DISQUS

Mashable - The Social Media Guide: The Joost Story: Sometimes, Good Projects Also Fail

  • webdistortion · 5 months ago
    Or in other words, ideas are nothing and execution is everything. ;o)
  • r0cketman22 · 5 months ago
    Exactly.
  • software_critics · 5 months ago
    What an untimely end for Joost. It has gone to soon before it even reaps results for its efforts.
  • Henre Rossouw · 5 months ago
    Sometimes being visionary too soon proves to be your downfall. I believe AOL had similar visionary ideas which never came to fruition. Today it's common practice for big media houses.

    @Paul Anthony - good point.
  • HughBorg707 · 5 months ago
    Something being "downloadable" as a liability really made me perk up and listen. I guess more and more people are reluctant to go through the motions and mechanics and just demand the ability to turn something "on" and go with it. I think that's one advantage of TV in content broadcasting. Just turn it on...
  • Henre Rossouw · 5 months ago
    'Waiting' is a cardinal sin in technology it seems. BUT, of course, having it readily available as download 'in addition to' scores you brownie points :-)
  • Josh Chandler · 5 months ago
    By not reacting quick enough to the arrival of Hulu, Joost did create their own demise. But, I wonder in part if the business model comparison between Hulu and Joost would show some notable issues on the part of Joost. I for one, much like Stan had extremely high hopes for this software, but haven't actually used it for over a year now. Particularly as more relevant and accessible content, in the UK came from both BBC and ITV via their online on demand video content players!
  • Ethan · 5 months ago
    Joost's failure is a testament to how simplicity is central to engagement. Creating extra steps, in Joost's case it was a download, could be the tipping point and all the promise in the world cannot save your business.

    -Ethan
    Sparxoo
  • Ethan · 5 months ago
    Joost's failure is a testament to how simplicity is central to engagement. Creating extra steps, in Joost's case it was a download, could be the tipping point and all the promise in the world cannot save your business.

    -Ethan
  • tim mckane · 5 months ago
    Perhaps the lack of cohesive marketing was at fault as well - no one really started talking about Joost outside the early adopters, it never got momentum, and needed some big hits to get going.
  • Blake Robinson · 5 months ago
    What I know is that there were/are plenty of good people at Joost who were/are amply capable of driving the business forward. I suppose sometimes a ship, even heavily funded, widely touted one, is simply ill-fated from the and there is little anyone can do to stop it from sinking.

    Really is an unfortunate turn of events. I wonder where the speculation will lead this one.
  • Ged Carroll · 5 months ago
    It didn't help that many of the channels didn't update or add new content on a regular basis, so once you had watched what you were interested in there wasn't a compelling reason to return.
  • Matt · 5 months ago
    I disagree. Joost was never a good project. Yes it somehow created hype, but the content was never there. I remember getting into the beta, only to be disappointed with the lack of content and usability. This never changed and the system failed.
  • Joakim Vars Nilsen · 5 months ago
    It was a very promising project. But failed due to lack of content, but most important: It was not browser based. Spot on!
  • Nathan Snell · 5 months ago
    I would venture to say that one of the other reasons Joost really struggled was it originally promised to deliver a "social tv" experience, but did little to innovate the claim, besides embedded chat with a video (not exactly a "wow" factor).

    All in all though, it was a good project with a good vision.
  • vikram bhaskaran · 5 months ago
    fair enough- looking back its easier to see how things COULD VE been, but sitting in the front seat, the daily hits and misses tend to cloud the vision...
  • Emilia · 5 months ago
    streamlining your efforts to be quick and simple, the less effort users have to put in the more likely they are to utilize its services. I feel that what makes the digital revolution so exciting is the risk involved in whether or not your project will take off. As Paul said its all execution, that and making sure you can sell said project the third party media giants.
  • chul park · 5 months ago
    Yes. I was impressed by Joost's technology at first but they failed. Who knows which service will be popular?
  • Fail · 5 months ago
    Sucks when projects don't get to recoup what you put in. Fail.
  • John Kawolsky · 5 months ago
    Did it not strike anyone else that choosing Mike Volpi, who was the head Cisco's Routing Group, for running a media company was not the wisest move?
    Then again, Joost's early rival, Babelgum, elected an equally unlikely CEO in the person of Valerio Zingarelli, whose Telecom CTO credentials seem oddly out of place in the on-line content world...