May 23, 2008 at 10:33 SocialExp 2008 - Day Two
I am starting to cover the reports of the second day of the conference on social networks and services SocialExp 2008 (socialexp.ru). The start is smooth, today many interesting things are expected, including Max Spiridonov, Igor Denisov (Mio), as well as additional annealing from grave.ru Vladimir from grape.ru about viral marketing.
The boom of social services: investor position - Yaroslav Greshilov (inVenture)
80% of applications submitted in inVenture - various variations of social networks.
The main problems of such applications (often they do not even go into consideration)
- People cannot clearly determine the purpose of the declared startup.
“We will have a super project, because everyone will come to us. Everyone will come to us, because we have a super-project ”- the eternal question about chicken and egg.
- Do it all at once, a kind of combine that only your friends will hang out on.
The criterion for evaluating the success of an application is the answer to the question "where will the first users come from?"
The main asset of the social service is not fashion chips, but the audience. Create the basic functionality and begin to develop the audience, building functionality. Internet allows it.
Do not think how to monetize right away, make the service as useful as possible to a large number of users. Services that start earning right away grow much slower than cash-free relationships in the first stage.
First, we grow to a certain point, then we begin to monetize, while continuing to grow almost exponentially.
Investments will go when there will be an increase in service. How you grow it, how much and at what speed, so much faster it will acquire a monetary equivalent.
“Work for the audience, and then it will work for you.” Bring the first people with your hands, otherwise you run the risk of missing out in Central Asia. Look for fans and recruit them.
And do not forget about floating positioning throughout the growth of the service.
I liked the term “feature-cutting” the most: first come up with everything that the service will “be able to” in 2 years, and then cut off everything that is possible. Leave only what is needed to start the project. Freshly retold and for many is still a revelation.
The report is excellent. I recommend later to familiarize yourself.
Where to get the materials - I’ll write later, later by the end of the day. But the organizers promise all the presentations and the texts of the reports, as well as the video on smotri.com.
update @ 10: 50
How to build a report for sale - Maxim Spiridonov (Royber)
This report was at RIT 2008, but I didn’t listen to it then - I am glad that I had another chance.
Considered memori.ru, sold last year to RBC.
We learned to choose a niche with the help of market research, choose the best technical means, and examined the entrepreneurial side. For young geeks, creating, for example, LLC is a whole problem. Start over.
Create a service iteratively. IMHO this is a mantra for experienced people)
Make the first “appearance”, declare yourself, promise new features, upon receiving which, users will become happy and loyal. Encourage the generation of ideas by discussion - this is the cheapest way.
The final feeling - as a couple in the university served. But interesting, although much is commonplace.
update @ 11: 43
How to launch a startup with minimal investment - Anton Mazhirin (free-lance.ru)
Report in the style of an informal approach, because “in books one thing, in practice another.” Key points:
1. Where to bart idea: news, copying with minimal improvements, divine insight.
2. How much money do you need? Look for a balance between inspiration and necessary means. Big investments do not guarantee success.
3. Limit yourself: be dissatisfied, sleep poorly and eat)) Here are a bunch of illustrative examples, mainly about monks and recording ideas in the middle of the night on scraps of toilet paper. The most unusual point
4. How to start doing: articulate an intention, put on like-minded people (2-3 people - as little as possible to start a startup), finally, start to implement.
5. In discussions with partners (the word IMHO is dumb in some senses)) look for common ground. And each in the head a lot of trash and tails, which should be disposed of.
"A lot of divine light - a lot of trash"
"A lot of people - a lot of controversy"
6. Open (release) when you exhale almost completely and realize all the “points of contact”. Further draw energy from users, receive feedbacks.
How to develop further - users will say. Let them participate in the process, increase their loyalty.
The report was a success. In the end, we looked a little at how and to whom to sell, at what stage to start thinking about it. Details - in the text of the report (I hope all of them will be available on the conference website).
update @ 12: 25
Problems of Russian startups: the struggle for an idea or a further path to monetization - Vasily Butin (Etera, web2people)
Out of 500 ideas, 100 prototypes are obtained. After considering prototypes in the context of monetization, 50 ideas remain. After a conversation with investors, there remain 10 really travel business ideas.
