Week 8 post - Starting a community

Introduction to Go Yummy

Finally, the day comes as the weekly activity will end up with a social platform of my own creation. Assuming myself as the community manager with insight into all the major design challenges, I’d like to kick off an online website called Go Yummy for the purpose of gathering the collective intelligence of food lovers and sharing all sorts of information covering broad topics around food basically. Why I choose food is because obviously it matters a lot but the problem is sometimes it can be time-consuming to find out even the answer to a seemingly simple question like, ‘Which’s the cheapest restaurant around QUT Gardens Point campus?’ Most of the existing websites are either too localized or too general to provide what users really want. For the moment the scope(target audience) is aiming for anyone who are enthusiastic in food or cooking. No matter as a housewife cooking at home or a workaholic having no time to cook hopefully they will be happy with it.

What are the stage 1 benefits?

Despite of any social benefit, Go Yummy does offer some stage 1 benefits. For instance, a beginner or a master are both provided with equal rights to build up your own portfolios to store your good ideas or discoveries. To be specific, it can be a creative tutorial of ‘DIY home-made sushi’ or ‘7 steps to bake pavlova’, something like that. Video, audio and other kinds of multi-media elements are all embedded into the post where you can make people better understood and also make yourself proud. Even if you abandon this platform later on for whatever reason, it’s all about memory and sense of achievement when looking back on what you’ve created. To some extent it’s the same as what we’ve done to build up our own assignment portfolios. Even if there’s no one else visiting the posts or leaving the comments it doesn’t mean they’re valueless. Because you’re creating value and what Go Yummy does at an early stage is to facilitate the process and help keep this value.

What are the early adopter benefits?

We’re living in a world where ranking immerses everywhere and Go Yummy is no exception. As one of the tangible benefits, early birds will be awarded a special title to mark their contribution to the ‘primitive’ community and charged free on first year’s membership. What’s more, they should be on the recommendation list of the push notification to make new users known. Convenience, reduced cost and increasing reputation are exactly desireable.

How to increase success expectation?

It’s important to let the rest of the world knows you are holding a successful website or at least on the way even if you are not. It’s just a common practice of promotion. An effective way to accomplish this is to integrate the essences into the top area so as to make it eye-catching. As we know about 90% of users will only pay attention to the top to see whether it can meet their needs or not. So just put the best of the best at the most conspicuous position and it will work. Another way can be leveraging the star effect by inviting celebrities to visit the website and that will help a lot. An example in the real world referred to the official website of Tangalooma after Roger Federer took a day trip there during the Brisbane International this year. Thanks to the worldwide fans alliance keeping an eye on Roger all the time, perhaps millions of them got to know about the resort. As another great idea combing with early adopter benefits, Go Yummy can help them to be the focus such as establishing a personal channel. Perhaps you are the next Charli in Australia, who knows?

References:

Pic_1:http://msue.anr.msu.edu/uploads/images/Greening/Food%20for%20Change%20Summit%20wordle.jpg

Pic_2:http://cdn.prakticideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/1503581_611915698845447_1874959136_n.jpg

Pic_3:http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2015/01/07/1227177/068168-e821b1f8-9606-11e4-985a-7acd3b83aa30.jpg

Week 7 post - Activating network effects

INTRODUCTION

Currently it is key to activate network effects as part of modern mass communication. That is what creates the core value to the platform and it’s win-win for both users and developers. To around your interest in this hot topic, I choose Blued in particular to describe the concept in detail. In addition, some famous counterparts like Jackd and Grindr will be discussed to compare with each other to help you form a better understanding.

You may not have known that Blued, as the top one gay social app in China(sorry for introducing a local platform once again) with an increasingly growing user base of over 15 million gays or would-be, has already been the most influential platform in this field. Noticing that mobile users in the next five years will keep growing at a higher speed, this figure is likely to double by 2020. ‘People are more in the closet and less open about it, but thebeautiful thing about smartphone is that it’s a private device.’ said the co-founder of Blued David Chao. It’s interesting that there are plenty of supporters as well as objectors of this app but undoubtedly both of them have made great contribution to activating its network effects.

DIRECT EFFECTS

To start with, direct network effect is easy to understand that the value of a platform increases as long as more users use it. There are dozens of similar dating apps such as Jackd now playing a huge part in approaching like-minded partners or just pure strangers, but only a very few of them have the opportunity to be put on top of the list in app store. The cruel fact reveals that how important it is to take advantage of user growth to foster a solid network. Think of that if you’re a potential user, once you’ve joined in you’ll notice that 8 gays out of 10 around you are using the same app, and that’s how you’ll immediately be dragged into it as they used to be. The online community of Blued is undergoing a positive cycle where more users pour in and more value is generated either intentionally or unintentionally, which in turn leads to more access for new users.

