“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein

Trend Radar 2008: Verticalization Everywhere

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 | 3 comments

Check other articles in the series...

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know, I am a huge believer in verticalization of the web. In fact, my entire Web 3.0 thesis is based on this idea.

In 2007, we saw the beginnings of verticalization. In 2008, I expect this trend to become rampant in all aspects of the web - commerce, content, search, and community.

With that in mind, here are some pointers to further readings:

* Connecting You With Your Intimate Bot - My Forbes column explaining Web 3.0 in the context of the travel vertical.

* The Gap In Google’s Defenses - My Forbes column exploring the Kayak vertical search roll-up deal. To be fair, for a long time yet, Google and Kayak will coexist. But in the 5-7 year horizon, I expect things to start getting exciting for the vertical brands.

* Google’s Achilles Heel - My GigaOm column discussing the vertical search movement in the context of Job Search with examples of companies like SimplyHired and Indeed.

* Vertical Ad Networks: A Trend to Watch for 2008 is my piece on monetization of vertical sites and the emerging trend of vertical ad networks brought to light by players like Glam Media, Travel Ad Network, etc.

Overall, as I said in my post on the restructuring of Time Warner, the organizing principle of the web needs to be around verticals and context, be it video, text, graphics, or search. Similarly, the monetization will also happen as advertisers look for one comprehensive ad network to reach meaningful, segmented audiences with effective campaigns.

And for that, verticalization is essential.

This segment is part 9 in a 13 part series
Jump to part: The Convergence Device Movement, Device Usability, Miniaturization, Simplicity in Design, SaaS in the Enterprise, SaaS in SME, SaaS Impact on IT Infrastructure, Offshoring, Verticalization Everywhere, Emerging Markets, Turnarounds, Edutainment, Financing, Roll-Ups, and Acquisitions

Comments

i am gald your career has so many horizontal elements…

on the giga om article…

what you are describing is not an achille’s heel at all, it is just the natural flow of innovation through time.

there used to be five kinds of bottled water in the market, now there are fifty, same with tea or salsa or shampoo

does that mean the original brands did something wrong? no way, they did something right!

the only achille’s heel any company has is just time, and the fact that no one can do everything.

so, in my opinion your article was about nothing, though it did improve your horizontals.

enjoy, gregory

gregory Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 11:14 PM PT

[…] Replacing Yenta, Zappos Wants to be Amazon When it Grows UpYou have heard me talk about the verticalization of the web. Here’s a good example of a brand built on that […]

Deal Radar 2008: Zappos Wants to be Amazon When it Grows Up - Sramana Mitra on Strategy Monday, January 28, 2008 at 11:13 AM PT

[…] in Design, SaaS in the Enterprise, SaaS in SME, SaaS Impact on IT Infrastructure, Offshoring, Verticalization Everywhere, Emerging Markets, Turnarounds, Edutainment, Financing, Roll-Ups, and AcquisitionsFor many years, I […]

Trend Radar 2008: Financing, Roll-Ups, and Acquisitions - Sramana Mitra on Strategy Monday, February 11, 2008 at 12:54 PM PT

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