Come up with trump cards and make sure your idea is protected from theft. Read about it in the articles on intellectual property rights.
Financing at an early stage is considered in detail - how many percent of stats whose finances are used. I remember the figure of 17% - that is how many startupers manage on their own. The question about the source of such data remained a little incomprehensible to me. It seems that the statistics are the most successful.
Insider pictures from the meetings of the "incubators" were demonstrated. The successes of 2 Ukrainian startups after the last meeting with British investors are commented on. By the way, such a startup center will soon be organized in St. Petersburg, so you still have time to prepare applications for participation.
A potential sales market, a team, and formulated goals and methods are the things to go to the investor.
Web2people.net - service overview. What is remembered: they give 100k to their hands immediately for 3 months, aiming at the result.
update @ 12: 45
Long tail in the development of social networks - Dmitry Linkov (Mann, Ivanov and Ferber Publishing House)
The main idea is that in the near future the development of the Internet will be directed to many niche social networks based on such large tools as the Google Social API, Facebook.
It’s a little incomprehensible to me how these tools can now be used in Russia - so far only in VKontakte I have posted my API, yesterday BobrDobr excelled. And the largest platforms in Russia proposed to the speakers have not yet been used.
There was a heated discussion. It was noted that, in fact, thematic communities based on forums and other traditional ways of communication, voting do not differ much from thematic social networks. For me, the difference is in the user base and standards. I will give an example:
everyone uses mail, someone is in a car club, someone is interested in cooking. You can navigate your hobby-seats without a lag of delays in the form of registration, authorization, which once you enter your data. Therefore, openId and all other cross-domain identification services turn classic thematic communities into thematic social networks.
Left for lunch) I will soon
update @ 14: 20
Igor Denisov's report was postponed half an hour later so now:
10 heads of Web 2.0 trends - Damir Khalilov (Green PR agency)
1. Corporate blogs
2. Multimedia search
3. Narrow topic social networks, because :
- high density of general topic social programs
- lack of a “core” of general topic social programs
- natural targeting of narrow-topic social networks
4. Show business will use social networks
5. Blog advertising will outgrow the stage of “custom posts” (now Utya-Utya when mentioning any brand)
6. Big business will come to social networks
7. Internet communities will fight spam new
8. Internet marketing will be taught
9. Counteraction to theft of visitors
10. Campaigns of “black Internet PR” will become larger
Report-lecture step by step. Things are important, served dry.
update @ 14: 30
Legends and myths of web 2.0 - Dmitry Andriyashkin (Butik2.0)
You just need to see it. I won’t describe, because I can’t laugh and write like that at the same time)
update @ 15: 50
Despite the disgusting cold rainy weather, the mood is excellent. People drink coffee and tea with delicious pastries, communicate a lot. Interesting conversations and sensible thoughts - I am glad from the awareness of involvement in such an event. It can be seen that people thinking in Runet business are still not mythical creatures) The atmosphere is very homely and friendly, the organizers work clearly - polite, sensible answers on organizational issues, no pathos and neglect, everything is concise and on the topic. Signs for speakers are very usable, which show the remaining time of the report. I have not seen to be used before.
They are asked to fill out and submit forms - to get a funny T-shirt. The questionnaire deserves a separate word - scores on 3 criteria for all reports. The reports are in full accordance with the schedule for the halls - filling is a pleasure. ProfyClub has a lot to learn.
The fashionable word "couloir" is almost inaudible, but everyone communicates wherever possible. The funniest stories are, according to tradition, on the porch at the breaks)
update @ 16: 50
Demonstration of the possibilities of everything. For example, the community for the production of ideas “Idea Territory” - Konstantin Bocharsky (Company Secret)
We all first uncover needs, give rise to a hypothesis of functionality. Then we put all this into the community. A community is formed around content on a specific topic, or, for example, around the idea of beauty.
If you have a blog with thousands of hosts per day and every day you force them to use as a tool for interacting around your theme some WordPress that is not tailored for interaction. A blog is like a notebook, but to communicate with users (in this case, subscribers) to discuss thoughts and ideas, you need a more convenient platform. And in the report, Konstantin on his own blog “Territory of Ideas” shows why it is worth using vsevteme.ru.
