"We're sorry, this content can only be viewed by residents of the United States".

Being in Canada, this is the phrase I got when I first tried to view Hulu.com content.

It's there because understandably, media moguls have signed agreements with Hulu to control distribution. They've known since the dawn of mass communications that eyes, or "views", have value.

Now a lot of web 2.0 startups have great community-building ideas, but fail when it comes to monetize the value of these communities. However, a lot of people in these communities would readily pay for the content if it brought a certain level of "value" to their eyes.

How can the two meet? Is it possible to bring the notion of pay-per-view in web 2.0 content? Would you pay minute amounts of money for viewing Facebook profiles? Would you charge people 99 cents to view your corporate Tweets?

Can something belonging to the information category be monetized in this web 2.0 era? Or is entertainment the only thing which holds real value on the web currently?

UserVoice (see below post) seems to have found a model in selling "subscriptions" to their service right off the bat, because the product they're offering provides ROI to its benefactor.
However, people giving feedbacks inside the application, aren't paid to do so: they're doing it voluntarily. This being said, they do get something back in the long run because they get free active participation in making something they're using much better.

Would they pay to provide the feedback? No. Could they get paid to provide their ideas and insights? Yes. In UserVoice's current model they're not, but still it doesn't mean that their feedback doesn't have individual value. That value is a notion in itself which was certainly used by UserVoice creators in evaluating the average cost of a UserVoice package.

Now, isn't content found within a web application like LinkedIn of equal value? Doesn't it provide you with ROI because of the contacts you make and the businesses you develop? So why isn't LinkedIn taking advantage of this and selling this service?

Is "eye value" an applicable notion to community-based services? Are there ways that can be found to monetize or otherwise generate return from this eye value, without ruining the authenticity and efficiency of the community itself ?

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Today's market is made of conversations.

Managing and participating in these conversations is not only a great way to build a relationship with the public, it's also a great way to help your brand or product innovate.

Discover UserVoice, "the fastest way to turn feedback into innovation" as they put it themselves, but moreover -- a damn brilliant 2.0 application.

What UserVoice does is very simple. It opens up a channel for people to give feedback on your company's product or service, offering ideas and improvements. Just like you had your own little private (or public) customer management tool.

The UserVoice creators put it this way (from the UserVoice website):

"On other projects we were left frustrated and overwhelmed when trying to grasp what our users really wanted. Unorganized inboxes and clogged ticket systems ruled the day. Forums were awash with duplication, user support was impossible to determine, and valuable ideas were lost in the shuffle."

And this great insight led the way to a very flexible online application. The system is pretty much a cross between Digg and Twitter, but applied to feedback usage -- which is one heck of an idea in itself. People can rate the submissions, a function which helps you recognize which parts of your product or service are worth improving first, or down right changing completely.

UserVoice was created less than a year ago, has its roots in lovelay California and is led by a team of 6. They have a very interesting and scalable subscription model , which starts from *completely free* moving up to *more bang for your buck*, and have already been subject to a number of articles and praises from the online community.

If you want to see an example of UserVoice in action, take a peek at TweetDeck's UserVoice (TweetDeck is a standalone Twitter aggregator application in its beta phase). I'm using TweetDeck and had a few ideas for improvements, and was trying to email TweetDeck directly to let them know. Upon landing on their page and looking for contact info, I decided instead to click their "TweetDeck Feedback" button, and I was directly sent to their UserVoice account -- that was 10 minutes ago, and also the reason I'm now blogging this post. You'll get the idea pretty quickly, and like me, you'll probably by amazed by the idea.

This is one of the best 2.0 ventures I've seen in awhile, and a potential massive success we'll be hearing about shortly.

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Get mini-scratching those mp3s with this mini turntable speaker/mixer, which can connect to your iPhone or mp3-playing device.

Great fun at the office when you wanna show off your mad skills. Available at your local crazy Urban Outfitters.

(Thanks, Notcot.org!)

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