Believe it or not! Thoughts on new social networking site

[BASS_THUMPER]

go for it!

i can tell you been planning and working on your project for awhile. i know you wanted people thoughts on it but sometimes all you do is end up defending your idea and that is negative vibes you dont need. do your thing and when it's up i'll def sign up.

[badshar]

go for it!

i can tell you been planning and working on your project for awhile. i know you wanted people thoughts on it but sometimes all you do is end up defending your idea and that is negative vibes you dont need. do your thing and when it's up i'll def sign up.

I truly your appreciate your comment. I know all these guys were not trying to discourage me or be negative to me, but I did lose hope and did feel a little discouraged with the comments. After reading your response and encouragement, it feels really good once again! Thanks so much, again! And yes, I will do my best to make it unique, and will definitely share it with you and others when its up and running.

Again, I appreciate it. I have been longing for such encouragement

[Chris]

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?

A. that you have something that is truly innovative that the others don't have

or

B. that you somehow have my friends on there already

Beyond that, I am not sure how you attract people

[bMunch]

I'll take a bite and offer some suggestions.

When you write, "As for my niche, the website is generally open to all kinds of people, would best fit for an age group of 13-60," I hear a general lack of focus. You're basically saying that your niche is pretty much everyone which, by definition isn't a niche at all.

You also say that a primary target is people with privacy concerns. This is a very important group of people. That's your niche, and it includes people of all ages, which might be why you offer up a 13-60-year-old age range. Forget the age range though, and think instead of the product that you're creating and why those people might want it.

You mention "website" over and over again. You may want to rethink this. The Internet is moving quickly toward mobile and has been for quite some time. Facebook and Twitter are focusing their efforts on their mobile offerings.

Instagram, the social photo platform that's primarily mobile was gaining tens of millions of users very rapidly. Facebook bought it for a billion dollars. Instagram's revenue at the time? Zero.

Also, think less "site", less "destination" and think more of a "utility". As in that which makes information flow, sharing and social interaction possible. That which is the connective tissue that other platforms and initiatives build upon. Think APIs.

And remember that those in your niche, those with privacy concerns, are also very concerned not just what is done with their data and how it's mined, but they're concerned with their actual ownership of their data. They're concerned with the portability of their data. As in, if I stop using this or that service, can I take the hundreds or thousands of content objects (eg., photos, videos) and ideas that I've uploaded and contributed to the platform with me.

This is important. Google has their data liberation plans that allow you to do this. Others are following suit. But more importantly, smaller players are working too on trying to figure this out. Take a look at Status.net. It's a an Open Source Twitter-like platform but what's neat about it is that the distribution model is an idea of many federated sites. That is, anyone can launch their own Status.net instance and those instances (or sites if that's easier to understand) can speak to all other instances and receive and share content and messages across them. Important though is that since you create and control the instance, you have full control over what happens with the content that you put on it.

Another interesting initiative is one that bubbled up in the last few weeks or so. It's called App.net and it just raised $500,000 in a Kickstarter type campaign to develop a social network that's based on open APIs. The founder's ideas behind it, and his disappointment with, for example, Twitter and Facebook can be read here:

* http://daltoncaldwell.com/an-audacious-proposal
* http://daltoncaldwell.com/dear-mark-zuckerberg

Getting a little bit out of the weeds and outlining the potential significance of it all is this article over at GigaOm:

http://gigaom.com/2012/08/13/think-app-net-is-just-a-twitter-clone-then-youre-missing-the-point/

Anyway, I could drone on, but hope these few ideas help you as you think of yours.

[Surferdad]

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?

A. that you have something that is truly innovative that the others don't have

or

B. that you somehow have my friends on there already

Beyond that, I am not sure how you attract people

Agreed.  I'll join the ranks of those who think you don't have a real good chance to succeed.  Just being honest (as you asked of us) and I'll give you an example:  How many people here use google+ ?  This is the last 'big thing' I recall in social networking about a year or two ago.  At first it seemed liked lots of people were trying it but now I hear very little.  Why? Because everyone is at the Facebook or Twitter "parties" to use  the same metaphor as previous poster.  Google+ obviously has a lot more muscle behind it than you do, so do the math.

How will you define success anyway?  1000 users? 100,000, 1,000,000?

 That said, good luck to you!

[badshar]

It took Facebook three years to become the world class social network and twitter barely had any popularity at all until the 2008 Mumbai attacks where an eye witness took it all to twitter, and helped the site become more famous and popular.

I don't expect "success" to be 1 million users in a month. Sure it would be nice, but I only expect a couple hundreds by the end of the first month, and that also because of me sharing it with my friends and them sharing it with their friends...

[byennie]

The first, second AND third problem you face is getting anyone to switch from Facebook when it's 1) free and 2) everyone is already there (90% of the value of a social network is the community itself).

My 2 marketing cents: build a social network for high schoolers, that directly integrates text messaging (text to post, posts go to your cell phone). Teenagers spent insane amounts of time on Facebook or texting, and a slick combination would be perfect for them. Most of them don't remember MySpace. They might appreciate a site that is just for them, and not their parents (who are all on Facebook now too). Support it with ads for stuff they care about - cheap food, bands, style, etc. Organize groups around high schools, just like Facebook did with colleges. And do whatever you can to point out how Facebook isn't "cool" any more.

