I confess, I spent a hell of a lot on online time devoted to mainstream activities. I sort of took online porn for granted and concentrated on outside interests. I got real political. I blogged. I started a non-adult toon and I even spent a bit messing with a gossip site.
While I was busy doing all that, I kept my day job, monitoring the message board at Cozy Campus and wrote articles for Cozy Frog. I stayed in the loop, so don't get me wrong. I'm still a dirty bad pornographer. I guess what I'm trying to say is that for me, personally, 2008 was more about the non-adult world. Perhaps that's why when I look back at the year in Internet smut, I see an industry that's stuck in a bit of a rut.
Seriously, what was the biggest thing this year? Tube Sites? Are you kidding? That's the cutting edgiest innovation we have to show for ourselves? I suppose we could throw in the emergence of Cuckold porn as our big new niche of the year because that will make 2008 so much more exciting - not. And HD content? Pfft. How many of you saw some earth-shattering jump in your sales because you started promoting that?
Mind you, I'm not knocking the many innovations that providers, paysites and sponsors made to their own programs and business models. If 2008 was the year of anything, it was the year of tightening bolts and greasing wheels. Some paysites added member benefits such as IM capability or better-streaming live feeds. Some sponsors improved affiliate tracking or otherwise enhanced the sales tools for their webmasters. RSS feeds were added. New payout methods were adopted. Pretty much everyone took advantage of social bookmarking. Almost all the major sponsors offer their customers some sort of mobile access to stores of porn. And, let's not forget the many permutations of webmaster choices when it comes to the Tube site building and promotion. I guess what saddens me a little is that it seemed like this year, the adult Internet spent most of its time adapting to trends and technologies created by non-adult entities.
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Remember when we were the great innovators? Remember when it was our dust they were choking on and not the other way around? Did you know that social networking has replaced porn as the top destination for the majority of Internet users? Granted, I realize that sex isn't everything and that even the web has to grow up but still, I long for the halcyon days when we were the kings while the rest of the newbs were stumbling about, trying to figure out this e-commerce thing. It's not like online porn is dead or dying, but our industry has definitely hit a plateau and it doesn't seem likely that we'll ever be at the top of the Internet heap again.
Then again, we have all sorts of good to look forward to. With the new year comes a new presidential administration - one that appears to favor more broadband access, wireless expansion and will be far less puritan in its approach to adult entertainment. Maybe we'll finally get an Attorney General that will listen to us about oppressive 2257 regulations, the ridiculousness of laws like C.O.P.A. and the need to stop conflating illegal porn with acceptable adult content.
On a personal front, Cozy is cooking up some stupendous new treats for next year. I wish I could tell you what they are but C-Pimp is an especially secretive Santa and he never lets little elves like me, peek inside the workshop until all the new toys are finished. He's told me to tell you that you're going to be blown away by all the awesome fresh stuff that Cozy's rolling out in 2009.
What do you say? How about next year, we all try to make our industry a little more innovative? Let's think up something new and astounding. Something everyone will need and want. Maybe some sort of technological advancement, business model or content niche that will take the world by storm? 2008 is come and gone. It was a year buckling down and making improvement that affect us from within. For 2009, let's turn our attention outward and change everything all over again!
Best Wishes and Big Thanks to all your Sponsors, Readers and Supporters!