Scenic photography always fills me with wonder
Your Business Model: Muse, Amuse, or Both?
Is the business you are fostering primarily focused on amusement, inspiring users, or a splendid mix of both. The verb muse is: to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject. Amuse, simply it's opposite historically, is tied to jovial entertainment. As a big fan of enjoyable thinking, I believe our entertainment and inspiration can share a common source. Great stand up comedians and writers often amuse and inspire us with new ways of viewing otherwise ordinary activities or events.
Internet based companies have iteratively refined on the business model of building platforms. Many of these platforms fall under the umbrella of structural databases, supported by user interfaces and available to other software by a shared application programming interfaces (API). If the underlying platform is simple, scalable, with an elegant front end the technology is more probable of gaining adoption by users, as well as developers. I can't stress enough how important it is to inspire and gain the interest of developers. Yesterday I suggested that by setting our imagination free, and not forcing it down a preconceived path, our creations can gain a life of their own. Collaborative design is a key element for this value creation model. Both the original platform and new developers prosper with their combined high value services.
Blurring the line between developers and users, breakthrough software and services allow any user to alter their interface through modifications to a simple framework or protocol. Another benefit of allowing users to customize their own experience is that they can personalize the technology to their needs. This removes the heavy burden of identifying all practical applications of an invention before it is created. Having one or two plans for the use of an early service is a great way to begin design and implementation. It's an impossible task for small business to conceive of every possible application of a new technology. By providing an underlying platform much like clay and a pottery wheel, each user can mold and shape the substance of a tool to conform to their ideals. Users can communicate to each other (and remotely) through specified protocols and continue to build up higher functioning utilities on the layered Internet stack.
There are vastly different measures for entertainment or deeply ingrained functional/efficiency improvements.
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