Home Top Ten Underserved Web 2.0 Markets

Top Ten Underserved Web 2.0 Markets

Recently I posted a meta-list of Web 2.0
lists
. My current favorite list is the eConsultant’s Web 2.0 Directory. It has “1007
Web 2.0 sites/services/links in 50+ categories”. Sacred Cow
Dung’s
is another easily-scannable catagorized list. As I scrolled through these
lists today, I wondered which categories are currently underserved by
products/services… We all know there are tons of social networking sites, photo
services, online calendars, etc – a new contender in any of those popular categories
seems to come into my inbox every second day. Frankly the world probably doesn’t need yet
another blog search or photo-sharing service.

So what market segments are in need of more products to fill them out? Here are ten I
identified from eConsultant’s list, but I’m keen to get your feedback on this. Of course
I chose ten because that gives me the chance to do a ‘top ten’ post, a la Guy Kawasaki
😉 In no particular order, here they are:

  • Community-building
    services
    – overlaps with local; examples:
    craigslist, backfence, Oodle. There is a lot more that can be done to bring local
    communities into the 2.0 digital lifestyle.
  • Cooperative
    Distribution Services
    – e.g. BitTorrent; I’m no expert on P2P, but 3 products listed
    in eConsultant seems a little light to me.
  • Financial
    Services
    – has plenty of contenders, but I read/hear hardly any buzz about them in
    the blogosphere; if you’re talking about ‘real world’ needs, finances is right near the
    top of the list (as opposed to blogging, organizing photos, etc)
  • Game Services – only
    9 are listed in eConsultant…
  • Grassroots
    Services
    – community and charity projects; there are some excellent services already
    (KatrinaList, OurMedia, etc), but again seems like a lot more could be done. You could
    also include Non-profit
    services
    with this.
  • Mobile services
    already has plenty of contenders, but I’m including it because mobile is undoubtedly
    going to be a growth segment as the mobile Internet matures.
  • Project
    Management Services
    – even though Basecamp has seemingly a lock on this market, I’d
    like to see more such products from other companies. Indeed I’d like to see more
    innovative Web Office solutions in general – web-based office apps that really
    push the envelope. Like Zimbra, JotSpot Tracker, Morfik.
  • Publishing
    Services
    – publishing as in paper or e-books… now this is really a market I’d like
    to see others enter; Lulu.com is my current favorite. e.g. how about a service that lets
    people create their own PDF books or reports and charge for them on a website (a la the
    37Signals book)?
  • Streaming
    Services
    – i.e. Online media/music/video streaming services; this media market looks
    ripe for growth.
  • Wi-Fi Services
    only two listed in eConsultant so far.

Those are my initial selections, but interested to hear some feedback about what web
2.0 markets you think are underserved – and perhaps under-hyped (yes there is such
a thing).

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