What exactly is SNS? An upgraded version of BBS, a simplified version of a blog, or an enhanced version of a dating website? In fact, no matter what it is, what role it can play is the key. When many people see SNS websites, they think of forums, blogs and dating sites that have been around for many years, but I think it is more like interactive platforms such as Taobao, Paipai, and online games. Perhaps what SNS now accomplishes is only exchange behaviors, such as item exchange, emotional exchange, etc., but as the front end of transactions, explicit business platforms will definitely appear in the near future.
Simply put, SNS is the online integration of offline interpersonal relationships, thereby eliminating communication barriers and infinitely amplifying network resources. SNS was just a technical means at the beginning, but now it cannot be understood simply this way. After online interpersonal relationships develop, how to gather similar groups of people to generate exchange behavior is a key factor in whether SNS websites can generate value.
Anyone may appear on SNS sites, including the President of the United States
Copycat version of FACEBOOK
When FACEBOOK emerged abroad, it caused quite a stir. People suddenly discovered that this kind of website could bring direct benefits or harm to people. This attracted the attention of venture capital and also brought about Chinese imitators. Just like Baidu, many copycat versions of FACEBOOK soon sprung up in China, making it face strong rivals on its journey in China.
At present, Kaixin.com, Xiaonei.com, and Feike.com are currently developing well in China. Without exception, these three websites all focus on making friends, but they have different target groups and main functions. Kaixin.com mainly targets white-collar workers, and generates eating, entertainment and emotional behaviors among white-collar workers through various plug-ins. The Xiaonei network is mainly aimed at school students, mainly college students. It has promoted many campus romances here, and of course there are also uncles who like little girls. The identity of Feike.com is not concrete. It mainly focuses on common interests, such as books, movies, food, etc. It is very much like an enhanced forum. However, from the perspective of generating exchange behavior, the probability of success is the highest. After all, birds of a feather flock together. Divide into groups.
In addition to these three comprehensive SNSs, there are also websites in China that are purely focused on dating and business job hunting, but they are still in the early stage of accumulation of popularity and have not yet become popular. It is worth noting that MSN9.0 integrates SNS functions, and Yahoo's "Guanxi" uses mailboxes, word-of-mouth, Taobao, etc. to create a comprehensive platform with more resources, but these resources have not yet fully exerted their value.
The development process of SNS is a process of thinking about the nature of the Internet, and it is also an important milestone in the development of the Internet, because communication between people can create infinite possibilities, and transnational romances are also common on such websites. If This is a big family, and it belongs to the entire earth.
What attracts "you"
Before writing the article, the author frequently used SNS websites for half a year. It is an indisputable fact that many white-collar workers hang out on Kaixin.com. What attracts them? All kinds of fun plug-ins? In fact, everyone is very busy at work. If it is just online Entertainment cannot capture the hearts of white-collar workers. The fundamental purpose of all plug-ins, topics, and group guidance behaviors is to enable members to achieve their own goals on the website.
When many people talk about SNS, they start to think of WEB2.0. Various principles and interactive concepts begin to be superimposed on it, and finally a conclusion of SNS is formed, which seems to be high-sounding. However, the results of this argument are often specious and misleading. Looking back on the past, the emergence of blogs has caused everyone to discuss WEB2.0. The collapse of blog sites has made many people sneer at WEB2.0. But 2.0 has always existed. Blogs are neither the beginning nor a decisive technical product at all. The emergence of interaction started with early forums and finally reached its peak with instant messaging and e-commerce.
Taking the current top three Internet companies, Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu are all real WEB2.0 websites. Talking about 2.0 solely from blogs is too one-sided. But blog technology is now widely used. Why? Because it can directly bring value. Everyone knows that many people's blogs on Sina can sell advertisements. This so-called blog interaction has become an outright display behavior. So what is WEB2.0? Take QQ as an example. Countless people's speeches and discussions every day are themselves an excellent way of interaction, which is the real 2.0. But communication is not the ultimate goal, and communication cannot be regarded as a need of human beings. He must want to achieve some purpose through communication, whether it is a conspiracy or a conspiracy. Therefore, the emergence of SNS is not directly related to 2.0. Its development to this day is no longer just a technical means, but a change, a change in lifestyle and way of thinking.
Some people also like to think about the Internet and SNS from the perspective of media. In essence, it is well-founded, but what is the foundation of the Internet? Resource sharing and exchange, revitalizing seemingly ineffective resources that were previously blocked. To give a simple example, what should a young man do if he wants to find a girlfriend? In the past, he would find her through introduction, within his own life circle, or by striking up a conversation directly. This method was indeed understandable in the past, but unfortunately, a person's life circle is limited after all, and it is difficult for the introducer to know both parties well enough to find a suitable one. Picking up a conversation on the street is more like a hormonal impulse. , a girl looks innocent and beautiful, maybe her children are already good at making soy sauce.
