Comments on: The Social Media Chicken and Egg Problem

By: Adam Darowski

Adam Darowski — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 17:59:39 +0000

Thanks Brian… yes, freemium will certainly get you more contributors off the bat than a paid service. You really have to avoid charging for any contributions on a social media site… what’s the point of disallowing someone to essentially work for you for free? Their contributions make your site better.

I think what I keep getting stuck on is how likely the very first users will be to contribute if there is hardly anything there yet. Perhaps you just need a few folks that will take pride in the fact that they are among the first of what could soon be a growing community.

By: Brian Oberkirch

Brian Oberkirch — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 17:25:30 +0000

Adam: great list here. I’d look at a constant freemium mode, where new users can come in, try the service on for size, and add value if they are motivated. Then they can always upgrade the experience, but you are accruing data, tweaking the system and gaining trial all the while.

By: Adam Darowski

Adam Darowski — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 02:11:28 +0000

Ah, yes. My site I’m developing really has to focus on the “people, users, and communities” since there isn’t an established set of content to talk about, like Amazon, for example. The curriculum isn’t just something to kickstart traffic, but also something I’m very confident the community will find valuable.
The “overlay” approach you mention also sonds like a “mashup” approach, where you’re explicitly plugging into one or more APIs of existing social media sites. This is also a viable solution, if that’s the type of tool you are creating.

By: Web Strategy by Jeremiah » Web Strategy: What comes first, Content or Community?

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 02:07:06 +0000

[...] Adam has a very unique analysis and viewpoint on origins of successful social media sites The Social Media Chicken and Egg Problem.¬† He demonstrates how previous websites have launched products, the Software lifecycle, the late 90s ad model, lists some potential scenarios for the modern social site. [...]

By: Jeremiah Owyang

Jeremiah Owyang — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 01:59:47 +0000

Great Analysis. Another thought (which you sort of elude to in number 2) is to harness an existing social site or network and build yours as an overlay.

Perhaps the best approach is not to focus on ‘where’s the content’ but focus on people, users, and communities. When you look hard enough, the communities will appear and the content is just an ‘output’ from these communities –people first.