Originality Is Overrated

Years ago, I wrote a short essay about how originality is overrated (and execution underrated) in the Western culture. I see original/unique ideas as a very small part of the game in creating something successful.

The other day, I was thinking of how similar the fundamental idea is between Twitter and the site I created in 2001 called URLDJ.com (I shut it down a while ago.) In both cases, the primary function is to use human beings as a filter for information that is relevant to you as a reader. In URLDJ, you “subscribed” to (as opposed to “follow”) particular “DJs” with whom you shared interests, and the DJs would post links to their pages with brief descriptions.

Each DJ had a profile page that described who he/she is, and a series of links in a reverse-chronological order, which is essentially the same as Twitter’s profile page. The idea was (like it is with Twitter) that the universal home page was not the most important page. Individual profile pages or custom home pages were designed to be the access points for the readers. URLDJ offered a way to select (or filter out) DJs for the home page, so that you would only see the DJs you liked, which is basically what you see on Twitter after you login.

In retrospect, here are the factors that lead to URLDJ’s demise:

1. I should have let anyone create a DJ account. This is the biggest mistake. If I had done this, URLDJ might have been moderately successful. Even Twitter has a problem where many accounts are active for a short period of time, and they go dead. As easy as it is to share links and short comments, it’s not for everyone. It requires a specific set of natural inclinations. If I had let anyone create a DJ account, I would have been able to find DJs with these natural inclinations, and some of them could have thrived. I believe someone had suggested this at the time, but I disagreed.

2. I should have publicly displayed the number of subscribers. At the time, I felt like this should be private information, but this is a key factor that drives everyone to spread the word about Twitter. It’s a vanity factor that works well. Many people are striving to get hundreds or even thousands of followers, and this naturally promotes Twitter itself.

3. Timing. I think another key factor that made Twitter so popular is its use of mobile devices. At the time URLDJ launched, this wasn’t possible because the technology was not common, and also because people weren’t ready for it. So, it would have been a bad idea anyway. This shows how important the timing is. eMusic is a good example. They were one of the first online music retailers, and obviously they were way too early. Apple came in much later with the optimal timing.

When URLDJ first launched, I found another site which was doing essentially the same thing (I forgot their name/URL). I would imagine that many people (probably hundreds of people) had the same idea at the time. If true, the greatness of idea itself contributes only a few percents to the final success. The rest is all execution. Twitter had a combination of features and design that struck the right chord with the masses. It is also interesting to note that complexity and sophistication do not necessarily add to success. Twitter’s 140-character limitation, for instance, added to their success. What matters is having just the right things and doing it at the right time.

—posted by Dyske   » Follow me on Twitter or on Facebook Page