SNS website user Churn rate how can so high?

User-typical SNS experience

Mr. A is an ordinary white-collar, working during the day to use the Internet to find information to contact customers, after work home occasionally and will hang on the internet. The internet is the medium of his daily contact, but it is not particularly important in his life, at least he is not a daily online person. In recent months, however, he has received a lot of emails, most of which read "Someone Plus you as a friend." Follow the link to see, is their MSN above friends. Since it is a friend's invitation, always do not have the nerve to refuse, think about also register to join. So, Mr. A has joined Facebook,myspace, Friendster,linkedin, and a bunch of Chinese local websites. And the registration of these sites is always very painful, each site has asked him to fill in the past experience, upload photos, but also to contribute MSN Friends List.

At first he was worried that these friends would often visit his personal space, and if he did not know, did not return, it is very impolite. This kind of pressure from interpersonal relationship is quite big, make him have a period of time after work every day on the internet to answer the news of these friends, a consumption is two hours. (The good thing is, he doesn't really know that these friends are in a similar pressure.)

At first it was an acquaintance, and then a bunch of strangers added him as a friend. Every day with these people on the internet "relationship", at the beginning also quite feel some meaning. See friends and updated photos, and write a new blog, leaving messages to greet each other, it seems quite pleasant.

However, about three months later, Mr. Jia began to feel bored. With a bunch of people on the Internet social to social, it is very boring. With more and more friends, we have to spend more time on it. More painfully, every site he has to take care of, two hours a day is not enough. Finally, he decided to quit. He was once addicted to Internet services, and finally abandoned him after the stress reached a tipping point. What does it mean to spend a lot of time on these relationships? Life should not be so, he wants to take back the master control.

The typical experience of SNS operators

All SNS website operators are puzzled, user churn rate how can be so amazing, and can not find a way to cure the problem, it seems that this is the nature of SNS website. The cause driven by the pressure of the interpersonal network is also relieved by pressure. SNS site in the past like a big sieve, a scoop of the son fishing, seemingly fished to a large number of users, but after three months, always only less than half of the effective users, the rest of the user does not come at all. The number of users seems very large, in fact, very empty. And a SNS website is able to grow rapidly, the main reason is the growth that pulls through the interpersonal relationship chain, its speed is much faster than the loss of the user. When you increase and lose less, it seems that the whole is increased. But what happens when the user's growth slows down?

MySpace, Facebook is at its zenith. If the world is market-wide, these sites do not touch the ceiling. So expanding to other countries seems like a solution to sustaining growth. However, the essence of the problem has not been resolved. SNS website also has a very peculiar astonishing phenomenon. Is that once you become an active user of the site, the user will be very active and maintain a very long survival cycle. It's almost as if it's home, reporting every day, and staying on.

From registered users to effective users to active users, there is a large number of people off the road. Is this phenomenon not normal? It is the normal phenomenon of the network community. The author said years ago, the network community is "the same nature of a group of people, together to warm each other." This group of people's name, called Heavy User. In short, active bloggers belong to this group of people. The nature of SNS is highly interactive, and interaction is inherently tiring. Be willing to interact with others in a large number of daily blog is not ordinary people. Their desire for performance, achievement motivation, are higher than the average person, and ultimately in a community site to find the stage and sense of belonging. The problem is when the group is having a good time, what is the average netizen doing?

SNS can be tired of playing

Those who abandon a SNS website to go, is not run to play other competing website's similar service? There are a small number of people who are (well, just heavy User), but most of them are not, and they are not playing this type of service anymore. People who are tired of Facebook and turn to MySpace are a minority, most of whom are leaving SNS this type of service. Blogging is the same, from a major blog platform to another blog platform to continue writing is a minority, most people are stopped pen.

Leaving a website and leaving a service is completely two concepts. For example, "Look tired of Sina news and turn to Sohu News", and "never see the network news", we know very well where the difference. What a mess! The original SNS service is a kind of can be tired of the service! How bad! When all netizens have become my SNS website users, then how to do? If the market development analogy to chess, then the past few years red through the Sky SNS Concept website, has entered the endgame stage. Site operators seemingly scenery, the bottom of my heart but drums. Get rid of these essential destinies and become the work that must not be done. Surprisingly, the solution lies in Web 1.0.

SNS website number of users, completely see it occupy that social class (or cultural Class) and decided.