Description of the Territory of Ideas:
1. “Search engine for intangible assets” - ideas, trends, opportunities, and, most importantly, like-minded people.
2. A community where participants are united around ideas (projects, trends, phenomena) that they want to capitalize. And their mission is to turn ideas into a product.
Talked about the audience: thinkers & doers, inspiration and embodiment of ideas. An example for consideration is Blog Idea and the CA that adhered to it. The most valuable for such a target audience are “irritants” - objects of discussion.
Central Asian needs:
1. sources of respiration. The starting point for generating ideas
2. Drawing ideas from someone else's experience
3. Networking
4. Searching for resources
5. Forming a team
Dividing the target audience into types of users: start-up, trend watch, reader and determining their needs.
They talked about insights on VKontakte and how Nikolai Mityushin conducted personal interviews with group leaders for VseVteme to understand what was going on inside these groups, how they organized and interacted, what they needed.
Speaker's motto (from the parable of 3 teachers):
- how to think
- what to think about
- how to turn thinking into action. The
report is interesting, the resulting matrix of needs of user types is even more interesting - you can probably find it already. Who will find - we will put it in) A lot of food for analyzing one’s own position, analyzing the needs of user groups of any content project.
Conclusion: small mercantile benefits - the engine of user activity within your social community. If an element of the service’s functionality does not serve to directly obtain at least a small benefit and enjoyment, the element is superfluous. Here is a decomposition of functionality and, accordingly, interfaces.
The report did not end long, the next speaker even had to go to the next room. Konstantin shared the results of a conversation with Sergey Brin, talked about the development history and analysis of Central Asia on LinkedIn.
I am quietly delighted)
update @ 17: 25
My poppy sits down, there are no outlets nearby, so I will be brief.
The development of social networks. How to deal with an oversupply - Rustem Bogdanov (WebId)
How Russian social networks work:
1. Copy
2. Wondered “how to monetize”
3. Put “media”
The main question is: can I create my own truly new social startup in Russia? So far, the statistics presented (see later in the presentation on the conference website) are disappointing.
Aggregators, security, level and quality of provided services are considered.
The report was not impressive, because so floridly, jumping and making a reservation about the little things, Rustem introduced the report into some kind of loop and it was difficult to catch sense grains.
I end here, because nothing more is expected. Thank you for reading, participating, reporting - positive impressions, the conference was a success.
The boom of social services: investor position - Yaroslav Greshilov (inVenture)
80% of applications submitted in inVenture - various variations of social networks.
The main problems of such applications (often they do not even go into consideration)
- People cannot clearly determine the purpose of the declared startup.
“We will have a super project, because everyone will come to us. Everyone will come to us, because we have a super-project ”- the eternal question about chicken and egg.
- Do it all at once, a kind of combine that only your friends will hang out on.
The criterion for evaluating the success of an application is the answer to the question "where will the first users come from?"
The main asset of the social service is not fashion chips, but the audience. Create the basic functionality and begin to develop the audience, building functionality. Internet allows it.
Do not think how to monetize right away, make the service as useful as possible to a large number of users. Services that start earning right away grow much slower than cash-free relationships in the first stage.
First, we grow to a certain point, then we begin to monetize, while continuing to grow almost exponentially.
Investments will go when there will be an increase in service. How you grow it, how much and at what speed, so much faster it will acquire a monetary equivalent.
“Work for the audience, and then it will work for you.” Bring the first people with your hands, otherwise you run the risk of missing out in Central Asia. Look for fans and recruit them.
And do not forget about floating positioning throughout the growth of the service.
I liked the term “feature-cutting” the most: first come up with everything that the service will “be able to” in 2 years, and then cut off everything that is possible. Leave only what is needed to start the project. Freshly retold and for many is still a revelation.
The report is excellent. I recommend later to familiarize yourself.
Where to get the materials - I’ll write later, later by the end of the day. But the organizers promise all the presentations and the texts of the reports, as well as the video on smotri.com.
update @ 10: 50
How to build a report for sale - Maxim Spiridonov (Royber)
This report was at RIT 2008, but I didn’t listen to it then - I am glad that I had another chance.
Considered memori.ru, sold last year to RBC.
We learned to choose a niche with the help of market research, choose the best technical means, and examined the entrepreneurial side. For young geeks, creating, for example, LLC is a whole problem. Start over.
