Egg on Your Hulu
I’m not sure if the blogosphere has been so universally positive about a corporate entity moving into the world of Web 2.0 than they are about Hulu now that they’ve had their chance to get their hands on it. With very few detractors, people are calling the new online video channel “the kind of service that should scare startups trying to develop their own distribution platforms.” After being backed by iTunes detractor and big media bad guys NBC and receiving more than $100 million in VC financing, the concept behind Hulu was the butt of many jokes over the past several months and bloggers were waiting with baited breath for their first peek during beta testing.
TechCrunch’s speed in posting the first error message they found on the site made me think about what Gartner likes to call the “hype cycle.” In a sense, TechCrunch was poking fun at the hype cycle and were quick to update the post to reveal how short the outage was (and, come on, it’s in BETA!).
The hype cycle cites a “technology trigger” that begins the cycle and then a quick ramp up to a “peak of inflated expectations” before the “trough of disillusionment.” What about when the people behind the hyped product aren’t respected by the influencers? When you’re an outsider, or not respected by the influencers, you pretty much start in trough of disillusionment and have to fight your way onto the ramp of inflated expectations.
What will be interesting to watch is how the lack of a technology trigger really affects the rest of the hype cycle. The final stage of the hype cycle is the”plateau of productivity,” which is an evolution of the technology that is dependent upon acceptance.
With a beta program that has won over so many initially critical influencers, is it possible that Hulu will launch publicly into the final wave of the hype cycle and avoid the pitfalls that come with missing expectations?
