Believe it or not! Thoughts on new social networking site

[badshar]

Believe it or not, while I am a Celtics die-hard fan like you all, I am also very much into computers and programming. For the last almost half year, I have been developing and working hard on a brand new social networking website from scratch. The website is aimed at creating a place for users to each other without having to worry about their privacy being compromised. That means that you will control what parts of profile you want to show to others. While many other social networking sites bring people to a common place for them to talk, that's not really what always happens. As a result, I plan to bring a number of different features that will help get people to talk to each other as well as stay in touch without necessarily intending to get in contact with each other the way you would using things like chat. There are many more surprises hidden that will be revealed when the site goes live.

I am writing this here and sharing this with you all because I consider you all a part of a family and felt you guys were great people to share this with instead of just blurting it out to people on random sites that I have no clue about.

I have a couple of questions to ask now:
1. Do you think this site has any chance of success? (Please be honest, I mean don't say "Yes" just because you don't want me to feel bad when in reality the site has no chance at success.
2. What things do you think the website as well as its users benefit from? (Example: Custom features, greater user capabilities over their profile etc.)
3. If I ever need some people from here to help beta test this website, would anyone be interested?
4. Discuss on what you think about this site.

[Chris]

I just edited the title, to make it a little more informative.  But, to answer a couple of your questions:

1. This is the toughest question.  I would say the odds are stacked up against you.  It is REALLY hard to break in to something like that.  It really depends on whether you can find a hook to make it REALLY different, or to somehow gain a user base.  I think the key though, is staying small, until you grow naturally.  If you build up by letting networks build and create webs, without going broke in the process, you have a chance.  But I wouldn't count on actually competing with facebook.  Just try to find your niche.

2. Again, features are nice, but finding your niche is more important.  What is it based around?  Facebook was based around college and classmates.  Others have had some success based around music.  Find your niche and work from there.

[badshar]

@Chris

Thanks for the reply. I don't plan to have a huge user base at first. I know the registration would be in a double digit or low three digit number. Also, I intend to manage the website as much as possible by myself without making heavy investments into it. If it is good and worthwhile, it will grow. People will tell about it to their friends and it will grow that way, if it is good. My goal is to build it as good and attractive as possible, the rest depends on user response. Also, I don't intend to battle facebook with this, at least not right now, lol.

As for my niche, the website is generally open to all kinds of people, would best fit for an age group of 13-60. If the people above that age are able to operate facebook normally or easily, then they should have absolutely no problem with this site as it will be, by default, much easier to understand, learn, and operate.

MySpace and Friendster were already present and popular in 2004, but Facebook still became popular and beat those two social networking sites. Its not like Facebook was the last successful social networking site. Twitter came out in 2006, and I know many people who used to be on facebook all the time, but are now more active on twitter than facebook. So consumers don't mind new things as long as they like it.
Anyways, I know most of what I need in building such a thing is luck.

By the way, anyone else ??

[Chris]

Anyways, I know most of what I need in building such a thing is luck.

I am not sure this is the best way to think about it.  There is much more than luck involved.

Facebook was marketed perfectly, by creating a more exclusive network for those who were not happy with how open Myspace was, and specifically targetting kids in colleges, and slowly building it up.

Twitter was just very innovative, and something ultimately new.

There are always transitions on these things, but the best products have very focused and clear businessplans and stick to it.  They know who they are marketing to, and they really direct it to them.

Product is absolutely important.  But marketing is everything when it comes to a startup like this.  And marketing is all about knowing who your target is.

[lightspeed5]

noone cares about privacy that much to switch social networking sites.

[arambone]

zuckerberg and twitter had very very powerful people backing them. That led to talking heads being told to pump up these web sites.

Sure, the success stories are pitched as american dream style rags to riches meritocracy, but its rarely that simple.

Who was the president of harvard who protected zuckerberg from punishment for ripping off the winklevoss twins? Larry summers, wall street/washington 'made man'.

Twitter was promoted by every national and local talking head non-stop, like an intelligence operation almost.

Set your goals low, dont go into debt pursuing it, and understand that even if you come up with something great, somebody with better connections will try to steal or copy your idea and leave you in the dust.

Even einstein was less of a genius than we are taught to believe, and didnt give massive credit where credit was due. He was connected though.

Have fun, but many big success stories are guided from the shadows.

Matt damon and ben afflick wrote good will hunting, or did they?

[indeedproceed]

Is there a thing that can meld you twitter feed, your facebook feed, google+ and email into one unified stream, and do it so it doesn't look like a big pile of crap?

That seems like something people would use.

[badshar]

The site's conceptual guideline is to not compromise on privacy. I guess you could call that the nice too. There are just many people who are fed up of social networking or are hesitant to join it because of privacy fears. Most fear whatever they put on the social networking website will just go viral and they will have no privacy once they join such sites. The main aim of the site that I am developing is to put privacy at the top of the list. That in itself is a niche. What do you think?

[badshar]

To be honest, I don't have high standards for this website. I know I cannot compete at the level of Facebook and twitter. How many times has Mark Zuckerberg said he was just doing Facebook for fun until people started joining.That is just nonsense.