The emergence of instant messaging has allowed many people to complete the behavior of making friends online. Of course, this is only one implementation of the QQ function. However, in the face of countless people on the Internet, although this method has improved the success rate, it is still difficult to achieve "precision marketing". It often requires selling oneself to many "customers" who have no intention to buy, and making friends is still like a lucky break. The emergence of SNS has changed everything. From the past simple display on various media to the current display + communication + judgment + guidance, SNS can no longer hinder communication between people. In fact, there should be two criteria for judging SNS. One is the number of registered members, and the other is the time that users stay. For white-collar workers, SNS websites first complete their personal display behavior. If this behavior is understood as making friends, it is self-packaging. But these displays are only the front end of communication, and communication is the front end of exchange. From this point of view, thinking about the Internet from the perspective of media is also biased.
So what is the most attractive thing for white-collar workers? The most obvious thing is that SNS websites integrate many related people, and you can find these people through searches. You may not be interested in your former classmates or your former colleagues, but what if this person is your first love? What if she can bring you business? What if she is a beautiful woman like Zhang Ziyi or Lin Chiling? Is this interesting? Everyone likes to be praised by others. The display and language release of a beautiful woman on an SNS website can make her as popular as the stars and completely change her lifestyle. You can find someone from these resources to have a meal, sing a song, or engage in various entertainment activities at any time without spending any money. Then someone said, is there a security issue here? How to understand this person?
In SNS websites, you can basically judge the identity of this person through his blog, comments, groups, etc. For example, if he is in the rental group, you can basically tell that he is not a local. If he is in both the rental group and the local group, then he probably lives in the suburbs, has the books he likes to read, movies he likes to watch, and people who like him. , the people he likes, etc., plus some plug-ins, leave a good basis for judgment. Of course, cheating to eat or drink is a bad behavior after all, and there will always be times when you are emotional. What if the other person is Wang Leehom?
It was just about making friends, and it doesn’t seem to have much to do with trading. Let's take the rental group as an example. Here you can find houses rented by real landlords, and few intermediaries will bother you, because the identity can be determined and the intermediaries have no way to hide. In the "second-hand" group, you can directly sell things, exchange items, etc. This kind of behavior occurs every day, but the big bosses of venture capital don't pay attention to it.
In addition to transactions, there are also mutual aid trips, parties and dinners, etc. These are all frequent behaviors, and dozens of people go there. This model can even form an industry chain, and the situation of house buying groups and car buying groups is similar.
Assume that a person can complete activities such as making friends (beauties and handsome men, potential customers), transactions (purchases), gatherings (mood release), and life questions and answers on SNS websites. Is it very attractive? I guess at least most people don’t. Will refuse.
The soul of SNS interaction
Regarding SNS interaction, it can actually be understood as precision marketing, and the cost is very low, which is especially suitable during the financial crisis. The author uses a picture to explain it below.
SNS interactive relationship diagram
From the picture, you can see that SNS has opened up the barriers between resources and made communication and sharing smoother. This picture can also explain why the author thinks of Taobao when I see SNS websites. Everyone knows that Alipay plays an important role in Taobao’s ability to defeat eBay. Fraud in online transactions has always been eBay's biggest weakness, and the emergence of Alipay has completely changed this situation. The same goes for dating websites in the past, which often became an exclusive platform for "ladies". However, in SNS websites, because individuals are identifiable, everyone is against falsehoods and frauds, and they simply cannot stay because they have a foundation of integrity. , SNS has also become more vivid and powerful. This is very similar to Taobao. One uses technical means and the other uses perceptual judgment. I often hear people changing bags or ragdolls on SNS websites. Although it is not large-scale, it is the front end of the business platform.
We can clearly see that in the world of SNS, people have become the real decisive factor, and the technology itself is a better integration of resources between people, which is in line with the essence of the Internet - resource sharing. This environment is very much like the current "Second Life". When the time is right, all real-world purchasing and supply behaviors will occur here. In this virtual society, you may be more real online than in real life, because if you want to obtain more resources, you must show your exchangeable capital. The more you show, the higher the exchange chips will be. It is also easier to achieve your goals. It doesn't matter if this display is private, because here, just like in real society, no secret can remain airtight forever. It can be seen that the soul of SNS is also the soul of the Internet, from communication to sharing.
Where does the future of SNS go?
When it comes to how to make money, I guess everyone will be interested. In fact, if you break down SNS, you can see the profit model. It has a personal blog, which can be used to make money based on existing blogs. It has instant messaging functions and can refer to the profit models of QQ and MSN. It has huge traffic and can directly charge advertising fees. It can also develop e-commerce platforms and virtual social platforms. In fact, no matter how you charge, there are only two types. One is to sell members to a third party, and the other is to provide services directly to members. The author personally thinks that the latter is easier to operate. Because people with the same interests are willing to pay for high-quality services, such as the "car" group, which provides car washing services for 5 yuan a time, it will definitely be overcrowded, but it is easy to lose money.
What is the future of SNS? The author believes that each website will be different. There may be entertainment, dating, business websites, etc. It is difficult to judge which one is better, but one thing is certain that SNS websites will exist for a long time and continue to exist. Moving forward, it will continue to change people's lifestyles and ways of thinking with the development of the Internet. SNS technology will also be widely used in various fields of the Internet, such as corporate websites. The soul of interaction is communication, sharing and resource integration. As long as the Internet still exists, all people who are based on this and continue to work hard will eventually see a rainbow.
Finally, I borrow a sentence from Feike.com: Discover the books, movies, music, activities, blogs and everything unknown that are most suitable for you... (Author Feike Alou)