Socialfeed Roadmap Suggestion
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Transcript of Socialfeed Roadmap Suggestion
Private & Confidential Copyright © 2008 REALCOM Inc. 1
SocialFeed Product Roadmap Recommendations
Amanda BoazStanford GSB GMIX ProjectSeptember 2008
Private & Confidential Copyright © 2008 REALCOM Inc.
Outline
SocialFeed Overview
SocialFeed Goals and Metrics
• Typical Internet Metrics
• SocialFeed Long-Term Goals
• Goal Tracking
SocialFeed Product Roadmap Recommendations
• Recommendations Approach
• APIs, Tools and Applications Recommendations
• New Population & Aggregation and End-User Feature Recommendations
• Recommendations Summary
Life Outside of SocialFeed
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SocialFeed Goals and Metrics
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SocialFeed is a personalized news application that allows users to easily read news content by subscribing to their favorite news services and by viewing what similar users are reading.
The application is currently focused on providing a simplified, consolidated news services for heavy workers and has a long-term vision of being integrated with Knowledge Market.
SocialFeed Overview
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SocialFeed Goals and Metrics
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Typical Internet Metrics
Currently, there are no global standards for web analytics to benchmark SocialFeed’s activity; however the typical internet metrics tend to congregate in 4 different buckets.
As the nature of this project focuses on driving adoption and enhancing the product features, this project will concentrate on the Access and Usage Metrics.
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Financial Margins
Access Metrics Usage Metrics
Technical Performance
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To measure the success of the product development efforts, SocialFeed should be evaluated against 6-month targets, which only be completed after the current state is determined.
Long-term Goals for SocialFeed
Metric Current Target (6 months) AssumptionsAccess MetricsSearch Engine Rankings
SocialFeed
Social Feed
Personalized News
Social Media
Social RSS
Referral Percentages
Direct Access
Search Engine Rankings
RSS Reader
News Sites
Social Networks
Share with Friends
Conversion Rate (Register)
Unique Registered Users
Daily Unique Visitors
Logins per Day
Article Views per Day
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Goal Tracking with Google Analytics
Google Analytics can be used to determine SocialFeed’s current state, establish long-term goals and to track SocialFeed’s progress against these goals.
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Benchmarking with Google Analytics
Google Analytics can also be used to benchmark SocialFeed against the small companies within the News Networks and Social Networks categories.
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SocialFeed Product Roadmap Recommendations Approach
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Personalized News Competitive Landscape
As of March 2007, TechCrunch listed numerous players in the News Site industry.
And the space continues to grow with additional players, such as:
While a limited number of players have exited the market:
11http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/16/whos-taking-on-digg/
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SocialFeed Recommendation Approach
Seven key SocialFeed competitors were analyzed in determining the marketing and product roadmap recommendations for SocialFeed.
Each competitor was analyzed using the following framework:
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The competitive analysis revealed 3 main categories of personalized news functionality: APIs, Tools & Applications, News Population & Aggregation and End-User Features.
Personalized News Functionality
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News Population & Aggregation End-User Features
Article Capabilities:• Voting • Searching• Tagging• Notes• Report Abuse• Categories• Commenting• Sharing• Saving / Starring
User Profiles:• Picture• Bio• Recommended URLs• Inbox
Friends / Network:• Friend Invitation
– Manually (Separate from Share)– Other Email Accounts
• Friend List
Accessibility:• Mobile Integration• Offline Reading
News Population:• Seeded News Feeds• User-Generated Content:
– URL Submissions– RSS Reader Submissions
Personalized Algorithms:• Individual User Votes• Community Votes• Sharing History• Web Activity• Category Preferences• Similar Profiles• Subscriptions
Sorting:• Most Popular• Most Recent• Recommended• Categories• Saved• Source
Viewing Security:• Public Site• Private Site
APIs, Tools & Applications
Website and Blog Publisher Tools:• Buttons• Badges• Widgets
End-User Tools:• Email Alerts• Gadgets• Social Network Applications
– Facebook– MySpace
• RSS Feeds• Bookmarklet
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API, Tools and Application Recommendations
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Key personalized news companies are offering APIs, tools and applications to drive adoption and participation.
