Student social networks generally suffer from attrition over time as users get used to the features. For example Facebook's continuous innovation every three months means that the userbase doesn't get bored.
Unless univillage iterates rapidly on their featureset they'll find their userbase getting bored easily and regret having too many features. I think its great that studentface have started with a simple featureset as they can further intice the audience over time. Facebook's killer app was when they launched photo sharing, followed again by the variety provided by the release of the API.
This attrition due to user boredom is a key lesson in creating these social networking sites - the most notable example being Friendster. It just became boring after a while. This will be key differentiating factor to Univillage's and Studentface's success if they want to cut it with the likes of Facebook and Myspace.
Mo
· 3 years ago
I agree Sharpshoot but Facebook is not as immune as you think. Their growth has reportedly slowed. I think their only killer app is the photo sharing, which was an obvious addition, not innovative. Haven't seen much innovation at all from them. The recent notes functionality is pretty basic and we'll see how the API plays out.
Sharpshoot
· 3 years ago
I think you are right, Facebook is plateu-ing but univillage and studentface are hardly doing anything more innovative that we haven't seen before. Univillage has essentially copied bebo and myspace and tried to apply it to closed community networking. I don't think they really UNDERSTAND the formula.
Xuqa's move towards being a multilevel game is a step in the right direction. More radical college social networks will move towards three dimensional worlds and newer ways of entertaining this demographic. I've certainly become bored of facebook and am not the only one. First generation social networks are going to get out of fashion quickly.
Pete Cashmore
· 3 years ago
My take: Univillage impresses, Facebook is coasting, Xuqa is headed off in the wrong direction.
Sharpshoot
· 3 years ago
Univillage will have to counter Facebook penetration in Uk universities. With the majority of three generations of students above on Facebook in most universities Univillage will probably fail to break the network effect. Most likely if they are giving away free music people will take that and leave. I would be surprised if UniVillage can make a dent into the Facebook stranglehold in the UK. I write this as I've been on Facebook for about a year and a half.
While switching costs may be low, radicalisation is required to create a core of active, addicted users. iChum.com tried this last year in the UK and failed, but they weren't as better funded as Univillage. Its failed once before :)
Totally agree that network efforts are near impossible to break. Univillage doesn't give away music - more like MySpace music, where bands have their own profiles and you can add their music to your own MySpace music player. I think the user experience is better than Facebook, but as we know, it's all about which one your friends are on.
Sharpshoot
· 3 years ago
My impression of the Univillage user experience when i looked was that it was a little bit over featured and a slower feature deployment wouldn't have spoiled the surprise, but i guess i'm a little bit older than the bebo-weaned highschoolers that are going to use Univillage.
Brian Balfour
· 3 years ago
Pete,
Remember when Facebook launched their feature set was pretty minimal as well...actually less then what studentface has. I am not 100% sure the type of penetration Myspace, Bebo, and other international social networks have in Australia. If it is significant then, yes, studentface may have to beef up the features a bit, but not by much. One of the original fascinations with facebook that made it so popular was that it was college students only, something studentface has going for itself.
Brian Balfour SocialDegree
Bobby
· 3 years ago
Regarding Facebook: I think its success is completely due to first mover advantage. Feature set has played a very minimal role. I am not a university student so I tried setting up a high school account. There are lots of bugs. During registration, I had forgotten to fill out one field and when it reloads the page and tells me to fill it out, another field is reset. Not seeing this (expecting that they'd keep all the data I did fill out correctly) I had to go through this 3 times. And then once I successfully submitted the form, it told me I couldn't join and gave me a list of names of people I had to ask to send me an invite. The exclusivity of Facebook is part of its success, but that's just ridiculous and with all their money you'd think the registration page would work a little bit better. I personally think Facebook's growth is starting to stagnate and that much of their fickle audience would jump ship if another offering with some compelling features came along.
