Sitting Down with Adam Ostrow of Mashable – Part 2: On Mashable
December 2, 2008 :: Steve FisherIn Part 2 of 4 in our interview with Adam Ostrow of Mashable, we had a chance to discuss his thoughts on entrepreneurship. And so our interview continues below..
Steve: Your tagline at Mashable is “All that’s new on the Web”. With the changes in the economy and the evolution of Web 2.0 over the last few years, are you seeing a shift in the type of content and/or topics that Mashable is covering?
Adam: “New” is the key word there. We see a lot of “me-too” services launching now – clones of popular services like Twitter and Digg – and we tend not to cover those unless they offer some sort of interesting twist that makes them potentially disruptive. Another big trend is mobile – with iPhone and now Android, an increasing portion of our coverage is devoted to the mobile web, both with existing websites extending their presence to these devices and completely new concepts designed exclusively for the mobile environment.
Steve: Do you believe that the “Web 2.0” moniker is fading?
Adam: Yea, I actually sort of cringe when someone emails us saying “we’re launching a new Web 2.0 application.” At this point, I think many of the underlying technologies that defined Web 2.0 are so commonplace that it’s no longer some sort of mystical thing that is a major competitive advantage. It’s more like, if your site isn’t taking advantage of AJAX and JavaScript and integrating social features, what are you doing?
Steve: One of the most popular things Mashable has is its own social network, MyMashable. Granted, social networks seem to be popping up all over the place, but yours is a niche network that helps you build a foundation for a Mashable community and not just a subscribed readership. Do you see social networks continuing to grow, focus or die away over time?
Adam: I think they’ll continue to grow, especially internationally. As far as mega social networks like Facebook and MySpace, I think we’ll probably only see something like that emerge once every few years. On the other hand, I think you’ll continue to see social features – like what we’ve done at Mashable – integrated all over the place.
Steve: Mashable, from an outsiders perspective, has three key elements – content, social network and events. Would that be a fair assessment? What do you and the team have planned for the future of Mashable?
Adam: That’s pretty accurate. One big thing we’re focused on is distribution – getting our content in more places. There’s only so far you can go as a destination site, but when you become a platform – something that other people can use to their benefit (and ours) – you become a scalable business. You’ll see a lot of announcements centered on this concept in the months to come.
Interview Parts with Adam Ostrow:
Part 1 – Intro
Part 2 – Adam on Mashable
Part 3 – Adam on Entrepreurship
Part 4 – Adam on Adam
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