Create a service iteratively. IMHO this is a mantra for experienced people)
Make the first “appearance”, declare yourself, promise new features, upon receiving which, users will become happy and loyal. Encourage the generation of ideas by discussion - this is the cheapest way.
The final feeling - as a couple in the university served. But interesting, although much is commonplace.
update @ 11: 43
How to launch a startup with minimal investment - Anton Mazhirin (free-lance.ru)
Report in the style of an informal approach, because “in books one thing, in practice another.” Key points:
1. Where to bart idea: news, copying with minimal improvements, divine insight.
2. How much money do you need? Look for a balance between inspiration and necessary means. Big investments do not guarantee success.
3. Limit yourself: be dissatisfied, sleep poorly and eat)) Here are a bunch of illustrative examples, mainly about monks and recording ideas in the middle of the night on scraps of toilet paper. The most unusual point
4. How to start doing: articulate an intention, put on like-minded people (2-3 people - as little as possible to start a startup), finally, start to implement.
5. In discussions with partners (the word IMHO is dumb in some senses)) look for common ground. And each in the head a lot of trash and tails, which should be disposed of.
"A lot of divine light - a lot of trash"
"A lot of people - a lot of controversy"
6. Open (release) when you exhale almost completely and realize all the “points of contact”. Further draw energy from users, receive feedbacks.
How to develop further - users will say. Let them participate in the process, increase their loyalty.
The report was a success. In the end, we looked a little at how and to whom to sell, at what stage to start thinking about it. Details - in the text of the report (I hope all of them will be available on the conference website).
update @ 12: 25
Problems of Russian startups: the struggle for an idea or a further path to monetization - Vasily Butin (Etera, web2people)
Out of 500 ideas, 100 prototypes are obtained. After considering prototypes in the context of monetization, 50 ideas remain. After a conversation with investors, there remain 10 really travel business ideas.
Come up with trump cards and make sure your idea is protected from theft. Read about it in the articles on intellectual property rights.
Financing at an early stage is considered in detail - how many percent of stats whose finances are used. I remember the figure of 17% - that is how many startupers manage on their own. The question about the source of such data remained a little incomprehensible to me. It seems that the statistics are the most successful.
Insider pictures from the meetings of the "incubators" were demonstrated. The successes of 2 Ukrainian startups after the last meeting with British investors are commented on. By the way, such a startup center will soon be organized in St. Petersburg, so you still have time to prepare applications for participation.
A potential sales market, a team, and formulated goals and methods are the things to go to the investor.
Web2people.net - service overview. What is remembered: they give 100k to their hands immediately for 3 months, aiming at the result.
update @ 12: 45
Long tail in the development of social networks - Dmitry Linkov (Mann, Ivanov and Ferber Publishing House)
The main idea is that in the near future the development of the Internet will be directed to many niche social networks based on such large tools as the Google Social API, Facebook.
It’s a little incomprehensible to me how these tools can now be used in Russia - so far only in VKontakte I have posted my API, yesterday BobrDobr excelled. And the largest platforms in Russia proposed to the speakers have not yet been used.
There was a heated discussion. It was noted that, in fact, thematic communities based on forums and other traditional ways of communication, voting do not differ much from thematic social networks. For me, the difference is in the user base and standards. I will give an example:
everyone uses mail, someone is in a car club, someone is interested in cooking. You can navigate your hobby-seats without a lag of delays in the form of registration, authorization, which once you enter your data. Therefore, openId and all other cross-domain identification services turn classic thematic communities into thematic social networks.
Left for lunch) I will soon
update @ 14: 20
Igor Denisov's report was postponed half an hour later so now:
10 heads of Web 2.0 trends - Damir Khalilov (Green PR agency)
1. Corporate blogs
2. Multimedia search
3. Narrow topic social networks, because :
- high density of general topic social programs
- lack of a “core” of general topic social programs
- natural targeting of narrow-topic social networks
4. Show business will use social networks
5. Blog advertising will outgrow the stage of “custom posts” (now Utya-Utya when mentioning any brand)
6. Big business will come to social networks
7. Internet communities will fight spam new
8. Internet marketing will be taught
9. Counteraction to theft of visitors
10. Campaigns of “black Internet PR” will become larger
Report-lecture step by step. Things are important, served dry.