APIs, Tools and Applications Definitions
Name Definition Intended for: Offered by:
ButtonAllows news readers to submit a website or blog’s content to the personalized news site. If the content already exists, user is sent to comment
Website and blog publishers
• Digg• Reddit• Yahoo! Buzz
• Mixx• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
BadgeCreates the personalized news icon on a weblog or website to redirect users to the personalized news homepage
Website and blog publishers
• Digg • Mixx
WidgetDisplays the personalized news website’s stories on the user’s weblog or website
Website and blog publishers
• Digg• Reddit• Google Reader
• Yahoo! Buzz• Newsvine
GadgetAllows users to view the top personalized news content on their personalized iGoogle homepage (Google’s widget)
End-users • Digg • Google Reader
Email Alert Allows users to receive email alerts from the personalized news site
End-users • Mixx • Newsvine
RSS FeedAllows users to subscribe to the personalized news content using RSS
End-users • SocialFeed• Digg• Yahoo! buzz
• Mixx• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
Bookmarklet / Toolbar
Vote, submit, and discover the personalized news content all from a toolbar and extension
End-users • SocialFeed• Digg• Reddit• Google Reader
• Mixx• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
Social Network Application
Allows users to display their personalized news in the social networking community
End-users • Digg• Reddit• Google Reader
• Mixx• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
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APIs, Tools and Application Recommendations
After analyzing competitors’ functionality, news websites and benchmarking data, email alerts and buttons provide the greatest benefit for driving SocialFeed adoption.
In addition, these two APIs / tools align with the long-term strategy to integrate SocialFeed with the Knowledge Market application.
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Top Recommendation: Email Alerts
In addition to Mixx and Newsvine, 7 out of the 8 analyzed news sites (exception: Newsweek, which is a paid subscription) offer email alerts.
The email alert feature also aligns with the SocialFeed’s target users, as heavy workers may not take the time each day to log into the SocialFeed application.
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Top Recommendation: SocialFeed Button
Based on the competitor research, all personalized news sources (except Google Reader) are offering buttons; in fact, many other online community are offering buttons.
The SocialFeed buttons must be proactively rolled out to generate user curiosity and easy adoption. Here are a few suggestions on how to roll-out buttons: Approach Japanese and U.S. websites and blogs directly to include the SocialFeed button; express the click-
through benefits that websites and blogs will receive from SocialFeed Inform current SocialFeed customers about the new features
– Send an email alert to current customers– Include verbiage on the SocialFeed website
Leverage the KM customer-base to add the SocialFeed button Add SocialFeed Button to any Realcom and AskMe blogs Add SocialFeed Button to the SocialFeed team’s personal websites and blogs (i.e., Katsushi’s IT Media blog) Ask Realcom and AskMe employees to add the buttons to their blogs Ask Realcom and AskMe employees to invite their friends to add a button to their websites and blogs
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The two personalized news applications, Digg and Google Reader, that developed Google Gadgets currently have 6,600 and 7,500 Gadget users respectively.
These are higher installs than those of the most prominent social network, Facebook, and iGoogle is more aligned with SocialFeed user demographics.
Secondary Recommendation: Google Gadget
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Personalized news applications and widgets have also been created to interface with social networking communities.
However, Facebook, the most widely used social network by personalized news companies, only sees advertising click-through rates of 0.04%1 and application click-through rates of 0.2- 3.0%2.
Secondary Recommendation: Social Network Applications
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Social Network Community
Personalized News Applications
# of Installs1 # of Active Monthly Users2
# of Active Daily Users1
• Digg• Reddit• Google Reader• Mixx • Newsvine Election’08• StumbleUpon
• 6,216• 184• 500• 150• 120,500• 114,100
• 2,550• 156• 134• 95• 22,756• 33,508
• 89• 11• 5• 1• 685• 1,141
• Digg • Not available • Not available • Not available
1) http://adonomics.com/; 2) www.facebookk.com; 3) http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=2474) http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/30/socialmedia-opens-self-serve-facebook-advertising-for-all/
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Secondary Recommendation: Social Network Applications (cont.)
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=
In addition, the user demographics for Social Networks (University students and recent graduates) does not match the user demographics of SocialFeed (heavy workers).
And the current SocialFeed user demographics do not align with the interactive applications that are the most successful in social networking communities.
Thus, an interactive SocialFeed application may be considered in the future when either the SocialFeed demographic changes or Realcom decides to target a different demographic.
Videos GamesPhotos
Social Networks SocialFeed
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News Population & Aggregation and End-User Feature Recommendations
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Key personalized news companies are offering different news population and aggregation features to meet the needs of their users.
News Population & Aggregation Definitions
Category Feature Definition Offered by:
Personalization Algorithm
Individual User Votes
Personalized news accounts for which content the users voted that he/she liked and disliked
• Digg• Reddit
• Mixx• StumbleUpon
Community VotesPersonalized news accounts for which content the entire community like and disliked
• Digg• Reddit• Yahoo! Buzz
• Mixx• Newsvine
Sharing HistoryPersonalized news assumes that individual users like the articles they share and includes this in the personalized news algorithm
• Yahoo! Buzz
Web ActivityPersonalized news takes into account individual users web searches and web activity in the algorithm
• Google Reader• Yahoo! Buzz
Viewing Security Public Site
Users are not required to sign into the personalized news site to see the posted content; users are only required to log in to take action (post, comment, vote, etc.) in the community
• Digg• Reddit• Yahoo! Buzz
• Mixx• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
23Note: Current SocialFeed features are not included
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These personalized news companies are also offering advanced article capabilities and user profiles to drive customer satisfaction.
