The document discusses the importance of 'third places'—informal gathering spots that foster community interaction—amidst a trend of isolation in modern life where people only engage at home and work. It highlights the rapid growth of social communities like Facebook and Twitter, emphasizing the shift in web marketing strategies from driving traffic to content to reaching users directly in these community spaces. Additionally, it introduces Ray Oldenburg's concept of the third place and the challenges faced by traditional media companies, positioned as 'fourth places,' in adapting to this new landscape.

1. The Third Place and the Inversion of Web Marketing Will Price CEO [email_address]

2. Overview Why are social communities growing? What is the Third Place ? And, how can it help us understand the power of community and today’s web? What if you are the 4 th place?

3. Community is the Killer App Community enablers are dominant: “ Twitter is one of the fastest growing phenomena on the Internet.” – NYTimes “ Facebook community hits 150m.” – The Times Online

4. Facebook: Up 86% y-o-y

5. Twitter: Up 750% y-o-y

6. Why? Why are these sites growing so quickly? Is it a technology phenomena? What core needs are these companies addressing that help to explain their success?

7. Who is this guy? How can he help? Ray Oldenburg, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Sociology at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. Best known for writing The Great Good Place and for the concept of the Third Place.

8. The 3 rd Place 1 st Place: Home 2 nd Place: Work 3 rd Place: Informal Gathering Places Ex. Cafe, pub, etc?

9. Why We Need Third Places Modern life (suburbia, highways, commuting) is privatizing life – i.e. limiting communal interactions. Making it hard, expensive, irregular, and painful to gather Vibrant communities are extraordinary By nature, humans are social creatures We need the means to gather easily, inexpensively, regularly, and pleasurably The loss of Third Places leads to a sense of isolation and a cycle of home to work and back again

10. For Many Today: Only Two Places 1 st Place: Home 2 nd Place: Work No Third Place

11. Characteristics of Third Places Free or inexpensive Highly accessible Proximate Involve regulars Welcoming and comfortable ” Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name, And they're always glad you came; You want to be where you can see, Our troubles are all the same; You want to be where everybody knows your name.”

12. Offline Companies That Understand the 3 rd Place

13. Technology Foundations = of Today’s

14. Facebook and Twitter: Villages in a Modern World Welcoming, Accessible, Free, Regulars…

15. Today’s Challenge: Brands and Media Houses are at best the 4 th Place Audiences are reaggregating in 3 rd Places 4 th Places fighting a losing battle Users want to consume content and applications independent of the content’s source How do content creators discover and reach their audience in the era of the 3 rd Place?

16. Traditional Web Marketing Drive Users to Your Content

17. Marketing in the Third Place Age Drive your content to users Content + Syndication Platform = Content on 3 rd Places

18. Widgets: Social Syndication

19. More examples

20. Conclusion Social communities are here to stay Most media companies are 4 th Places….at best Traditional web marketing needs to be inverted Questions How to best drive your content to your users? How to move the definition of success from site traffic to content consumed independent of location?

21. About Widgetbox #1 Web Widget Provider First web widget company 74m uniques (Quantcast) 130,000 widgets 700m monthly widget impressions Funded by Sequoia Capital and Hummer Winblad For Publishers Widgetize content, network content for traffic and distribution, and monetize For Advertisers Targeted reach, engaging in-widget ad solutions, and IAB standard ad units

22. Thank you Will Price CEO Widgetbox [email_address]

23. Growth Validates Premise Year Widgetviews Uniques (Wbx data) 12/06 6,304,014 675,558 12/07 273,883,577 25,267,336 12/08 629,744,837 72,533,559 06-08 Change 99.6x 107x 07-08 Change 2.3x 2.9x