Bush as „Killa G" ? Election 2004 Gangsta Site Displays the Opportunity of "Web Tents"

September 10, 2004 -- John Kerry as Big Bank J. K., Condoleezza Rice as Killa Condi, Cheney meets Eminem as Cheminem... These are some of the caricatures that can be found at the "Election 2004 Gangsta Face-Off" site at appliedideas.net. The site seizes the opportunity of a particular event (the 2004 US election) and adds a new twist by incorporating a connection to a specific community (Rap community). It is in other words a web tent.

In the Mid 1990´s entrepreneurs made a mad grab for web "real estate" in various areas. Yahoo built a monumental presence in the portal area, eBay in the auction area, and of course Amazon in e-commerce. These areas on the web were considered desirable and are now occupied.

You may have been one of many that churned out web based ideas by the minute in the nineties, read the Red Herring like the bible and finally had enough brainstorming by 2001. Now your web wounds have healed and your creativity leads you back to the web in search of opportunity, but the towering ecommerce and community sky scrapers cast a cold shadow of superiority and endurance over your scarred conceptual ability. Does this mean that all the opportunity has been crowded from the web?

Think again. It may very well be true that the space on the web´s 5th Avenue has been snatched up, but across the bridge there's always space for a tent to accommodate any festival that may come along. Some "web tents" that have seized opportunity by recognizing momentous occurrences in an ever changing world are Gmail Swap and F**ked Company.

What attracted people to these sites? They speak to a particular community, are based on current changes and have a special unique twist. F**ked Company spoke to a bitter community having felt the impact of the historical internet down turn. The unconventional and controversial, "law suit pending" style of reporting turned heads and led plenty of press. The following has allowed the site to expand into dating and paid services.

Gmail Swap spoke to Googlites and techies that couldn't wait for a web mail account offered by Google to the public. The accounts where distributed to a select few during a period before the public launch of the service, creating a timely opportunity for those with a Gmail address to trade against payments or other goods.

What type of tent should you pitch? Web tents usually evolve from a single person with a particular passion, unique character trait or talent that allows them to recognize an event, that no one else recognizes, or add a different twist to an expected event like the U.S. presidential election. If you are creative and aware of changes around you, your tent idea is likely to pop up spontaneously and unexpectedly.

How can you fill your party tent? Attract a cult following and get press. Since your tent is likely to relate to a particular community, contacting writers of well trafficked blogs and postings in relevant forums are likely to cause a stir. Send a web based press release, perhaps a free one by PR web and your party tent will fill. If you want to sell some T-shirts or mugs as memorabilia you can set up shop at cafepress.com.

"Web tents" have been around and will continue to surprise us with unique perspectives, as long as long as the world keeps changing and publishing on the web stays immediate. They just haven't received a name- until now.




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