Arguably the biggest factor in Facebook's huge success has been their ability to have a near monopoly over the student market. This causes new students to switch over from their previous social networks (often Bebo and MySpace), and for it to spread into the workplace as the students graduate.
When Facebook first hit the student dorms, social networking was relatively immature. Most young people knew what they were, and had heard of MySpace, but a majority weren't actively using them, and the ones that were used them to meet new people or share interests. Facebook turned this round by being specifically for organising and keeping track of your REAL life contacts, and their 'exclusive' focus made them spread very quickly, especially among the Ivy League and Red Brick universities. I had first hand experience of this, being at Durham University when Facebook first came over to the UK. I was speaking to a senior exec at MySpace earlier in the year about this, and he said that it came as a real surprise to them - they "just hadn't thought about it being used in that way".
Bebo's main differentiator from Facebook for a while has been it's focus on original content, both through partnerships and their own shows. They've had some huge successes, notably KateModern. The Social Times reported recently about a new show that Bebo are launching, Meet the Freshers:
Bebo will be launching yet another new original program tomorrow about first year university students in the United Kingdom. They are going all over the country to see what these students do with their lives. Based on the trailer below it sounds like they drink, party and have sex and not much else. It also doesn’t appear that this show has much of a production budget.
This is obviously a low-budget, experimental production. However, I think it could be successful; freshers are generally nervous, experiencing new things, and doing their best to meet new friends and fit in. In this situation, they'll be looking for social proof that they're acting the way they should be. If Bebo can offer to this to new students, they may be able to maintain their grasp on all those 18/19 year olds who would otherwise be setting up their Facebook accounts. Will this trump Facebook's purer focus on being a social connector? It will be interesting to see.
1 comments:
First of all this is really nice article, thanks Joshua.
Facebook is really growing very fast but don t think that it lasts long. I don t use bebo very much but i like this meet fresh videos. It is very nice idea, with this videos they are touching with their customers. In next future who touches with their customer they win.
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