Updated: July 13, 2020 (September 25, 2006)
Analyst ReportNew Services Tap Users for Content
End users will supply the content for two forthcoming online services: MSN Soapbox, a video-posting service that will compete against the suddenly popular YouTube, and Windows Live QnA, a question-answering service. Both services entered public betas toward the end of summer 2006 but had very little content. The initial lack of content could create a cycle in which sparse content discourages visitors and the lack of visitors discourages those who post content, so Microsoft will attempt to guide users to Soapbox and QnA from its established online services.
MSN Soapbox
User-posted video is one of the fastest-growing categories on the Internet: YouTube, which launched in Dec. 2005, has already become the 40th most popular site in the United States, with more than 15 million monthly visitors in July 2006 (according to ComScore), an increase of 20% over the previous month. Microsoft’s two most important online competitors, Google and Yahoo, both have video-posting services, and other startups, such as Revvup, also compete in the space.
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