Nexster: Overview and Market Analysis

Nexster: Overview & Market Analysis

By: Sasha Sibley

Introduction

• Nexster is an entirely new breed of social network:• Produces a social score (based on data

aggregated from various social networks)• Combines feeds from multiple networks into

one aggregated data stream.• Functions like a social network; includes

images, profiles, pages, etc.

Social Scoring

• Provides a cumulative score based on social media networking (known as InternetWorth):• Ex: User A has a Facebook and a Twitter

profile. User A has 500 friends on Facebook and 200 followers on Twitter. User A receives 10 “dubs” (official point value for Nexster) per each friend/follower. User A has an InternetWorth of 7000 dubs.

• The advertised portion of the site

• The initial hook for potential users

Social Scoring cont’d

• Detailed ‘dub’ value chart below:


• As such, one’s number of friends/followers/re-tweets/likes/subscribers/etc. is directly proportional to one’s InternetWorth or number of ‘dubs’.

• Social scoring is a way of building ‘hype’ for Nexster


• Aesthetically, the ‘dub counter’ is designed to be large and enticing, as seen below.

Aggregated Feed

• Serves the purpose of providing a “one-stop-shop” for all social media by putting all content in one place.

• The aggregated feed would be introduced once users had signed up and possibly in subsequent ad campaigns.

• Also to be featured in a stand-alone mobile app for social network aggregation.

Aggregated Feed

• Appealing to users with many social networks

• A way of unifying one’s social media sphere

• Simple and Convenient

Network Functionality

• Nexster also functions as a basic social network similar to Facebook

• Contains elements such as:• Posts• Photos• Messaging• Groups• Connections

Basis for Analysis

• Basis for Analysis: Market Competitors (Klout, Various Aggregation sites) Overall Trends

Market

• Social Media is one of the fastest growing markets

• Social Networking is the top internet activity [Adler, 2014]

• To the right, the explosive growth of social networking between 2005 and 2012

• As seen in the chart, Social Networking has become a huge industry in a short amount of time.

Market cont’d

• More importantly, ad revenue online continues to soar to new heights, making online businesses of any kind very profitable

Market cont’d

• Who would use Nexster?

• Per the graphs below, there are a significant number of users with many social media accounts.

[Holcomb, 2013] [Holcomb, 2013] [Sankin, 2014]

Market cont’d

Market cont’d

• With such a large number of cross-platform social network users, there is a sizable market for Nexster users.

• Another important thing to note; people are increasingly dispersing their usage towards more and more sites [Carballar, 2013]

• The social networking market is becoming increasing fragmented [Carballar, 2013] due in part to this dispersal.

Market cont’d

• A fragmented social networking industry is exactly the type of climate Nexster will thrive in.

[Sankin, 2014]

Market cont’d

[Thompson, 2014]

Market cont’d

• In short, the Social Networking market is fragmented and usage is dispersed among many different sites.

• The market is ready for a new aggregator; it is the right place at the right time for Nexster.

Competitors: Klout

• Klout is the only successful site remotely similar to Nexster in terms of scoring

• Klout also provides a social media scoring application known as the Klout Score, however, besides that, the two websites are completely different

Competitors: Klout

• Scoring differences:• Firstly, Klout’s scoring is percentage based

and determined by indirect proportionality, whereas Nexster’s is cumulative and all numbers are directly proportional.

• Secondly Klout is quite obscure with its numerical system, while Nexster will be completely transparent.

• Thirdly, and most importantly, Klout is primarily used for analytics, whereas Nexster will be used for entertainment and networking.

Klout: Controversy

• Klout has had a short, but turbulent history [Dwyer]

• Many have criticized it for its “black box”, ambiguous scoring methods [Nathanson, 2014], inaccurate analytics [Kain], and its often invasive practices [Sengupta].

Aggregation Services

• There have been a number of network aggregation website attempts…

• I say attempts, because it is my opinion that they are approaching Social Media Aggregation the wrong way.