Social class determines the number of Web site users

SNS development has attracted a large number of entrepreneurs to join, but the situation is no longer good, many sites into the closed edge, in the development and seek profit in the struggle. Refinancing is unlikely because the region's VC industry is not as bullish as it used to be. The market situation is set at the end. In mainland China, users reach level tens of millions of, can be expected by the third round of financing development, but in the face of large 1.0 of sites also enter the market challenges; The number of users only millions of level, the number of users will not quickly increase, you must find ways to profit.

In Taiwan, because of Yahoo Taiwan, the market is a single big portal site, coupled with the original narrow market, small SNS website weak, far from the profit road. But at the same time there are some old community sites that survive well and make a good profit. Why is this a market situation? I have said before, the development of SNS is based on sociology, so a SNS site number of users, completely see it occupied that social class (or cultural Class), and that stratum directly determines the number of users of the upper limit.

Because SNS website almost relies on people to pull people to develop. Every user will pull people are familiar with his life circle, regardless of strangers or acquaintances. When people of the same class accumulate more on this site, the more difficult it is for people from other classes to join. Wait until the site has the first batch of users, in order to firmly grasp them, and use them to bring more users to come in, must be more to try to figure out their minds or even social habits. The result deepens this kind of development, more toward a certain cultural atmosphere or social stratum, can never turn back.

The social stratum of the management team determines the amount of users

To observe a SNS website development, see it the first batch of users who will know. Google's SNS website Orkut initially inadvertently inserted in Brazil popular, other countries, users have been difficult to join. Almost nobody around us uses orkut, even though we use Google. South Korea's largest community website Cyworld previously into the United States, of course, want to attract European Americans to use, but did not expect to attract a bunch of Asian little boys and girls. Why? Because the website function design even the cultural atmosphere has always been relatively close to the Asian household custom. and the dating site Friendster has been hard to integrate into the community since it has amassed a large number of Filipino users. This is the cultural boundary. Even though transnational SNS websites can attract users all over the world, careful observation of these people will find them to be close to each other.

At home, 51.com users began to develop from the second-tier city internet cafes, it is difficult to expand the user group to the first-tier city white-collar workers. Otherwise SNS website also cannot enter second-tier city market. The cultural atmosphere and the social strata of the physical world are so influenced. Occupy "Upper society" (refers to white-collar) SNS website, the user number development doomed to be limited. Especially in mainland China, white-collar workers are a small proportion of the total population, most of which live on the coast. The number of SNS website users who target this group is very difficult to tens of millions.

As for Taiwan's shared bookmarks website Black rice and push Wang, the use of ethnic cultural atmosphere will be markedly different. The former should be more elite, the latter should be more general public. However, both do not take off white-collar social strata, so as the old grassroots Community high flow or make money.

A little further look, to observe a SNS Web site development, to see its entrepreneurial team is what kind of social stratum will know. Because this group of people will put their own thinking into the operation of the community, and these ideas are absolutely in their own social stratum constraints.

Cultural things do not do much

Some SNS website or community website is not occupy a certain social stratum, but occupy a kind of cultural group or interest group, for example, take the animation as the theme, take the movement as the theme, literature as the theme, book as the theme, or the food as the theme of the community. These communities must be constrained by the size of the social group. For example, how many people like anime in mainland China? How many people like to eat in Taiwan? A market such as mainland China could make it possible for web operators to feed themselves, which could be difficult in Taiwan.

SNS website or community website Why do not big? In addition to the constraints of social strata, but also because "cultural things are not done." As long as a community site you can clearly say it is a kind of cultural atmosphere, he is not doing much. "No culture" can be bigger? To find out that "no culture" here is not a vulgar culture, but a "can't speak what culture". As long as you can tell what kind of culture the site belongs to, someone must hate it. The result of not being able to please everyone is not doing much.

But it's too pushy! How can a community attract like-minded people close to and stay because of its cultural atmosphere? But that's why people who don't like the atmosphere don't come. Many old community sites have gone on for years, and there is no big development. Surprisingly, the solution lies in Web 1.0.

