The “Monetize” Phenomenon

This term, monetize, is being thrown around by Internet companies and their leaders, like it’s almost, in style. If you’re not familiar with the term, it is used as a verb to say, “We’d like to figure out how our platform or social media site is going to make some money off our killer idea”. It seems the business model of yesteryear, where you figure that out before investing in a project, is now out of style.

Does anyone besides me see this use of “monetize” leading to the creation and eventual collapse of yet another tech bubble? There are plenty of software developers and start-ups working on applications with no plans yet on how to make any money from them, but the funding is there (again). When News Corp bought MySpace, it admittedly had no idea on how it was going to make money on the operation. Facebook, twitter, money pits. This is how we got into trouble the first go-round with the dot com crash of 2000. Companies with pipe-dream business plans, no viable financial plan, being funded by overzealous investment firms and VC’s, and the equity markets betting on who’s gonna be the next new thing.

Stop the madness, or at least gimme some of that VC money. :-) No, no, that’s not right. I need a bail out instead please.