I am getting sick. :(

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A random collection of cool links:

A really cool Flash music video by Lodger, a Finnish group. It's really ... trendy ... and ... good. Well, just go view it.

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A link popularity checking tool; Tabulas is a 'contender.' Cool stuff.

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A new Pew report has some very interesting information regarding the need for users to be able to push content onto the web. People want to push content; I see the demand for sites like Tabulas (which is _trying_ to move beyond a simple blogging platform to a personal data publishing system, with the ability to post content files, media files, galleries, etc.) exploding in the future... we're seeing younger people sign up for services now, but I think older people are slowly getting into the act.

Some quick facts:

• 21% of Internet users say they have posted photographs to Web sites.
• 20% say they have allowed others to download music or video files from their computers.
• 17% have posted written material on Web sites.
• 13% maintain their own Web sites.
• 10% have posted comments to an online newsgroup. A small fraction of them have posted files to a newsgroup such as video, audio, or photo files.
• 8% have contributed material to Web sites run by their businesses.
• 7% have contributed material to Web sites run by organizations to which they belong such as church or professional groups.
• 7% have Web cams running on their computers that allow other Internet users to see live pictures of them and their surroundings.
• 6% have posted artwork on Web sites.
• 5% have contributed audio files to Web sites.
• 4% have contributed material to Web sites created for their families.
• 3% have contributed video files to Web sites.
• 2% maintain Web diaries or Web blogs, according to respondents to this phone survey. In other phone surveys prior to this one, and one more recently fielded in early 2004, we have heard that between 2% and 7% of adult Internet users have created diaries or blogs. In this survey we found that 11% of Internet users have read the blogs or diaries of other Internet users. About a third of these blog visitors have posted material to the blog.

Most of those who do contribute material are not constantly updating or freshening content. Rather, they occasionally add to the material they have posted, created, or shared. For instance, more than two thirds of those who have their own Web sites add new content only every few weeks or less often than that. There is a similar story related to the small proportion of Americans who have blogs.

The most eager and productive content creators break into three distinct groups:

Power creators are the Internet users who are most enthusiastic about content-creating activities. They are young - their average age is 25 - and they are more likely than other kinds of creators do things like use instant messaging, play games, and download music. And they are the most likely group to be blogging.

Older creators have an average age of 58 and are experienced Internet users. They are highly educated, like sharing pictures, and are the most likely of the creator groups to have built their own Web sites. They are also the most likely to have used the Internet for genealogical research.

Content omnivores are among the heaviest overall users of the Internet. Most are employed. Most log on frequently and spend considerable time online doing a variety of activities. They are likely to have broadband connections at home. The average age of this group is 40.

There is a real pitfall (I believe) for a site trying to be everything-at-once; there is still going to be a real need for specialized sites. My goal is set up a series of specialized sites (Tabulas and Lightbox7 are just the beginning) that will let you customize each facet, but will remain separate... you have simple image tools in Tabulas, but if you want advanced tools, sign up for Lightbox and use the (soon to be developed) integration features.

Likewise, Lightbox7 has *simple* photologging tools (through its RSS file generation); if you want advanced photologging tools, use Tabulas.

The sites must exploit each of its advantages and goals to avoid marginalizing its features.

But the critical piece of data (which comes of no surprise to anyone I'm sure) is that the little bit about Older Creators; they like to share pictures, which is exactly what I anticipated. If I am to support myself, I have to market a website to these people. They have the disposable income and the need for a service like Lightbox7.

I think the best way to get these people to use one service (as opposed to another) is to offer easy help. An easy control panel (smooth UI) coupled with great help will _be_ the way to get these people online. Most of them don't want to learn how to do something to do a simple task like sharing images ... the best way is to make an easy pathflow in the control panel and then have them learn through repetition (keep your UI consistent over time).

But the most curious question in my mind is whether Power Creators (the ones on Tabulas are all under 18 it seems) will pay for the features in the future. And if this is the case, is setting a low price undercutting future revenues? People may get too used to the concept of '$20-esque/year' pricing concept. It's not really a financially sustainable; sites like Typepad have a much better pricing model and they are also (not surprisingly) doing much better than me in terms of business.

Due to this, the long-term goals of Tabulas will be to make the site technically better, but to also position myself as a content management site for the older users, who have the disposable income to sustain such a site (younger users have a higher percentage of disposable income, but that's based on an "income" of maybe $100/month if you're getting a helluva 'allowance.').