INDIRECT EFFECTS

Unlike platform itself, indirect network effects come from complementary goods or services. A latest example referred to a fashionable Thai TV series funded by Blued named ‘Lady Boy Friends’. The series set a new record of audience rating and made Blued known by a larger range of user group as a result. Here it is assumed that the series itself was extraordinary(literally it was) and I’m not about to go into details. For those who used Blued before they were indulged into the series and in return became more faithful to it than ever. For those who didn’t or were even straight they got to know it due to the success of the series, which added value to Blued likewise. To be more specific, think of the situation where you might be into one of the leading actors and it would be perfect when his Blued account was displayed on the screen(it did happen actually). How could you control yourself not to get in use with it in this case? Like I said before, both compliments and critiques help activate the network effects.

CROSS-NETWORK EFFECTS

Obviously inside the gay community we have several groups depending on who you are and what you are aiming for. In terms of activating cross-network effects, Jackd has set a good example that thanks to embedded Google Map plug-in users can feel free to find someone globally although given the priority that we always are keeping an eye on people nearby. The core feature is that it’s built for cross-platform so that generally when the usage of users who are enthusiastic in sharing selfies increases the value of users who enjoy looking at someone else’s photos nonetheless aren’t willing to show theirs will catch up as well. Basically if two groups have some degree of corelation this cross-network magic can be applied to it.

LOCAL EFFECTS

Like every social app instant messaging forms the basic framework of what we call as local network effects. Your activities as part of your daily life will be influenced if you’re asked to start a chat frequently by different gays. Though most of the users don’t count on a stable relationship, it doesn’t mean they don’t mind. The dream scenario of this effect is that someone ends up with a true love for the rest of his life.

WHAT’S MORE

It’s a shame to say none of the platforms I mentioned above has been accepted universally. Blued dominates domestic market but internationalization is still far away with built-in Baidu Map which only supports users in mainland. Jackd and Grindr both have more in functionality but they can only display nearby users within a short distance centered from your coordinate. However, all of them understand what users need primarily and that’s why the first tab down the interface is always for finding someone instead of a chatting room. What’s worth mentioning is that there’s another tab in Blued where the latest news that gay men care about will be seen. Anyway, I believe the future development still lies in helping a user find his Mr Right. Hopefully that day will come earlier in the era of mobile.

References:
Pic_1: http://www.blued.cn/v4/en-US/img/banner.jpg
Pic_2: http://ww1.sinaimg.cn/large/9c8d3235jw1er3q66tvoej20k00zkdr2.jpg
Pic_3: http://img.wdjimg.com/mms/screenshot/2/88/2563d2e8c8014edb336c61e39f5c3882_320_533.jpeg
Pic_4: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/adh5cXgJ9oZhb66MNvdt2d0kJhuGFv77OMnQ_SKvK84BkofNBqH_3h4IiHyX1eLf36L9=h900

Week 5 post - Lightweight models and cost effective scalability

INTRODUCTION

Eventually this week turns to business-related issues. How to maintain the cost-effective scalability is essential for a growing Web 2.0 enterprise even if it claims that relevant profit model has already been presented since the user base boomed. For the last time I will illustrate the weekly pattern with the example of a celebrated online platform in China. Now that we’ll be discussing business, Taobao is on top of the list for sure.

‘Taobao’ means ‘seek out the treasure’ and that’s what the founder motivates users to do at all times. If you ever know nothing about it, you must have known something about Alibaba, a Chinese Internet company founded by Jack Ma in 1999. Popularly the primary services include e-commerce and online payment. Now in the information era almost everyone is able to get access to the Internet and grab what they want so there’s such a tremendous market emerging out there. Taobao was established in 2003 and once accounted for about 80% of total online transactions. Actually, like the saying goes, ‘a journey of one thousand miles begins with one step’. Why did it come to success? There must be some reasons.

SCALE WITH DEMAND

You know what? Back in 2003 when Taobao was first put online, there were only 200 and more commodities on display, all of which were brought along by the core technical staffs from their home. However, 20 days later, guess what? Taobao owned the 10,000_th registered user. It was aiming for big because Jack Ma saw the business opportunities behind but starting from scretch. What’s really interesting was that Taobao was regarded as a trial at the very beginning but gradually it began to absorb into business of Alibaba which in fact was at a higher level. Today, it’s not a fruit of Alibaba anymore. Instead, it’s been the rich soil. The core idea really is to ‘make small big and then make big small(which actually is bigger)’.

SCALE YOUR PRICING AND REVENUE MODELS

Over 90% of Taobao users never pay a butt for using it, meaning that they’re free to get content and services provided by various suppliers. Taobao does value the user base and network effects because they set the foundation of page view. As long as people visit the website regularly, what they’ve done will create value continuously even if they don’t purchase anything. What Taobao really concerns is to coordinate the business issue but it won’t get involved in the disputes unless it’s required to.

