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Webware 100 stats: Too many social nets

Can it be true? Twenty-three percent of all Web 2.0 startups are community sites?

Rafe Needleman Former Editor at Large
Rafe Needleman reviews mobile apps and products for fun, and picks startups apart when he gets bored. He has evaluated thousands of new companies, most of which have since gone out of business.
Rafe Needleman

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Thanks to Webware's readers, there are now nearly 1,000 Web 2.0 services lined up for the Webware 100. That's enough to spot a few trends.

For instance: we have too many community-based startups. A full 23% of our nominations are in the Community category. There's a big takeaway from this for people building Web 2.0 companies: if you're thinking of launching yet another social network, please think again.

Of the 10 awards categories, the most underrepresented is Mobile. While it is true that it's much harder to create a winning business based on cell phone users, it's also true that there are way more mobile handsets in the world than PCs. Mobile phones are how the majority of our world connects. (A mitigating factor to our stat is that many mobile apps were filed in other categories, for example, some mobile video services were filed under Media.)

How many social networks can one Internet support? CNET Networks

Seventy percent of our nominations came from sites' users, not their creators. It's great to see Web 2.0 fans supporting their favorite sites by nominating them. I'd like to see more founders and CEOs nominate their own services, though.

Nominations are open until May 7, so there's still time for you to put your favorite Web 2.0 sites into our awards program. It's really easy. After we process the nominations (move products to their best categories, for example), we'll open up voting on the finalists, and we'll announce the Webware 100 winners on June 18.

Here's more info about the Webware 100. The direct link to the nomination form is www.webware.com/100.