A Web presence needs sizzle, my nizzle -- InformationWeek

On the Web, entire economies and cultures emerge with surprise. The less creative or visionary watch and try to follow, as if there's a secret formula to be revealed to the most astute observer. People look at the NetFlix corporate culture Google (NSDQ: GOOG) free lunch program, and Obama open government mantra and say: It worked for them, it will work for us. There's some truth in that, but the success variables are never the same. Ultimately, each business must create its own wave.

Success on the Web, like The White Rabbit, is alluring in its urgency and its insistence on its path. Words like "crowdsourced," "social," and "sticky" are simple labels for complicated ingenuity. Anyone who sets out to create The Next Big Thing invariably fails compared with those who create something out of real social need, or passion. There's no hidden button for "Go Viral" on the Web, and there's no magic formula to replicate what happens when something does. Take new social media buzz factories, FarmVille and FourSquare...