Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Seattle 2.0, and imported to GeekWire as part of our acquisition of Seattle 2.0 and its archival content. For more background, see this post.
By Alyssa Royse
Back in the old days, when the World Wide Web was more likethe Wild Wild West, the porn industry was the great innovator. It was porn thatshowed us how to use the Web to attract and retain customers, convert voyeursto members, market related products and content, develop affiliaterelationships, and even modify offerings based on customer behavior. It wasduring those times that I sat in conference rooms with Fortune 500 clients andtried to explain to them how they could use the Web to do all those things. Itwas hard to explain, so we literally sat with them and surfed porn sites toshow them what we were talking about.
Take a minute and picture that. Yes, it was fun.
I just spent a great 5 days in San Francisco at the Cybernetconference. This is an “adult industry” conference focused on harnessing existing andemerging technology to promote porn. Needless to say, I was breathless to seewhere the Pied Pipers of Porn were going to lead us all next. (And check out myschwag bag.)
The keynote address by Steve Lightspeed was something of a wake-up call – muchneeded for people who had partied too much and didn’t necessarily want to wakeup. Steve is something of a God in the industry, and he came to it naturallyfrom his love of computers and love of porn. And that’s a good place to startthis cautionary tale.
Do What You Love, Love What You Do
When it all started, people who were making porn were doingit because they loved it. They cared about their product and their industry,times were good. When the Internet came along, they were able to do what theyloved and monetize the hell out of it. Eventually, it became the money thatthey loved, and the product became little more than a way to get the money. Theproduct suffered. More and more people were making a race for the money and themarket was drowned in crap.
Now, it’s a mess, people are losing money and there is waymore crap than non-crap.
But who’s making money still? The people who are doing whatthey love. Sites like kink.com (which is absolutely not for the faint at heart,so I’m not putting in a link) are thriving because they are serving a uniquequality product by and for people who truly love it. They play in niche markets(what “legit business” calls verticals) and have never lost site of theircustomer or their product, and the love they share. (How successful? The boughtThe Armory Building in San Fran. Can you buy a city block of a major Americancity?)
The lesson? Do you know and love your product? Do you useit? If so, don’t lose site of it and be sure that you always support yourproduct and your customer. Love, even in porn and business is the key tolongevity. Are you just in it to make money? Then you’re in the crapshoot. Itmay work, it may not. Either way, it probably won’t last.
Clean Out The Crap
You, your company and your product are all part of a largermarket. You need your market to be healthy or you will be out of business.Porn, more than just about any other industry, has fallen victim to their owninsane growth. They are (and there’s no pun-free way to say it) full of morepredators, shady characters and viruses than any other online segment. And it’stheir own fault. They got obsessed with size and volume, pulled out every trickin the book to get more, and they’re getting screwed.
Lightspeed suggested it was up to the industry to clean upthe industry. And he’s right. As much as you love your product, you have tolove your market even more. If there are people giving your market a bad name,engaging in practices that make customers weary of even the good guys, thenit’s up to you to join with the other good guys and clean house. Be part of the positive change, and youwill be part of the future.
Know What’s Coming
An enormous amount of time was spent discussing emergingtechnology like digital fingerprinting and new mobile devices. These are thethings that will shape the future, and you need to be able to adapt to them.Use it or lose it, as the saying goes. Truth is, unless you are a strictlyoriginal content play, technology may develop that can do what you do, fasterand cheaper. (Porn translation, unless you can so something that no one else iswilling to do, it’s just as easy to get my needs met with any old…. )
If you are going to build a lasting relationship with yourcustomer, you need to know what tools they will be using in 5 years, and howyour product will work with them. Get to know the leaders of all the industriesthat will shape your future. Work with them, help them, share with them.(Resisting the urge to make an intellectual orgy comment here.)
Wear Protection
Know the laws that govern your industry and use them to youradvantage. Don’t do business with bad people. Always take the high road. Andwear condoms, every time. (He didn’t say that, but it’s a good reminder and agood metaphor.)
Porn was the first industry to exploit the power of theWorld Wide Web. They may have been the worst to pollute it with crap. And nowthey are trying to have an internal industry revolution to behave in a way thatwill keep it all clean, healthy and profitable. We have followed them everystep of the way. If this is where they’re going, we need to follow them theretoo.
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Alyssa Royse is working on something big. She will beattending a lot more conferences if they’re all this fun – but needs to waituntil she gets back some of the innocence she left at the kink.com party. (Stop laughing.) You can readlots of other thoughts on her personal blog, which will also tell you how toreach her if you want her to help you with your writing, marketing, or bad-punneeds.
