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Buzzwords Debunked

By Chris Rugaber (TMF RFK)
July 18, 2000

If there's any drawback to the continuing evolution of business models in the "new economy," it's the fact that each new development brings with it another load of acronyms, jargon, and buzzwords. The following are a few of our recent favorites:

B2C, B2B, C2C: Though B2B, or business-to-business, was first, we soon had B2C (business-to-consumer) for online retailers, and C2C (yes, consumer-to-consumer) for auctioneers such as eBay. And now it's time to move beyond "B" (see below).

P2P: According to Salon, P2P stands for "peer-to-peer," as in peers sending things to each other without a middleman. The music distribution site Napster would be the epitome of this trend. As Salon also pointed out, if no one is the middle man, then probably no one will make money, so this business model doesn't look promising.

P2P, Part 2: P2P also stands for "path to profitability," which has turned into a critical path for more and more e-commerce companies these days, as they find that the opportunity to burn cash does not last forever.

Space: If you think you work in an industry of some kind, or even a "sector," think again. You actually work in a "space." For example, Yahoo! is in the content aggregator "space," while Amazon.com is in the online retailer "space." Presumably, NASA is in the "space" space.

WAP: WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol, which is the software platform that enables wireless devices to access the Internet. This is an excellent one to throw out if you want to sound like you know what you're talking about, as in "Hey, is your new cell phone WAP-enabled?"

M-Commerce: Another wireless bit of jargon, m-commerce, or "mobile" commerce, may soon be even bigger than e-commerce, since it refers to transactions executed over wireless devices. And we all know how big wireless is going to be! (If you don't, check out our most recent Internet Report.)

Monetize: We've all heard the talk about "eyeballs," which is jargon for "audience," but this year, as part of everyone's P2P, it has become critical to "monetize" -- i.e., make money -- from those eyeballs.

Webify: As businesses large and small have expanded their Internet capabilities, the process of doing so has become a verb. Forbes recently used it in the past tense: "Here's how various old-line GE operations have webified themselves."

Granularity: Instead of information just being detailed, it can be "granular," as in "We need more granularity in our business plan."

Color: In a similar vein, on earnings conference calls analysts also like to use "color," as in "Can you give us a little more color on your international sales?"

Inflection point: Initially used by technology companies such as Intel to connote a major change in technological capability, the term is now used promiscuously to refer to any major change.

Footprint: Used frequently by telecom companies to refer to their presence in various markets, as in "We have a national footprint in wireless."

Category killer: Let's end with a buzzword from the retail sector. Huge stores (or "big boxes") that focus on one niche, such as Home Depot, are also "category killers," because they dominate their "space." Other examples, or potential examples, include Best Buy in consumer electronics and Barnes & Noble in books.

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