Basically Taobao adopts the principle of ‘leveraging the long tail’ well. The website is user based providing personalized resources to the users so their target stuff will be highlighted frequently. For any supplier he can set up a shop free of charge but if he wants to earn, he is encouraged to pay first. Pay fast, earn fast, basically. That’s just one of the many approaches that Taobao profits. Think of the scalability that lies within.

FAIL FAST, SCALE FAST

As an example, last summer a fairly popular Chinese actor was put into prison because of taking drugs and what’s ridiculous was that on the second day, someone started to sell the same model of his prison garb on Taobao which obviously was illegal. However, this guy finally paid for it. On the one hand, the system loophole was exposed that limitations didn’t work so when it was getting bigger it may fail faster. On the other hand, also because it was scaling fast everyone was under the supervision of either competitors or consumers. In addition, Taobao spared no effort to crack down on lawbreakers. The outcome was that a new booming cycle would be on. In future, that’s still the mainstream.

References：
Pic_1.http://www.alizila.com/sites/default/files/Taobao_logo-jpg.jpg
Pic_2.http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/MK-AS266_TAOBAO_NS_20081008185219.gif
Pic_3.http://www.taobaospree.com/file/model/2013032117034210705.jpg
Pic_4.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9kaSLARDWt_0eNJVJcS3ukwbnMzSfO-K7TrPMfQrflzklVxFVG4JgcMPoYBLzNuyKZS6I83KoLANDVeFjBdnsfeOlyJfU89ZFCdwQrRM4_7P-ur5kfBIdJwR_ug0WC-NVlscWZt5XO4/s1600/taobao+item+search+go+to+taobao+shop+rating.gif

Week 4 post - Perpetual beta

INTRODUCTION

Literally, ‘perpetual beta’ can be interpreted as ‘never-ending software development cycle’ which overturns traditional theories of what we define as ‘design-develop-debug-deliver’ methodology. It’s quite common now for software developers to follow the pattern. Once again, I’ll choose a mature Web 2.0 model in China combining both phenomenal and reasonable elements to win the market. If some of us have good memories, obviously we can recall that Chinese Web 2.0 history actually started from Tencent QQ in 1998. Yup, that’s the focus.

As mentioned above, QQ was the first Internet-based IM software then and just through a single window users can chat, share files, send emails and so forth, which, I have to say, was a great breakthrough at the moment. Since it’s been around for nearly 17 years, its look and feel have already changed so notably that even those senior members cannot remember the initial interface but what’s unchanged really is it never stops delivering new products, abandoning obsolete features as well as retaining classic ones. This matches ‘perpetual beta’ exactly.

 

RELEASE EARLY AND RELEASE OFTEN

From 2002, Tencent at least launched 4 beta versions yearly(more precisely, 3 beta versions plus a final official one by the year end). It did this not only to refresh the technologies up to date but also be responsible for the increasingly growing user base. Also, because Chinese see the Spring Festival as mostly important in a year, Tencent used to launch a new year edition early in Febuary to promote the idea of celebration in particular. Every time it upgraded the system, more potential users would feed in not because it was more of a big deal but absolutely it was the pioneer to explore something useful.

ENGAGE USERS AS CO-DEVELOPERS AND REAL-TIME TESTERS

Generally Tencent keeps an open development strategy either by asking for fresh ideas from their faithful users or by inviting some early birds to test the newly generated products. Oh, better for me to say ‘finding out what’s cool based on real time supervision and data analysis’ rather than ‘simply asking for ideas’ because it’s what users do instead of talk that matters. It works well because those who accept the invitation are fans and they’re truly crazy about adding something creative and original. That’s how anonymous chat has been introduced to QQ for the latest beta. Where there is a need, there is a way.

INCREMENTALLY CREATE NEW PRODUCTS

In terms of creating and testing new products, Tencent doesn’t fall behind. Every update includes several new features or services and what’s mentionable is that it’s been polishing the ‘ecosystem’ by enhancing the core services of QQ and meanwhile releasing a whole bunch of derivative products such as QQ games, Tencent Weibo and QQ browser. Noticing it’s more than a social software, a large percentage of users tend to install the accompanied products that they like.

SOME DEBATE

Two thirds of Chinese are using QQ currently and it adds huge pressure on the administration. Should it track every detail about the real-time online usage? If so, then to what extent should it leverage the data but not touch deeply into users’ privacy? Besides, one of the disadvantages of bringing out series of new products at a time or seeking for external co-operation is that it’s just hard to define the inter-relationship which remains extremely crucial for decision makers to think about the future development strategies. Anyway Tencent should keep an eye on its own focus.

References:

Pic_1:http://tech.qq.com/zt/2009/cp/dayi3.htm

Pic_2:http://photocdn.sohu.com/20140211/Img394753006.jpg

Pic_3:http://img.chinainternetwatch.com/tencent-social-media.jpg

Pic_4:http://img1.gtimg.com/tech/pics/hv1/161/65/1566/101845886.jpeg