Openweb: the web’s conversation network

Openweb is the recent re-branding of Spot.IM, the platform for publishers that want to host conversations and keep users on their websites. This innovative US start up now has 700 major publishers using the platform and is leading the fightback against social media giants – principally Facebook/Instagram/Twitter – who now monopolise how people discuss the content they consume.

Over the past 15 years, we have grown used to a segregation of content consumption and discussion; we read the news (BBC/CNN/Guardian/Huffington Post/Mailonline etc) and then we rant about it on Facebook or Twitter. Social media gains, as the dwell times on social media far exceed that spent on publisher sites. Initially, publishers responded with two-dimensional comment sections where readers posted spikey comments anonymously. Apps like Disqus spread. But anonymity ensured comments were often offensive (so no advertiser would go near them) and readers could not meet others (so the sections were not social). So publishers gained nothing financially. And most were scared stiff of letting readers/viewers mix in case they unleashed embarrassing pressure groups or allowed them to loudly criticise their content.

When we first invested in Openweb in 2012, founder Nadav Shoval was passionate about improving the quality of dialogue on the web and persuading people of like minds to socialise onsite, rather than rushing off to tweet to their small and disinterested followers. The secret was transparency (say who you are and prove it before posting), auto-moderation to boot out spammers/news fakers/offenders and aggregation to group people interested in the same content. Five years later, Openweb is serving billions of page impressions per month from 100 million registered users on over 700 top sites, gathering first party data and generating millions of $$$ in ad revenues which they share with publishers.

So where does this all lead? Openweb is becoming a global utility for creating communities – independent, serving publishers and turning the tide against the increasingly discredited social media monopolies. It is fair to say that their user reach is more akin to leasehold rather than freehold as it depends on publisher patronage, but constant improvement in the technology will make them part of the fabric of their hosts’ sites and apps. Facebook is currently worth around $300 per user based on 2.2bn-2.5bn users or 10x LTM gross revenues. Even at a healthy -50% valuation discount per user, Openweb is arguably already a unicorn.