Presentation made by me at Web Innovation 2007 conference in Bangalore in Dec '07. Presents learnings on social networking from my past experience as Chief Marketing Officer of portal Rediff.com and as co-founder of Yo4Ya.com, a social networking site for Indian collegians. Identifies what value online social networks really add and where the opportunities truly are both in general and in the Indian market.
Original Title
Social NetworkingLearningOpportunities Webinnovation2007
Presentation made by me at Web Innovation 2007 conference in Bangalore in Dec '07. Presents learnings on social networking from my past experience as Chief Marketing Officer of portal Rediff.com and as co-founder of Yo4Ya.com, a social networking site for Indian collegians. Identifies what value online social networks really add and where the opportunities truly are both in general and in the Indian market.
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Presentation made by me at Web Innovation 2007 conference in Bangalore in Dec '07. Presents learnings on social networking from my past experience as Chief Marketing Officer of portal Rediff.com and as co-founder of Yo4Ya.com, a social networking site for Indian collegians. Identifies what value online social networks really add and where the opportunities truly are both in general and in the Indian market.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
19.12.07 On this presentation An optimist’s look at the social networking phenomenon To identify opportunities for all-would be entrepreneurs & intrapreneurs With inputs from my learnings at Rediff.com, a leading portal & from Yo4Ya, a social networking startup Today SN defined What are really SN ? What do people do on them ? Why are SN important ? How many SN can there be ? In which areas can SN deliver maximum value Some predictions re. SN My Web 2.0 for Day 2.0 !
Web 2.0 = People
Web 1.0 = Products I. Social Networking defined A Social Network site* = Profiles Comments (semi-persistent public commentary on the profile) A traversable, publicly articulated social network displayed in relation to the profile
* Danah Boyd : Social Networking Sites Definition & History (2007)
A Social Network Social networks classified General : all-purpose Specialized : for limited applications / people What people do on “general” SN sites Manwatching (scraps/news feeds) Ask questions Reply to questions Comment (scrap / wall / testimonial) Play Share their World (profile) => Like at a college canteen Some truths about SN sites SN sites are not about “networking,” but about “networks” Strengthen existing “weak” ties more than create new ones Dunbar’s Number : Rule of 150, the number of relationships humans can manage The Power of SN : Trust + Interest Profile & Traversable, publicly articulated Social Network create the trust Comments (e.g. scraps) are what creates the interest
For success, design a social network around
trust + interest SN : An evolved way to communicate - I IM : talking to friends, synchronous Chat : talking to strangers Home pages : profiles, on any topic, but strangers and non-traversable Forums : talk around one interest SMS : talking to friends, asynchronous SN :? SN : An evolved way to communicate – II ( Legend : Green = successful Net products, Red = Failed products)
Feature For Synch / Profile Comments Publicly
Friends / Asynch- Yes / articulated, Strangers ronous No traversable SN IM Friends Synch No N.A. No
Chat Strangers Synch No N.A. No
Rooms Home- Strangers Asynch Yes No No pages Forums Strangers Asynch No Yes No
SN Friends & Synch & Yes Yes Yes
Strangers Asynch II. What really are SN : Conclusions Social networking sites are an evolved form of communication Lot of direct & indirect communication Framework exists to increase interactions with people whom one doesn’t know well Properly managed, SN offer value-adds to end-users over other forms of communication The goal of every SN site : Online Community Successful network becomes a community To build a strong community - seed (e.g. have founder members who are passionate) - feed (e.g. recognize contributors) - weed (remove troublemakers) - use a moderator - don’t be in a hurry : takes time to build trust Success of general SN : Implications for Internet business Portal usage growth last few years has been linear General SN sites given fillip to site traffic : Usage of typical SN site ~ 3-4x that of conventional portals - More time per session - More page views Consequent buoyancy to Internet ad revenues III : Importance of Social Networks Trust biggest issue on the Net. Easy to connect people on Internet, but these are usually strangers. SN a good way to establish relevant connections between people, thus maximize trust among people. A SN can thus be used to make decisions involving trust i.e. a high risk decision (~job, investments, marriage, …) Leading SN sites & how they built trust Orkut, Mixi : invite only Cyworld : authenticate using your ID Facebook : earlier .edu college network, now via privacy settings My Space : Tom ( Friend )
Build trust to leverage growth of network
IV. How many SN can there be ? 7 examples of SN / communities people will always be interested in My Classmates (including alumni) My Locality (hunt for a maid, car pool, rally for municipal cause) My Profession (across the world, not country- specific) My Colleagues (on the Intranet ?) My Family (+ extended family + ancestors) My Passion (hobby / activity / views) My Pain points (unique to each) How many SN can there be ? Thus, each individual can be a member of 2-7 SN networks Each SN limited in size to < ~ few hundred members V. In which areas can SN deliver maximum value 7 (of many) opportunities for SN in India Finance : Investor penetration ~ 2-3% today; advice from network of investors known to me (to convert non-investor to investor) Health : Urgency in lifestyle change e.g. diabetes , advice through people known to me Traffic congestion : Inhibitions in strangers joining a car pool; minimize same through a SN Jobs : Should I consider this job / accept this offer , advice from people known to me ? Matrimony : Can someone introduce me or provide a reference regarding that family (network of parents) ? 7 (of many) opportunities for SN in India 1. Local municipal improvements : Social Network of active citizens 2. Charities : Choosing among thousands of options an issue today; minimize trust issues via network of current donors To sum up Social networks an evolved form of Internet communication Can enable increase trust among people Many decisions in society involve or will collaboration among people who don’t really know each other directly SN a good tool to enable such decisions VI. SN : Some predictions - I Today’s generic SN sites e.g. Facebook are the first phase of the rise of SN Many new special SN can yet be possibly created : Each of us are a potential member of ~ 7 such networks SN sites are one of the best tools ever towards building trust online VI. SN : Some predictions - II 1. Separately, every Internet site can and will have one or more social networking features 2. White label (templatized, plug-and-play) social networking sites, mostly free, will arise for use by lay people to meet above needs 3. Biggest impact of SN sites will be towards various societal issues THANKS rohit.varma@gmail.com rohitv@aptech.ac.in