[chambers]

It's interesting that your focus is on the 'privacy' that Facebook doesn't have.

The irony here is that 95% of Facebook users love facebook because of the lack of privacy and the ability to 'stalk' or follow pretty much anyone that is your 'friend'.
Even if you are promoting privacy, people who won't allow you as a friend on Facebook probably won't change their stance because they're on a new network.

I hope this makes sense. It's just my point of view but in a nutshell it seems that the lack of privacy is something that makes Facebook so successful.

Good luck.
When can we buy shares?

[bfrombleacher]

What's to stop Facebook from making a private mode themselves?

[Chris]

What's to stop Facebook from making a private mode themselves?

And the thing is, Facebook does have ways to be much more private.

But, their success is based on accessibility.  If you couldn't easily find, and see your friends on there, then they wouldn't have a business.  And that is the rub.  If you have too much privacy, then there is no reason for anyone to come to the site. 

[bfrombleacher]

And the thing is, Facebook does have ways to be much more private.

Facebook still sells your info to advertisers though I think? And I think that's part of what badshar is trying to do (eliminate that). In that case, facebook can still stop it.

I still say go for it, though. But I wouldn't do it for the money if I were you. I'd do it to fight for everyone's rights to privacy.

I don't think any of the big sites (facebook, google, twitter, youtube...) start off with the intent of financial gain...did they? I think genuinely caring about your end users (vs. money) would help.

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

Hey Badshar,

Best of luck to you on this venture! In response,

1. I think you can be very successful. It's all about something "new", and as Chris pointed out, FIND YOUR NICHE!

2. I have a suggestion. I'd like to see a site which has a feature where you can "dislike" a product/service. I'm not part of any social networking site other than LinkedIn, but I know you can only "like" things on facebook as opposed to "dislike" or even "hate" (which is extreme, I know).

Anyways, it would give users a platform to vent about what they don't like with a single click, and that would give organizations a new perspective on what to improve on and/or gain an analysis on the negativity people associate with them.

[eighteen]

Just sent you a PM Badshar, think you definitely have a chance, I might be able to help.

[badshar]

I actually got a really nice idea from you guys about the high school cliche idea ( Thanks byennie!!!!) That was very unique and really made sense!

That is a great idea!

I just want to clear up the confusion on my intent with this site. I am not making it for just earning money out of it. Even if I did, I would only make money out of it if I invested a lot or got advertisers along, who would want to see a large user database first. So that is far away. This is fun interesting thought in my mind and I am just doing it out now. I shared it with you guys with the intent of spreading the word about possibly a new website as well as getting suggestions and advices from people here.

Even though there has been some negativity and/or discouragement, in reality, instead of actually discouraging me, those people have given me ideas that I would not have thought by myself. Hence, I really appreciate all the comments here and cherish the fact that I shared this with you all.

For the dislike button, I don't think it would look good if there is just a button called "Dislike" on every page like the way "Like" appears. I do have a workaround to it and have thought about it before too. I do plan to put something along the lines of that feature.

The only thing that separates this website's privacy from facebook's is that once you have put something on facebook, its gone. You can't delete it, even though it says it that your photos/videos/etc. have been deleted, but they still exist and are in the open world. The same is not true about this website. When you want to remove something, you have full control over it.

Also, I know facebook is popular because there is a lot of stalking and lack of privacy. But as I said above, the only thing that differentiates it is that you have more control over editing/deleting/adding your content.

No, there won't be too much privacy.

This website will be free, and I don't intend to get people to pay out of this little thing. Its bad value for money (unless I ask them to pay a one time fee of like $0.50) and would destroy any reputation that is there.

Don't you think involving people's phones and setting up texting and all that is too advanced at this stage?

Once again, I know that to get a million users, it will take probably one and a half or two years, unless people really like what they see. In that case, the word will spread like crazy. My expectations are only a couple hundred or MAYBE, just maybe, a couple thousand users.

Oh yeah, the shares! You can expect the shares in a few years

[the_Bird]

The way the industry is going, the "next big thing" in social networking is more apt to be mobile-based, not a website.  I don't know where your expertise lies, but you've got to think about the trends in how people are accessing these site.  There's a reason Facebook is so focused on developing a their mobile platform (and so desperate to figure out how to make money off of it; people simply don't access Facebook nearly as much from a traditional computer screen, and it's a lot harder to sell advertising in the mobile space). 

And, I still think you need something more of a hook than "we'll respect your privacy!" to get users, because frankly 99.9% of users don't really care that much (the 0.1% just happen to be really, really loud).  Social networking is one of those businesses where you need a critical mass - exactly the reason that G+ has stalled.  I don't doubt that something will come along to replace Facebook in the future, but it's not going to be just because a new site promises to keep my info private.

It's a catch-22; until everyone is using the site, no one will want to use it. 

Good luck to you, but to reiterate other people's points; you've got to find a real niche and build from there, and I don't think you can ignore the mobile side.