TheDeal.com’s Joshua Jaffe has written a nice article on what makes some social networking sites tick while several others remain just as they are. YouTube became a success in a span of a year and a half while 200 other video sharing sites are yet to find a place in the sun. What makes MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr stand apart from others? First is, a social media site must have a clear purpose. For instance, in the case of Flickr, says Toby Coppel, Yahoo’s senior vice president for corporate development, “The founders were passionate about allowing people who are passionate about photography to share their photos with others. There was great purity of purpose and they supported that purpose with actions,” he said.
And what makes some VCs pick the winner?
The article quotes James Slavet, a general partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, which funded companies like Facebook, LinkedIn and Digg, “When we look at new social networks, we look for authenticity in the product vision of the founder.”
The article is useful since Indian social networking space is getting hotter. Although jury is still out on whether they will be commercially successful in India.
Subscriber content
?
Subscriber content comes from Gigaom Research, bridging the gap between breaking news and long-tail research. Visit any of our reports to learn more and subscribe.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Comments have been disabled for this post