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local.ie - Not A Portal Or Local
Dateline:0630 Hrs 26 May 1999
Last year, Telecom Eireann invested in Nua and local.ie. Perhaps Nua is a good investment for TE as they have knowledge and expertise that is clearly lacking in TE's own operation. But again that is not unique knowledge.
Nua is well able to market itself but most of what they are saying is common sense and indeed has often been said elsewhere with more insight - the Webonomics site is a good example. The "Nua Thinking" column is clearly reheated ideas masquerading as a "philosophical exploration of our technological society". Two words: utter guff!
The clueless cohorts who write for the Dublin internet magazines tend to be in awe of Nua and their prognostications. They are easy to fool because they are frequently clueless. Most of them have no technical training or background. Outside of Dublin, we don't take much notice because our outlook is globalised.
A perfect example of these opposing mindsets was evident in a conversation I had with an editor of a Dublin based web business magazine about a book that someone in Dublin was writing about the internet. He considered that the book would have to sell well in Dublin to be a success. It was a localised viewpoint that ignored the business potential of the web. The irony was compounded by the fact that this magazine was meant to be promoting the use of the web for business. Then again the magazine does not seem to obey the physics of this universe as it has become progressively content free while increasing in size.
The English language book market is global and is one of the toughest to succeed in - you either get into a niche market and dominate it or you will end up making a small fortune in publishing having started with a large one. Besides every clueless Tom Dick and Harriet thinks they can write about the internet - just look at the flurry of internet and web magazines and ask yourself if these people really do have a clue and how many of them are merely reporters with no specialist knowledge or experience trying to cash in on the current buzz.
As an acquisition, the local.ie venture is a classic example of used electron salesmanship. TE bought a major share in it last year in the vain hope that it would be profoundly successful - just like they hoped TInet, Doras and Muse would be profoundly successful.
The reality of the vacuuous nature of the "concept" sold to TE by Nua is that there seems to be very little infrastructure and the information there is either open source or was plainly, as in the case of Waterford, wrong. The information on local.ie's Waterford front page has now been changed so that it is now completely content free.
The user of local.ie is meant to provide the content at no charge. So not only is TE screwing the punter for the telephone charges and maybe the ISP fee, it also wants you to put your information there at your own cost. It is kind of like asking the victim of a hanging to pay for and bring the noose.
The results have been sporadic at best because it is based on a fundamental mistake - the "if you build it they will come". That attitude owes something to TE's monopolistic mindset and a lot to people who talk about virtual communities but in reality have never run one (eg a bulletin board system). There are three rules for a virtual community:
1. A virtual community has something in common.
It is the very nature of a community that the people forming it have something in common. Most of the successful virtual communities have strong links. The best example would be Slashdot. The best example for Waterford is that of the Munster Express's Ex-Files. This is a site where exiles from Waterford can leave contact information and details of their life since they left Waterford.
2. A virtual community has to have focal characters.
Having people who can answer questions and get into flamewars but above all people with which others can identify with is essential for a community. These people generally attract others.
3. A virtual community has to have a journal.
This local commentary thing is fine for personal websites but most areas have local newspapers online. Unless the area of coverage is a highly specialised one, the chances are that some other site on the web is doing it better. Many of the attempts at implementing a portal, and local.ie is a classic example in this, fail on this because they have no detailed knowledge of journalism and assume that writing on a daily or weekly basis is easy. The web does not remove the need to gather the news and information in the first place. As a result, the local news from newspapers is plundered in an effort to give the site current feel.
Why local.ie Is Vulnerable
From a hardnosed business viewpoint, local.ie is a vulnerable venture because there is no unique knowledgebase, no competitive deterrent (something that could make it impossible for someone else to do the same thing) and no guaranteed revenue stream. Telecom Eireann's people behind this are clearly ignorant of how major portals work. Such ignorance is nothing new for Telecom Eireann since it has been a relative latecomer to the internet and the monopolist's cosy insulation from harsh fiscal reality has protected it from having to develop survival abilities such as the power of analytical thought.
In March, the front page for waterford.local.ie had this wonderful line "If you would like to get involved in Local Waterford, you can contact your Development Officer for the S.W" I guess the fact that this area is known as the Sunny South East doesn't mean much to those in the damp and murky depths of Dublin. What was even funnier was that Waterford was represented as being a Viking port that was second only in importance to Dublin. This was absolute rubbish - Waterford was a city for over a hundred years before Dublin even existed. Waterford was the most strategic port in Ireland and the one that all invaders had to take first.
Most operations in Ireland and elsewhere are really local. Someone from Dublin cluelessly making up history tends to irritate the locals. The web developers in Waterford see local.ie as not being from Waterford and have refused point blank to cooperate (apart from the local internet cafe which takes it's feed from TE/Tinet). The web developers in other cities have the same attitude though not necessarily to the same level.
The only areas that local.ie seems to have been successful in are those areas where there are no established web businesses. One of the major reasons for an area having so few web businesses is lack of population.
Each city in Ireland will have a higher tier of web development companies and though they compete locally they will tend to band together against companies from outside. Perhaps Dublin is different but I doubt it. |