I know my friends will spread the word since many would like to get involved in this. I feel that even if people do find out about my site, the only way it will become popular or rise up is if people's friends are there. I mean if there is a new site that someone found, and my friend is using it, then I would want to be there too, right?

[indeedproceed]

The site's conceptual guideline is to not compromise on privacy. I guess you could call that the nice too. There are just many people who are fed up of social networking or are hesitant to join it because of privacy fears. Most fear whatever they put on the social networking website will just go viral and they will have no privacy once they join such sites. The main aim of the site that I am developing is to put privacy at the top of the list. That in itself is a niche. What do you think?

I think that people come to a party because of other people at the party, not because the party has TV's in the bathroom.

(I know that's not relevant or helpful, it sounded really cool in my head. )

What makes you think that people whose privacy concerns made them steer clear of facebook will trust you? You can create a fake name, fake bday, address, whatever, and be pretty anonymous on facebook. Even Prince Harry had a fake facebook account to troll for biddies.

I just don't see how "Come to our social networking site, nobody will be able to find out its you!" is a great selling point, for you or advertisers.

[fairweatherfan]

It's a very competitive environment, and any popular innovations you come up with will immediately be copied by the big boys.  Best of luck but the barrier to entry is pretty massive here.

[badshar]

The site's conceptual guideline is to not compromise on privacy. I guess you could call that the nice too. There are just many people who are fed up of social networking or are hesitant to join it because of privacy fears. Most fear whatever they put on the social networking website will just go viral and they will have no privacy once they join such sites. The main aim of the site that I am developing is to put privacy at the top of the list. That in itself is a niche. What do you think?

I think that people come to a party because of other people at the party, not because the party has TV's in the bathroom.

(I know that's not relevant or helpful, it sounded really cool in my head. )

What makes you think that people whose privacy concerns made them steer clear of facebook will trust you? You can create a fake name, fake bday, address, whatever, and be pretty anonymous on facebook. Even Prince Harry had a fake facebook account to troll for biddies.

I just don't see how "Come to our social networking site, nobody will be able to find out its you!" is a great selling point, for you or advertisers.

Its not. When I say that privacy is the main focus on this site, I mean that you have almost every control over your profile and what you share, unlike facebook, where once you share something, its gone and you can't delete it.

[arambone]

The site's conceptual guideline is to not compromise on privacy. I guess you could call that the nice too. There are just many people who are fed up of social networking or are hesitant to join it because of privacy fears. Most fear whatever they put on the social networking website will just go viral and they will have no privacy once they join such sites. The main aim of the site that I am developing is to put privacy at the top of the list. That in itself is a niche. What do you think?

I think that people come to a party because of other people at the party, not because the party has TV's in the bathroom.

(I know that's not relevant or helpful, it sounded really cool in my head. )

What makes you think that people whose privacy concerns made them steer clear of facebook will trust you? You can create a fake name, fake bday, address, whatever, and be pretty anonymous on facebook. Even Prince Harry had a fake facebook account to troll for biddies.

I just don't see how "Come to our social networking site, nobody will be able to find out its you!" is a great selling point, for you or advertisers.

Its not. When I say that privacy is the main focus on this site, I mean that you have almost every control over your profile and what you share, unlike facebook, where once you share something, its gone and you can't delete it.

The biggest concern with facebook is not that other facebook users will see your info, it's that facebook itself will use your personal info to their own ends, whether that's selling your personal info to advertisers or blackmailing you with embarrassing personal information.


You telling me my info is safe doesn't mean sheet.

[arambone]

Perhaps inspired by a recent interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who called Facebook “the most appalling spy machine that has ever been invented,” The Onion‘s video fires a number of arrows in Facebook’s direction — with hilarious results.

In the video, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is dubbed “The Overlord” and is shown receiving a “medal of intelligence commendation” for his work with the CIA’s Facebook program.

http://mashable.com/2011/05/23/facebook-onion-cia/

<iframe width='640' height='360' src='http://www.theonion.com/video_embed/?id=19753'></iframe>

[badshar]

The site's conceptual guideline is to not compromise on privacy. I guess you could call that the nice too. There are just many people who are fed up of social networking or are hesitant to join it because of privacy fears. Most fear whatever they put on the social networking website will just go viral and they will have no privacy once they join such sites. The main aim of the site that I am developing is to put privacy at the top of the list. That in itself is a niche. What do you think?

I think that people come to a party because of other people at the party, not because the party has TV's in the bathroom.

(I know that's not relevant or helpful, it sounded really cool in my head. )

What makes you think that people whose privacy concerns made them steer clear of facebook will trust you? You can create a fake name, fake bday, address, whatever, and be pretty anonymous on facebook. Even Prince Harry had a fake facebook account to troll for biddies.

I just don't see how "Come to our social networking site, nobody will be able to find out its you!" is a great selling point, for you or advertisers.

Its not. When I say that privacy is the main focus on this site, I mean that you have almost every control over your profile and what you share, unlike facebook, where once you share something, its gone and you can't delete it.

The biggest concern with facebook is not that other facebook users will see your info, it's that facebook itself will use your personal info to their own ends, whether that's selling your personal info to advertisers or blackmailing you with embarrassing personal information.


You telling me my info is safe doesn't mean sheet.

So what should I tell you to come along?