TIEcon 2008 Panel: Future Trends for Social Platforms: Killer Apps, Niche Social Networks, What Next?

TiE Host: Ro Choy - Vice President of Business Development, RockYou
Moderator: Gus Tai - General Partner, Trinity Ventures
Panelists:
Anil Dharni - Director of Products, Hi5 Networks Inc.
Seth Goldstein - CEO and Co-Founder, SocialMedia Networks
Sab Kanaujia - VP Digital Product Strategy & Development, NBC Universal
Keith Rabois - Head of Strategy and Business development, Slide, Inc.
Anthony Soohoo - SVP & GM, Entertainment Communities & Social Media, CBS Interactive

Lessons/Facts
Online shows and watching TV is similar in activity - Case: NCAA Tournament on CBS
Take fan base to enhance interaction -> higher ad & impressions
Apps that enhance communication works, not info apps
Realty based shows get more people to talk
maximize exposure by building communities based on the show
Widget (hard to monetize)
Platform strategy to monetize
Monetize mobilized social activities (games)
A decreased value proposition will cause product failure - if you don't need to spend much and the product can still spread, you're addressing an important need
Most social platforms don't know how to monetize. The main platform needs to be able to monetize to have the application useful for monetization
Data Portability the trend of the future
Vertical Market Platform: Context will drive CPM, even if a smaller market size (Flixster). BUT look at the size of the vertical. If its too niche also no good
Using network effect to prevent privacy. Release the premium content to everyone that doesn't have pirated content.

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TiECON 2008 Keynote - You like me, You REALLY like me.. Now what?: Challenges After Hypergrowth

Keynote Panel - 4-5pm
Kara Swisher, Wall Street Journal
Jia Shen, CTO & co-Founder, RockYou
Kent Lindstrom, President, Friendster
Derek Liu, CTO & co-Founder, Gaia

Lessons Learnt
Mathematic growth of huge market will allow for huge growth
Self-expression a need for human interaction
Dorm rooms still not producing quality apps. Slide and RockYou still key players.
Youtube app?
Huge applications might not be the key. Niche but high interaction would be more monetizable
Building applications onto platforms instead of building social network platform
Friendster facing "Innovators' Dilemma" that's why mySpace and Facebook got to take over despite Friendster's initial success
Agility to keep success of website over long period of time
CTR rates????

Monetization Models
Long tail model (Google) vs. Site target model (Yahoo) of advertising
Data Profile that each advert publisher "must buy" - e.g. if you want to meet college student you must buy Facebook ad, if you're launching movie must buy MySpace ad. This is actually still similar to buying ad during the relevant TV show
Fake cars, fake houses to impress real people =)
Microsoft Passport Model - Friends Connect, Facebook Connect; Expanding of Social Graph beyond the own website
Mobile - will grow from there
Micropayment systems in Asia
Ads as brand advertizers instead of cost per click model for people who want to drive traffice to their website
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