update @ 14: 30
Legends and myths of web 2.0 - Dmitry Andriyashkin (Butik2.0)
You just need to see it. I won’t describe, because I can’t laugh and write like that at the same time)
update @ 15: 50
Despite the disgusting cold rainy weather, the mood is excellent. People drink coffee and tea with delicious pastries, communicate a lot. Interesting conversations and sensible thoughts - I am glad from the awareness of involvement in such an event. It can be seen that people thinking in Runet business are still not mythical creatures) The atmosphere is very homely and friendly, the organizers work clearly - polite, sensible answers on organizational issues, no pathos and neglect, everything is concise and on the topic. Signs for speakers are very usable, which show the remaining time of the report. I have not seen to be used before.
They are asked to fill out and submit forms - to get a funny T-shirt. The questionnaire deserves a separate word - scores on 3 criteria for all reports. The reports are in full accordance with the schedule for the halls - filling is a pleasure. ProfyClub has a lot to learn.
The fashionable word "couloir" is almost inaudible, but everyone communicates wherever possible. The funniest stories are, according to tradition, on the porch at the breaks)
update @ 16: 50
Demonstration of the possibilities of everything. For example, the community for the production of ideas “Idea Territory” - Konstantin Bocharsky (Company Secret)
We all first uncover needs, give rise to a hypothesis of functionality. Then we put all this into the community. A community is formed around content on a specific topic, or, for example, around the idea of beauty.
If you have a blog with thousands of hosts per day and every day you force them to use as a tool for interacting around your theme some WordPress that is not tailored for interaction. A blog is like a notebook, but to communicate with users (in this case, subscribers) to discuss thoughts and ideas, you need a more convenient platform. And in the report, Konstantin on his own blog “Territory of Ideas” shows why it is worth using vsevteme.ru.
Description of the Territory of Ideas:
1. “Search engine for intangible assets” - ideas, trends, opportunities, and, most importantly, like-minded people.
2. A community where participants are united around ideas (projects, trends, phenomena) that they want to capitalize. And their mission is to turn ideas into a product.
Talked about the audience: thinkers & doers, inspiration and embodiment of ideas. An example for consideration is Blog Idea and the CA that adhered to it. The most valuable for such a target audience are “irritants” - objects of discussion.
Central Asian needs:
1. sources of respiration. The starting point for generating ideas
2. Drawing ideas from someone else's experience
3. Networking
4. Searching for resources
5. Forming a team
Dividing the target audience into types of users: start-up, trend watch, reader and determining their needs.
They talked about insights on VKontakte and how Nikolai Mityushin conducted personal interviews with group leaders for VseVteme to understand what was going on inside these groups, how they organized and interacted, what they needed.
Speaker's motto (from the parable of 3 teachers):
- how to think
- what to think about
- how to turn thinking into action. The
report is interesting, the resulting matrix of needs of user types is even more interesting - you can probably find it already. Who will find - we will put it in) A lot of food for analyzing one’s own position, analyzing the needs of user groups of any content project.
Conclusion: small mercantile benefits - the engine of user activity within your social community. If an element of the service’s functionality does not serve to directly obtain at least a small benefit and enjoyment, the element is superfluous. Here is a decomposition of functionality and, accordingly, interfaces.
The report did not end long, the next speaker even had to go to the next room. Konstantin shared the results of a conversation with Sergey Brin, talked about the development history and analysis of Central Asia on LinkedIn.
I am quietly delighted)
update @ 17: 25
My poppy sits down, there are no outlets nearby, so I will be brief.
The development of social networks. How to deal with an oversupply - Rustem Bogdanov (WebId)
How Russian social networks work:
1. Copy
2. Wondered “how to monetize”
3. Put “media”
The main question is: can I create my own truly new social startup in Russia? So far, the statistics presented (see later in the presentation on the conference website) are disappointing.
Aggregators, security, level and quality of provided services are considered.
The report was not impressive, because so floridly, jumping and making a reservation about the little things, Rustem introduced the report into some kind of loop and it was difficult to catch sense grains.
I end here, because nothing more is expected. Thank you for reading, participating, reporting - positive impressions, the conference was a success.