Guy Kawasaki seems to be catching a lot of heat for his latest endeavor, Truemors - a site that allows the anonymous public to post late-breaking news (or rumors) for the world to see. The site reminds many of Twitter with its mini-blogging posting style (limited to 250 characters per post) and allows users to post via the site itself, email, SMS, or even phone!
Although others have thrashed Guy on various counts such as lack of focus, lack of registration, and the fact that the site was built on WordPress, I think people are missing the genius in the whole project. Sure, on the surface, to the average person, it may not seem like anything revolutionary or even profitable, but who thought myspace, Digg, or 43 Things would take off when they first launched? Even though countless sites have capitalized on the same behaviours, people don't seem to realize is that there are a few things that we as humans love to do - gossip and compete.
First off, let me say that after reading Guy's responses in this post over at pronetadvertising.com, I think he is doing a great job defending a site that he surely feels has strong potential. Now, here's why I think Truemors will be a huge success:
The reason why people will use Truemors is very simple - We thrive on information. If it's little-known information, we feel privileged. If we provided the little-known information, we feel empowered. Consider this - Tabloids can afford to pay tens of thousands of dollars for that one picture of a single celebrity doing something that they weren't supposed to. Why? Because thousands and thousands of supermarket shoppers will pay $5.00 a pop to find out that Paris Hilton was seen walking down the street on yet another guy's arm. So what? Who cares? Apparently we do, or the tabloids would be out of business.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not insinuating that Truemors is a publicly driven tabloid site (although it may be just that). I'm simply attempting to convey the message that we, as humans, like to know the latest breaking news, true or not, as long as we know it first. Because Truemors forgoes any type of registration process and has so many ways to post, it provides a medium for the public to do just that - provide the latest news, true or not, to the public. And what makes it more appealing is that the poster gets credit - which brings me to my next point.
When submitting to Truemors, you are asked to provide your name. This name is used to identify the poster once your post has been submitted. This is where my earlier reference to competition comes into play. Even though posts are, for all intents and purposes, anonymous, and (to my knowledge) there is no real way prove that you are the person who submitted the post, I guarantee the site will see tons of posts, followed by traffic, just because everyone wants to make it to the top of the "Greatest" list. How do I know this? Look at how many bloggers brag about making it to the front page of Digg. Why? Because we like to be #1. It's all about competition and being able to say that you are the best - that you beat out everyone else.
"It's free. How will it make any money?", you ask. Well, they've already started running ads in the sidebar, which I'm sure will increase in cost for advertisers as the site receives more traffic. They could probably litter the page with a couple more ads and users wouldn't flinch as long as they were able to get their gossip fix. Then, of course, there's the possibility that it might get snatched up by one of the big boys for a couple million, provided they would want to deal with the moderation involved and/or the potential for lawsuits. Hey, Google bought YouTube in the midst of lawsuits for copyright infringement, so who knows?
My disclaimer: Based upon the opinions I've read so far, if I'd stopped writing at the previous sentence, I'm sure I'd have gotten a ton of comments about how Guy is evil, that he should pursue other endeavors, and that he's failed in the past. I'm not here to argue those points. As for Guy's values, past accomplishments or failures, I have no opinion. Quite honestly, I didn't even know who he was until yesterday. Will Truemors be a success? Time will tell. The point of this post is not to cast moral judgement, it is simply to point out that the team behind Truemors has a firm grasp on what drives us and exactly how to capitalize upon it. And for this reason, Truemors will be successful.
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