• What follows are short summaries of a few present (and past) aggregation services and why they didn’t work.

FriendFeed

FriendFeed

• FriendFeed aggregates feeds from various social networks and media sites

• It had a short-lived burst of popularity, but it never quite caught on [Scoble], and is largely unused nowadays because:• It has an outdated website design• Poor name choice• No ad campaigns; unknown to general public• Possible lack of funding (even though its owned by

FB)• Niche Market Approach (explained later on)

Yoono

Yoono

• This is an example of another not-so-successful aggregator, also in the business of combining multiple media streams

• Once again, it fails because of:• Few advertisement campaigns• Application as opposed to website• Lack of funding [Nerney, 2014]

• Niche Market Approach!

Hootsuite

Hootsuite

• Another example of a somewhat successful aggregation service, it also aggregates feeds from a variety of websites, and features analytical tools, graphs, and even a social media score like Klout’s (not cumulative like Nexster’s)

• Even still, compared to the Nexster approach Hootsuite falls short because:• It doesn’t advertise• Costs users money and can be expensive• Niche Market Approach!

NetVibes

NetVibes

• This is definitely the most successful aggregator of them all. They’re target market is obviously businesses…again. However, they also offer support to individuals as well, which is just bordering on the Nexster idea.

• In fact, all they’d have to do to make it really popular is create a spinoff website just for individual users, enhance their website design and add a few features for increased simplicity and usability.

• But once again, they fail because of their:• Niche Market Approach!!!

Niche Market Approach

• What did they have in common (besides funding issues)?These companies failed to see the Big Picture

• To them, social media aggregation is a niche market and that’s obvious in their business models

• Every single business mentioned was either targeting high-skill individuals, small business, analytic professionals, or social networking gurus.

• None of them were targeting the average social media user, and that is why they never experienced explosive growth.

Niche Market Approach

• These sites were not designed for mass consumption:• Designs are unenticing and filled with graphs and

analytical tools • Creating the aggregated feed is a long, arduous task, and

often involves several steps and manual data entry• Most were outdated; don’t include more modern popular

sites such as Instagram or Tumblr

• That being said, a few of them have been successful in gaining the niche market share of professionals in business analytics and social media management, but none have had the foresight to market to teens and the general public.

Nexster’s Market Approach

• Not only will Nexster actively target the general public, it is itself its own social network.

• Simplicity is Nexster’s game. The entire site is based around being user-friendly, and having the ability to aggregate your favorite social networks with only a few clicks.

• Everything is automated; the scoring, the data fetching, even the photos and most info is automatically collected, albeit customization is certainly an option, but it isn’t imperative.

Nexster: At Present

• That’s what makes Nexster unique. Many have come before it, but none have been quite like it.

• It combines the idea of an aggregated feed, a social media score and being a social network itself into one site marketed at the general public for networking and entertainment.

• Right now it is only a prototype, but in the coming months we plan to create a mobile app and perfect the site’s functionality and design in preparation for a full launch in September.

Nexster: At Present

• We have completely exhausted Nexster’s resources in the effort of designing and creating a working prototype of the website described herein.

• The capital was mostly from personal savings and donations from friends/family.

• This totals to an amount of $12,500 spent outsourcing the work to a tech company in India, $700 spent acquiring the domain name, and $500+ in other expenses.

Nexster: The Future

• Right now, Nexster can fetch data from only five social networks (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google+, and Tumblr), but we plan to implement many more in the future.

• Social Media is a tsunami of websites; this is just the beginning [Lytle, 2013], and there is almost unlimited room for growth…

• The next slide attempts to capture a list of potential Nexster inlets. It does not include international sites.

