I can't help but be reminded of Mike Rowe's (the host of Dirty Jobs) testimony before congress. There is going to be a major shift in attitudes towards going to college when the average Masters student realizes that the starting salary for skilled labor (i.e. electrician, plumber, etc) is higher than what they can expect to make. In my humble opinion, college gives the average BA student a whole slew of soft skills and trivial knowledge that adds little value to a company straight out of school.
I am thinking about taking a course from them. I was hoping that I would be able to get some reviews from you guys about whether or not I should do it. Has anyone taken a course? Any thoughts?
Honestly, there is really no easy way to market, with or without money. The cheapest, and honestly the best way, is to be personally recognized.
You'll notice that once people break through to the public sphere of whatever niche they are in, anything they do seems to get instant traction. While a lot of people stumble into their status, there is a systematic way of getting there.
I could spend hours talking to you about blogging and making an name for yourself, since I am currently a PR student,but the fact remains, there is no easy way to gain traction. Everything you will do (paid or not) will take time and dedication to get right.
Another way to gain some initial users is to make it viral in your own personal sphere. If you are in High School, make it big within your High School. Remember, the virility of something refers to how "contagious" is it, not how many people pick it up. Lots of immensely popular companies started locally (See Facebook and Ben & Jerry's).
While I don't think I would go as far as to call Facebook a "Ponzi scheme", I do agree that Facebook has been lackluster about monetizing their huge user base. The author is right in pointing out that people rarely go to Facebook to research or buy a product. Unlike Google or Amazon, Facebook is not about consumption, it's about reconnecting and taking a break.
While I am by no means an expert in the field, they need to remember what they are and focus on that. Far more promising a prospect is the revenue sharing they do with companies such as Zynga. This model exploits all that Facebook does well: high retention to the site, and a high return rate. They need to stop focusing on ads as a form of revenue and monetize their social aspect creatively.