racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Sources say Facebook is planning to do an IPO of its shares by early 2012. Valued at $100 billion, the social network will be among the top-valued tech firms, like Google, Microsoft and Apple.

Publishing and social networking platform Vox has recently announced that the service is closing soon.

Vox has been a fun place to explore, create and connect with your friends. But Vox is closing its doors on September 30, 2010.

This doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to your blog. We want you to make sure you can keep the great content you’ve shared on Vox, and continue to have a home for your blog. To help you make the transition off of Vox, we’ve added new export features that make it easy to move your blog to a free TypePad account, and your photos & videos to Flickr.

I’m not a big fan of Vox, but I setup an account when it first opened. I also have a few friends and online contacts who use Vox (or used to) as their primary publishing platform. The main come-on of Vox is that it allowed users to publish content they stored in other services under a single point of access, which is their Vox page.

I’m not sure about Six Apart‘s main reasons for closing down Vox. Perhaps it’s because there are a handful of services that offer just the same functionality, but with a bigger user base and perhaps better profitability.

What does this mean for people who use small services, then?

I used to work for a company that developed a similar service like Vox. Back then, it was also in my mind how the service can compete and thrive, in the face of the established services. However, it’s not always the case that newer, smaller services will fail. It takes two things to succeed (or at least survive): a thriving community, and a really good product.

Take for instance services or products that started out small, like Facebook, Wordpress and Twitter. Perhaps at one time they were just another product with a small community. But once you reach the tipping point and everyone starts talking about your product, and using it, and building on it, you’re assured of success.

But then, it’s up to you how to stay at the top. How many products or services do you know became obsolete because they didn’t change with the times? Or how many services or products became too successful for their own good, and just fizzled out through time, leading to their demise?

I guess the question here is how you can get people to commit. I must admit I used to be an early adopter. When there was some new online service, I’d be among the first to join. But getting people to join up and keeping them active are two different things altogether.

And for users who sign up for services, the question is this: how sure are you that the service you are using will still be there one, two years from now? If they promise to keep your files or photos forever, how sure are you that they will keep true to their promise? It’s a pain having to lose your “home” online and move elsewhere.

In the Digital Filipino event which I attended as resource person yesterday (that deserves a whole new blog post altogether, but I’m too tired to post about that right now), fellow presenter Sacha Chua talked about social computing and networking. One of the things she really digs is upcoming.org, which she thinks is great for checking out upcoming events in Toronto, where she’s currently based. I’ve known about upcoming.org since 2005 when we were looking for features to integrate into i.PH. However, it didn’t really click here in Metro Manila simply because there isn’t much you can see.

The concept

Upcoming.org is yet another Web 2.0 application. It’s collaborative and it’s user-generated. People who are based in a certain location can post about events to be held in their localities (whether they are running it or know about it), and users can discuss. Users can even indicate whether they’re attending, or if they’re just watching discussions online.

What’s great is that this web app lets people learn about upcoming events in their own city or locality, and see whom among their contacts are coming. It’s a great way to organize get-togethers and meet-ups.

Unfortunately, the list for Metro Manila (or the Philippines, for that matter) is quite bare. So it’s quite disappointing since the application can be a really useful tool, especially since it gives the users power to add content, and to exchange information based on content. However, without anything meaningful, then the app would be worthless.

There are a handful of sites around that cater to local events (like clickthecity.com ). However, content is still mostly centraliezed or at least editorialized, and there is no true collaboration. I’m of the feeling that being listed is also a premium service (meaning companies have to pay to get listed), so there is no freedom to just add relevant events or listings if you’re not part of their circle.

Let’s populate the list!

So let’s see if we can make use of upcoming as a tool for highlighting events in Metro Manila (and also other metropolitan areas in the country). Maybe this can better facilitate parties and other gatherings. The important thing is that we set up an initial list of events we’re each personally interested in. From there, I’m hoping things would grow and become sustainable.

Note: Toronto has 200+ upcoming events in the succeeding couple of weeks (as of this posting). Metro Manila has 2. Let’s make it more exciting!

Another note: Upcoming.org was the brainchild of a single developer–Andy Baio of waxy.org–and the site was done in his spare time. Late 2005, Yahoo! acquired the service (for millions?). Isn’t that a good business model for Web 2.0 apps?

See you on upcoming.org !