SNS is direct marketing

In the traditional business world, it may be easy for an entrepreneur to innovate or produce a good product, but it is much more difficult to find a channel to reach the end user. It may be easy to find a channel, but it can be costly. A capitalist with a channel is not an object to be easily toppled. The internet sprang up 10 years ago, breaking the phenomenon for the first time. To the entrepreneur, the commodity is the website, provides the service to reach the end user directly, no longer passes through other channels. In the past, the capital-intensive newspapers have had the advantage of a channel that has been disrupted, achieving 1.0 of the online world. This new channel, in addition to the impact of traditional media also impact traditional business, of course, more impact on traditional communication methods. In conclusion, the past 1.0 of people who have had so many small businesses can be seen as entrepreneurs finding low-cost marketing channels to avoid the blockade of traditional capitalists.

However, entrepreneurs like Yahoo!, 10 years later, have become new capitalists who have mastered the channels that make it difficult for emerging internet entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs must spend money on traditional channels (that is, 1.0 sites) to buy costly ads, otherwise their site is not a visitor. In the traditional business world, many years ago, someone invented a new channel, through the network can avoid the difficulties of traditional channels to achieve sales purposes, known as direct marketing. And when there are so many giants on the internet, how to avoid and low-cost promotion? The answer is networking. SNS entrepreneurs ingenious use of interpersonal network to achieve "with people" low-cost marketing. If this is not the case, the number of users and traffic on these new sites will not rise. We should be highly positive about the means of promotion through interpersonal networks.

Return to the basics to be big

Many people buy direct-selling goods, but find it very insecure to buy things from the pipeline. Participation in the direct sales system of people with high turnover, itself is not a stable sales system, SNS rely on the relationship chain to absorb new users. Moreover, the promotion way again formidable also cannot solve the product the essential question.

The first article in this series mentions that SNS website's user churn rate is extremely high, this is the first question; After the user drains not to the competitor, but no longer plays the same type of website, this is the second question. To the operator, this extends two thinking: first, the other people lost users will not be your users, the conclusion is that users must be robbed for the first time. Think about which users have not been touched, where the product goes.

Second, users will eventually lose, so the most important thing is to rob active users. Only active users may migrate around the same type of SNS sites and try new sites. Firmly seize this group of users, the site to operate at least first in an invincible position.

Master a certain level of active users, the site may start talking about profit, but also small and beautiful live in the past, the past successful community sites are so. But what about those who embrace big attempts to expand the user base to less active users? Get rid of too strong a sense of community! Get rid of the culture that is too strong! The closer to the basic needs of people, the less the above breath. There are three of these things, storage (Storage), tools, and content. In short, it is the product of the 1.0 era.

Next: storage, tools, and content

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerbery says Facebook is not a social network, but a social tool. Due to its open API relationship, the interpretation of this sentence is to discuss the possibility of turning "facebook into an operating system or platform. This sentence is classic, is the essence of his point out a truth: only to do "platform" to large. The author's interpretation is that only tools can be enough to maintain a person's use habits, and most importantly, the platform and tools themselves are not culture-related things, everyone can use.

You use Gmail to write your credit MSN messages, and these tools don't have much to do with culture (at least not as strongly as community sites). Used to be accustomed to stir up the community atmosphere to consolidate active users of the operators, now to start to think about which tools are relatively cold, everyone can use.

As a result, the social-related tools, real-time communications software IM, seemingly in the past 10 years has been the shape of the market, the table is tumbling a share of tide. With hundreds of millions of users of SNS social network Service operators, the introduction of new IM tools may disturb a pool of spring.

Besides, everyone has a time when they don't want to socialize. SNS website can as long as simple let me store their own photos, files, collection of the URL on the good, my personal home is the best no one know, do not always take other people's recent activities to annoy me?

Storage (Storage) is the lowest level of demand. Compared to active users who are social around all the way, more people just need such services. When users are tired of socializing, what else will make him come back? Maybe it's just a picture. Active users come because the relationship is here; other users come because of the possessions here.

SNS evolution is about to complete

The third thing is content, this part is relatively easy to understand, also many SNS website is doing. For people who are not so enthusiastic about social, get some content for him to see. Of course, using features such as tags for content aggregation is a common method.

Speaking here, will find SNS go to the end, or did not leave the author said years ago, the Internet four pillars: content, Community (Community), communications (communication), Business (Commerce).

Just 1.0 times we started from the content start to run the site, and gradually let the site has community, communication and business functions. SNS era, we start from the community, gradually to the content and communication tools to go, and finally inevitably into business. We finally see the significance of the era of SNS, he is a global site of the great evolution. The result is not a new substitution of the old, but a new gradually mixed into the old, and the old gradually into the new. Because no matter is a few point zero, is the person uses. And people, use habits have not changed.