The last of Tim O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 patterns is. This pattern is about leveraging the power of your web application to create a service which does more with less instead of getting too big too quickly. There are many techniques a service creator can use to achieve the aim of “doing more with less”.
These techniques included;
• Using a small development team
• Outsource in fracture and expertise wherever possible and practical
• Release functionality in increments
• Scale with demand
• Scale Pricing and revenue models
• Use open source services where possible.
My favorite example of a web 2.0 application which demonstrates how to successfully follow this pattern is Digg. Digg is a web application where users can “Discover and share content from anywhere on the internet” (What is Digg).
Kevin Rose started digg in 2004 at a cost of $2000 and hosted this service on a single server costing $99.00 a month. Whilst the development of the digg service has not been without problems, the number of users assessing this services grew with over 37 millions registered users buy 2009.
References
Tim O’Reilly - http://oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html?page=4
What is dig - http://about.digg.com/about
About Me
- Dean
- Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- I am a full time computer consultant for a small firm, focusing on the small to medium business sector. I am also a student completing a Double Degree in Business and an Information Technology at Queensland University of Technology. This has created a hectic schedule and, as a result I am always busy working on something.
I do however have interests that are outside of work and University, including active involvement in the scouting movement and regular games of indoor soccer at Brisbane City Indoor Sports. My passion however, has always been in computing. This is shown by my active participation in the computer club at high school. I joined the school computer club in grade eight and continued right through to grade twelve. I was also a member of the computer club executive from grade ten.
I intend to use this blog to discuss a variety web 2.0 applications and how they relate to the web 2.0 patterns. I encourage you to read my posts and make comments below.
Great blog, looks like a few people decided to use Digg, its just one of the pretty amazing companies that just started off with only a really small team.
ReplyDeleteThey were able to scale quite easily from a technological point of view but what do you think about the trying to scale from a business point of view? Seems like they get the majority of their money from investors.
Digg is a good example of this principle and one that many new Web2.0 startups can learn from. It is also worth noting that Digg did not spend a cent on Advertising and its growth was entirely via word of mouth largely through the sharing buttons that it provided its users.
ReplyDeleteI am quite concerned about their business model. They have put some advertising on their website but this may not be enough.
ReplyDeleteI think they have done very well to use word of mouth to build it to the point they have.
Great article. Good explanation of the concept of light weight models.
ReplyDeleteDigg have certainly grown from their humble beginnings, but their users are certainly a vocal bunch. Every time Digg release an upgrade their users are never happy!