an NPR-like model, it seems to me, is that your growth and survivability are going to be limited to the largesse of the membership. What if you don't receive enough to cover basic costs for a given quarter. How does this affect advertising? It's a rather complex concept, with a large number of variables. |
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Fri, September 22, 2006 - 4:27 PM
mixed feelings
i know i would definitely put in money to keep it going. i would guess that there is definitely a population here that would contribute. whether or not that would cover the operating expenses, I don't know enough about the finances of tribe to ventur a guess.
I think what is more relevant is that non-profits are much more regulated and restricted in terms of what they can do and one thing I'd like tribe to do is to keep innovating itself. one of the motivating factors to innovate and improve user experiences, explore new ideas is to increase revenue or brand value, right? i would just hate to see tribe get stagnant because of the restrictions that come along with non-profit status. Tribe users want to feel that this site belongs to them, but I think there is a way to balance that with the obvious need for tribe.net the company to make a profit. all this talk about the new web 2.0 is very relevant. initially i hated the idea of branded tribes, like the one created for Toyota Scion, but I am altering my position somewhat. I think their strategy failed in part because their ploy was so transparent (most of the members looked suspiciously made up, with 1 or 2 friends, if that. you had to be pretty naive to think you had stumbled onto a tribe of Scion lovers when nobody even knew what a Scion was yet.) But what is tribe.net but thousands of groups of people already enthusiastic/borderline fanatic about something? Here's where tribe.net did all the hard work for marketers already, They took a very large, very varied population of people mostly belonging to an already prized demographic (18-35 yrs old with enough money to have a computer and an internet connection) and let them sort themselves into all the niche groups a marketer could ever dream of having access to. Just read the name of a tribe and you know how to speak to every one of its members: Final Cut Pro, Super Mario, Gogol Bordello, LA Chowhound, - just a few examples Marketers just have to stop being lazy and shed their old way of thinking and figure out that how you market to the web 2.0 generation of internet users is not by sitting on their ass and launching an assault of animated ads, but letting people engage with their product/brand/service in a genuine way. kind of like how Snakes on a Plane engaged would-be viewers by doing the previously unthinkable - letting them shape the movie's storyline. The Scion tribe was a step in the right direction, but there wasn't any finesse to it at all in my opinion. Maybe if they had tried to engage a discussion in a car enthusiast tribe first and then invited those members to the Scion tribe, at least get some real people on their member page... sorry for getting carried away with my comment, but a lot of people heart tribe very much and i just want to help it become profitable after all it's done for me. |
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Mon, September 25, 2006 - 6:57 PM
LiveJournal
LJ survied on this model for half-decade, even still less then 2% of their users contribute to the slush fund.
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Sat, December 23, 2006 - 12:24 PM
yep
we get so much fun out of this i would totally do it.
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Tue, February 20, 2007 - 10:08 AM
Go Non-profit: Yes.
Re; non-profit, I think this is the VERY best idea. I think many people would kick in some cash.. I know I would.. with the hope I improving perfomance.. as in speed.
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