Oren Friedman is a good friend who lives and works in Vancouver, Canada. Oren is a brilliant, well rounded person who also happens to be a successful Internet professional. Oren wrote me this:

“I’ve been following the blog for a while, and while I agree with many of the technology/product views, I’m somewhat clueless on some of the business aspects of web 2.0 (the word “bubble” comes to mind).  Ultimately, you’re looking at either clicks (advertising) or subscriptions (premium accounts).  Nothing new there.  And as the ICQ folks learned firsthand, consumer loyalty is fickle at best - here today, on to the next one tomorrow.  So, other than “great user experience”, “features”, “interfaces” and so on, what is needed is the switching cost component, the lock-in mechanism.  Think eBay, which have the best lock-in mechanism all around - market liquidity. (more…)