It's happened before.

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I'm quite sure, however, that this sort of thing has happened before. Considering the fact that lots of companies are out there to make a profit, it's reasonable to assume that they're more than willing to change their emphasis if they identify a niche upon which they think they can capitalize. I seem to recall a site for online bookmarks - well before "social bookmarking" became a well known, and lucrative term - that rather drastically changed its tune.

At first this site worked much like Backflip.com, allowing users to access their bookmarks from any computer with an internet connection. I think I preferred their interface which had a more open feel to it. But after a relatively short period of time (during which numerous players tried to enter the online bookmarks niche) they changed their tune and started doing something with online coupons which I couldn't figure out, but definitely didn't need.

I don't know if this change came about because of a statistical analysis of the use of their site. It may instead have been that they found a buyer for their site name and decided that they really didn't want to try and get rich quick via the web. Either way, gathering information on how (or whether) users used their site, could have been important in any decision they made.

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Go to: A case in point, or
Go to: There are legitimate reasons, or
Go to: Still running it up the flagpole