I enjoyed reading Steve Rubel’s post on Micro Persuasion about how to market in an internet world where audiences ebb and flow.

Steve pointed out that several names that topped the Media Metrix charts in 2001 cannot be found today.  A couple he noted such as Fortune City and Homestead.com are familiar to us because our business, freeservers.com, was a direct competitor. Freeservers has continued to grow and is owned by United Online Inc. (UNTD), who also operates NetZero and Juno.

Steve entreats marketers to think more like venture capitalists. I am glad he drew the line with thinking like VCs and not acting like VCs. The last thing any of us needs is more people acting like VCs. On the other hand, I do appreciate Steve’s suggesting that precisely because it is nigh impossible to predict what net community or application will be popular, marketers should place several bets and from a portfolio of ad spends, hope for one or two big wins. He writes,

He notes that yesterday’s successes are often quickly “overshadowed by today's giants -- although judging by the hype a couple of years ago, the then-prevailing thought was that they might be giants.” 

Which reminds me of the band They Might Be Giants and their song “Birdhouse in Your Soul.” The lyrics also provide a nice reminder about the fickleness of the web audience.

“I’m your only friend, I’m not your only friend
But I’m a little glowing friend
But really I’m not actually your friend
But I am“