Why isn't there a GitHub for Marketers, Advertisers, or Product Peeps?

http://kennygrant.ca/2012/07/23/why-isnt-there-a-github-for-marketers-or-advertisers/

by allbombs • 14 years ago

2 3 14 years ago

david_shaw• 14 years ago

From the article:

> Couldn’t we apply the exact same principles of github, but to a markhub (for lack of a name or creativity)?

Sure you could; in fact, I'm sure it would work pretty well. If you look at the StackExchange series of sites, you'll see everything from programming to mathematics, parenting to gaming. There are a lot of sites on that network, all of which provide an excellent resource.

However, here's the key element that would keep 'marketers, advertisers, and product peeps' out: competition.

GitHub works because people are sharing their code. If you worked on a marketing campaign, are you going to release your market research with what works best to your competitors? If you create a product, are you going to ignore patents and release that design/schematic for free?

In a perfect world, the answer would be yes, but a lot of people simply aren't open to the same level of sharing that a lot of developers are. Why did open source software take off, but not nearly as much "open source products?" I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with the culture of shared knowledge, and the satisfaction of someone else using your work.

You can still make a profit on open source software -- $RHT is an example of that -- but would you be able to do the same if your product itself was open source? I personally think so, but this is why GitHub clones haven't spun up in every possible industry. In my opinion, anyway.

tokenizer• 14 years ago

I'd like to play devil's advocate to your point and say that maybe it could mimic github's timeline as well, which would be initially for open to the public and side project work, eventually leading to market adoption if there's an edge for the case given. Github is only being widely considered now, because of the small businesses who've had success sharing code, and for the data that illustrates it helps to share. Just a thought.

allbombs• 14 years ago

> GitHub works because people are sharing their code. If you worked on a marketing campaign, are you going to release your market research with what works best to your competitors? If you create a product, are you going to ignore patents and release that design/schematic for free?

Why not share the campaign details after the campaign is over? What do you have to lose? Should you really rinse and repeat for the next marketing campaign? No. that's lazy.

Perhaps marketing campaigns are a bad example, but let's say a KPI Dashboard or a set of tools that worked well to make better informed decisions

Why isn't there a GitHub for Marketers, Advertisers, or Product Peeps?

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