Nexster: The Future

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Tumblr

• Pinterest

• Google+

• Youtube

• Vine

• Reddit

• Instagram

• Blogger

• LinkedIn

• Flickr

• Tagged

• StumbleUpon

• SoundCloud

• Bebo

• Foursquare

• Buzznet

• Last.fm

• Flixster

• WeRead

• GaiaOnline

• VampireFreaks

• CafeMom

• Digg

• MySpace

• MyYearbook

• DailyMotion

• HubPages

• DeviantArt

• Squidoo

• Yelp

• Scribd

• TypePad

• Gowalla

• Netlog

• Pandora

• MocoSpace

• Ning

• FoodSpotting

• CouchSurfing

• Flurk

• Yahoo Answers

• Delicious

• Newsvine

• Fark

• Chime

• Netflix

• Metafilter

• Vimeo

• Quora

• Mixx

• HoverSpot

• Crowdstorm

• Skype

• Buzzfeed

• Ask.fm

• Meetup

• Wanelo

• Yik Yak

Nexster: The Future

• It gets better…

• Long term, Nexster could become the aggregator for everything; your social networks, your favorite tv network, your favorite newspaper, your favorite blogger, or favorite celebrity…

References

Sengupta, Somini. "When Sites Drag the Unwitting Across the Web." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Nov. 2011. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

Kain, Erik. "5 Reasons You Shouldn't Care About Your Klout Score." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 26 Apr. 2012. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

Nathanson, Jon. "Klout Is Basically Dead, but It Finally Matters." Slate. Slate Magazine, 1 May 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

"Press Release Article Display Page." 2013 Internet Ad Revenues Soar To $42.8 Billion, Hitting Landmark High & Surpassing Broadcast Television For The First Time—Marks a 17% Rise Over Record-Setting Revenues in 2012. IAB, 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

Dwyer, Sam. "Why People Hate Klout, and How to Fix It." Econsultancy. Econsultancy, 26 July 2012. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

References cont’d

Pash, Adam. "Aggregate Your Online Social Life with FriendFeed." Lifehacker. 18 Mar. 2008. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

"72% of Online Adults Are Social Networking Site Users." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Scoble, Robert. "10 Reasons Why Twitter Is for You and Friendfeed Is Not." Scobleizer. 8 Dec. 2008. Web. 27 Sept. 2014. <http://scobleizer.com/?p=5025>.

Nerney, Chris. "Life after TweetDeck: Here Are Five Alternatives." CITEworld. 11 June 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Hartshorn, Sarah. "7 Social Media Aggregation Tools To Simplify Your Streams." Social Media Today. Social Media Today, 26 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

References cont’d

Kallas, Priit. “Top 10 Social Networking Sites by Market Share of Visits [February 2012].” DreamGrow Social Media. DreamGrow, 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Lytle, Ryan. "When One Social Network Is Enough." Mashable. Mashable, 26 May 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Lunden, Ingrid. "73% Of U.S. Adults Use Social Networks, Pinterest Passes Twitter In Popularity, Facebook Stays On Top | TechCrunch." TechCrunch. 30 Dec. 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Sterling, Greg. "Pew: 94% Of Teenagers Use Facebook, Have 425 Facebook Friends, But Twitter & Instagram Adoption Way Up." Marketing Land. 21 May 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Carballar, Isaul. "What Will Social Media Be Like in Year 2015?" Viralheat. 18 Dec. 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

References cont’d

Thompson, Derek. "The Most Popular Social Network for Young People? Texting." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 19 June 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Sankin, Aaron. "Are You a Social Networking Power User?" The Daily Dot. 3 June 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Holcomb, Jesse, Jeffrey Gottfried, and Amy Mitchell. "News Use Across Social Media Platforms." Pew Research Centers Journalism Project RSS. 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.

Mander, Jason. "Instagram Tops the List of Social Network Growth - GlobalWebIndex| Analyst View Blog." GlobalWebIndex Analyst View Blog. 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.

Adler, Emily. "Social Media Engagement: The Surprising Facts About How Much Time People Spend On The Major Social Networks." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 26 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Sept. 2014.