Web is hanging out where the puck has been

I was listening to This Week In Tech this morning, as they were talking about various services and Web sites they use. It occurred to me that, while many of these sites are very fascinating, most are me-too at best, or worthless at worst.

Certainly you're familiar with Wayne Gretzky once saying that he skates to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. (I can't prove that, but I'm sure it's online somewhere.) Well, so much of what makes headlines out there has been done many times over. Everyone wants to have social networking now. Sorry, but unless Facebook makes some colossal mistake, you're too late. The party is over. All of this link sharing and super high tech community junk is neat, but how much do you need?

The problem is that everyone wants to create the next thing that is everything to everyone. Aside from building something you can sell to Google or Microsoft, why the hell would you want to do that? More to the point, why are VC's giving you money? I'll never quite understand it.

I run niche community sites. They've served their audiences well since before the first dotcom bust, and frankly haven't even had to evolve that much (which bothers me, but apparently bothers others less). There is still something to be said for a small community. It's one thing to go out for attention whoring and saying you have a million friends, but what value is that to people?

I guess the point of this post is simply that even as someone who loves Web technology, so much of what is being put out there is just pointless and without a market. At least people seem to have stopped using the term "mash up."