New business models

in online communities

Benjamin JoffeManaging Director | Plus Eight Star Ltd

Innovation in Asia?

General assumption #1

Everything from USA is great

General assumption #2

Everything from Asia is weird(and sometimes funny)

Japanese like texting on mobile

Anonymous manager at a telecom company in 2000

Because they have small fingers

Asians like avatars

Anonymous manager at an Internet company in 2005

Because they read mangas and watch animes

Chinese like ring-back tones

Anonymous manager at a foreign media company in 2006

Because they go to karaoke a lot

Giving the

wrong explanationto the

right question

Not-invented-here

spiralof oblivion

Make fun

Stereo

type

Re-invent

Adopt

Self-

evident

Oblivion

Why look at Asia?

1Because some Asian markets

are strategically important

#2 economy

#1 population

#1 digital society

Broadband connections in Japan and Korea are up to

10 times faster than the OECD average.

OECD Report, July 2007

Japan also had the lowest relative monthly

broadband charges/Mbps

Consequence #1

Internet penetration and

speed

Consequence #2

Internet literacy

2Because some great ideas

have already been

proven there

2002

2005

2005

1999 2003+

How about those concepts?

Meta-blogging

Content scrapping

Trust-based information sharing

Personal Resource Planning (PRP)

Quiz

Alexa School of Investment

Global China Japan South Korea

1 Yahoo!

2 Google

3 YouTube

4 MSN

5 Windows Live

6 MySpace

7 Facebook

8 Wikipedia

9 Hi5

10 Orkut

Global China Japan South Korea

1 Yahoo! Yahoo Japan

2 Google Yahoo

3 YouTube Google Japan

4 MSN Google YouTube

5 Windows Live

6 MySpace Google

7 Facebook YouTube

8 Wikipedia

9 Hi5 Yahoo Wikipedia

10 Orkut

Global China Japan South Korea

1 Yahoo! Baidu Yahoo Japan Naver

2 Google QQ FC2 Yahoo

3 YouTube Sina Google Japan Daum

4 MSN Google YouTube Cyworld

5 Windows Live Netease Mixi Nate

6 MySpace Taobao Rakuten Google

7 Facebook Sohu Nicovideo YouTube

8 Wikipedia Tom Livedoor Empas

9 Hi5 Yahoo Wikipedia Gmarket

10 Orkut 56.com Goo Auction

Global China Japan South Korea

1 Yahoo! Baidu Yahoo Japan Naver

2 Google QQ FC2 Yahoo

3 YouTube Sina Google Japan Daum

4 MSN Google YouTube Cyworld

5 Windows Live Netease Mixi Nate

6 MySpace Taobao Rakuten Google

7 Facebook Sohu Nicovideo YouTube

8 Wikipedia Tom Livedoor Empas

9 Hi5 Yahoo Wikipedia Gmarket

10 Orkut 56.com Goo Auction

SNS are a new media

Genetics of SNS

Parameters

These figures reflect

user’s various statistics

[Neighbors]

View this

person’s

neighbors

Emotional

status

- Content copies

(scrapping)

- Registered

number as a

favorite

Updated contents

Visitors

Today / Total

Personal URL

/ Add to my favorite

My photo

Comment

Name &

Gender[Main menu]

Configured by

user

[Mini-room]

Cyber residence of user

Music Player

Bought by user

Comment by

neighbors

Skin

Purchase new skins for a

coordinated background,

icons, etc.

QQ buddy list

Online status

Online disk

Wireless service

Mini portal

Music

Game

Interaction

Panel admin

Making friends

E-magazine

C2C e-commerce

Stock info

SMS

Tencent browser

Chat roomsQQ Pet

IPTVHistory

Search

Main menu

Address list

Group list

Last contacts

Q Bi: cyber $

Secretary E-mail

Voice/Video

File transfer

SMS/MMS

Game/Music

Multi-person chat

Input area

Cathy’s QQ Show

Chatting with Cathy

Friend name:

Cathy

Weather

My QQ Show

Cathy’s QQ Zone

Take a group photo with

Cathy’s QQ Show

Ad

Active emotion

Emotion

Font

Send pic Screen shootBackground

Metrics

Pageviews

Number of users

Revenues

Social

Network

DNA

Starting date

2004 1999 2004 1997

Active accounts

60 mln 20 mln 14 mln 300 mln

Reach (Internet users)

200 mln? 35 mln 90 mln 200 mln!

Revenues 2007 (USD)

150 mln {200 mln}100 mln 520 mln

Operating Profit 2007 (USD)

(50 mln) {100 mln} 35 mln 224 mln

Valuation (USD)

MSSE

15 bln? n.a.TSE

1.8 bln

HKSE

11 bln

?

Main business models

Ads Ads

Digital goods Digital goods

Games

Mobile VAS

Jobs

(Ads) (Ads)

Mobile VAS

(Digital goods)

Ads or Digital goods?

1. Who is the client?

2. Not incompatible

3. There is more!

Other business models

Targeted Ads

Storage

Monthly fee

Personalization

Alerts…

Key features

Invitation system

Closed/Open/Semi-closed

Sticky features

Payment solutions

Mobile

Online/Offline connection

Social design

Focus

Values

Atmosphere

Demographics

Psychological design

Identity / Identities

Trust

The missing blocks

1Payment infrastructure

2Trust system

3New value chains

To remember

1Are you the target?

2Resist the temptation

to stereotype

3Look for concepts

Adapt the rest

Thanks!

benjamin@plus8star.com

Inside Cyworld

Inside QQ

Published research

Free sample | www.plus8star.com