The bottom line is that Facebook can easily be replicated in other countries so Facebook should be focusing their resources on expansion, not useless stuff like notes and an API.
Regarding Xuqa: I agree with Pete. Their site is pretty horrible in terms of interface and when I go there I don't get any real information on what it is and how I play. What exactly do you do? I was at TechCrunch 7 and their founder Ali had a bunch of "models" there and gave some an egotistic presentation about Xuqa. The just of it was "everybody wants to be rich and famous and Xuqa gives them a chance." Let's see: 800,000-1 million users (supposedly) and $20,000 paid out to date. Not exactly making anybody rich and I've yet to see a media superstar created from the Xuqa service. Looks like another gimmicky service targeting a fickle audience that bores easily.
Nathan Waters
· 3 years ago
I think there is definitely potential for Studentface in Aus. In fact, about 6 months ago, myself and a fellow young entrepreneur in brissy were serious about partnering to create the Aus facebook equivalent... but sadly fell victim to lack of time (and he wanted to focus on another project).
But we had researched the figures Facebook currently had at the time, and they only had a few hundred Australian registered users. Bebo and MySpace are moderately popular in Australia, but I think an Aus facebook still has a lot of potential (very few students know about facebook.com).
Although as people have mentioned, the social networking environment is a fluctuating one, with the masses flocking to wherever their friends go basically.
All Comments
Unless univillage iterates rapidly on their featureset they'll find their userbase getting bored easily and regret having too many features. I think its great that studentface have started with a simple featureset as they can further intice the audience over time. Facebook's killer app was when they launched photo sharing, followed again by the variety provided by the release of the API.
This attrition due to user boredom is a key lesson in creating these social networking sites - the most notable example being Friendster. It just became boring after a while. This will be key differentiating factor to Univillage's and Studentface's success if they want to cut it with the likes of Facebook and Myspace.
Xuqa's move towards being a multilevel game is a step in the right direction. More radical college social networks will move towards three dimensional worlds and newer ways of entertaining this demographic. I've certainly become bored of facebook and am not the only one. First generation social networks are going to get out of fashion quickly.
While switching costs may be low, radicalisation is required to create a core of active, addicted users. iChum.com tried this last year in the UK and failed, but they weren't as better funded as Univillage. Its failed once before :)
Totally agree that network efforts are near impossible to break. Univillage doesn't give away music - more like MySpace music, where bands have their own profiles and you can add their music to your own MySpace music player. I think the user experience is better than Facebook, but as we know, it's all about which one your friends are on.
Remember when Facebook launched their feature set was pretty minimal as well...actually less then what studentface has. I am not 100% sure the type of penetration Myspace, Bebo, and other international social networks have in Australia. If it is significant then, yes, studentface may have to beef up the features a bit, but not by much. One of the original fascinations with facebook that made it so popular was that it was college students only, something studentface has going for itself.
Brian Balfour
SocialDegree
The bottom line is that Facebook can easily be replicated in other countries so Facebook should be focusing their resources on expansion, not useless stuff like notes and an API.
Regarding Xuqa: I agree with Pete. Their site is pretty horrible in terms of interface and when I go there I don't get any real information on what it is and how I play. What exactly do you do? I was at TechCrunch 7 and their founder Ali had a bunch of "models" there and gave some an egotistic presentation about Xuqa. The just of it was "everybody wants to be rich and famous and Xuqa gives them a chance." Let's see: 800,000-1 million users (supposedly) and $20,000 paid out to date. Not exactly making anybody rich and I've yet to see a media superstar created from the Xuqa service. Looks like another gimmicky service targeting a fickle audience that bores easily.
But we had researched the figures Facebook currently had at the time, and they only had a few hundred Australian registered users. Bebo and MySpace are moderately popular in Australia, but I think an Aus facebook still has a lot of potential (very few students know about facebook.com).
Although as people have mentioned, the social networking environment is a fluctuating one, with the masses flocking to wherever their friends go basically.
cheers
nathan