End-User Feature Definitions
Category Feature Definition Offered by:
Article Capabilities
Voting Users vote up the articles they like best and down the articles they dislike; alternatively users can subscribe to sites they like or hide sites the dislike
• Digg• Reddit• Yahoo! Buzz
• Mixx• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
TaggingAssociates words with the articles; users can add these tags and then search and sort based on them
• Google Reader• Mixx
• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
Notes Allows users to take notes on a particular article within the application
• Google Reader
Report Abuse Allows users to report inappropriate articles and users to the site administrator
• Reddit• Yahoo! Buzz
• Mixx• Newsvine
User Profiles
PictureUsers upload a picture or avatar to their profile • Digg
• Google Reader• Yahoo! Buzz
• Mixx• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
BioUsers can write a short description about themselves and their news interests
• Digg• Yahoo! Buzz• Mixx
• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
Recommended URLs
Users can recommend their personal websites / blogs or their favorite websites
• Digg• Mixx
• Newsvine
Inbox A personalized email inbox for users to send and receive email from within the application
• Digg• Reddit
• Mixx• StumbleUpon
24Note: Current SocialFeed features are not included
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End-User Features Definitions (cont.)
Category Feature Definition Offered by:
Friends / Networks
Invite Friends Manually
Allows users to send a message inviting their friends (separate from share) to join the personalized news site; users are required to type in the friend’s email address
• Digg• Google Reader• Mixx
• StumbleUpon• Newsvine
Import Email Contacts
Allows users to invite their friends to the personalized news site by importing their exist email contact list and automatically sending invite emails
• Digg• Google Reader
• Mixx• StumbleUpon
AccessibilityMobile Integration Allows users to easily read their personalized
news on their mobile phones• Digg• Reddit
• Google Reader• Newsvine
Offline Reading Allows users to read their personalized news when they are not connected to the Internet
• Google Reader
25Note: Current SocialFeed features are not included
In addition, these personalized news companies are offering advanced friend / network features and accessibility alternatives to further drive adoption.
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Top Recommendation: Invite Friends
The majority of SocialFeed competitors are allowing registered users to easily invite their friends to the personalized news application.
Allowing SocialFeed users to invite friends manually or through importing email contacts will help drive adoption of the SocialFeed application.
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Top Recommendation: User Profiles
User profiles will instill a sense of ownership in users over their personalized news and will encourage them to remain in the application longer.
SocialFeed should reference KM’s user profiles when developing its user profiles to make it easier for Realcom to integrate SocialFeed with Knowledge Market.
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Top Recommendation: User Votes
Currently, all competitors except Google Reader are allowing users to express what content they like and dislike and incorporating these actions into the personalized news algorithms.
While the current algorithm does an effective job of populating relevant news, users do not transparency or control over how their personalized news is being formulated. A “remove this content” button or sub-categories are alternative methods to provide more control.
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Product Roadmap Recommendations Summary
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Before implementing the product roadmap recommendations, usability tests, focus groups and customer interviews should be conducted.
These three activities will make the SocialFeed application more user friendly and will validate the product roadmap recommendations.
Initial SocialFeed Recommendation
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Usability Testing Focus Groups
Customer Interviews
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Initial Recommendation: Usability Testing
Usability tests should be conducted in both Japanese and English for all versions of the Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari browsers.
For example, the Internet Explore tests will reveal that the Add RSS “Create” button does not perform any action and the Settings “Save” button links to a page that cannot be found.
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Initial Recommendation: Usability Testing (cont.)
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In addition, the usability test will reveal that the page layout and footers in Internet Explore do not match the ideal page layout for SocialFeed.
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Initial Recommendation: Focus Group
A focus group will allow Realcom to collect feedback from a diverse set of target users on the current SocialFeed application and potential feature enhancements. At the focus group, the individuals will be allowed to talk to each other and brainstorm responses to the questions.
At least one focus group should be conducted with a diverse set of target users before the product roadmap recommendations are developed.
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Sample Questions Include:• Do you understand the concept behind SocialFeed?• Does the login page invite users to register? Should a demo be included?• Would you be more likely to register with a public ID?• Would you like to more detail on how recommendations are calculated?• Would you like more control over how recommendations are calculated?• Is the current layout the best way to manager your subscriptions?• Are there additional questions that should be added to the FAQ?• Does the bookmarklet require additional install instructions?• What additional features would make SocialFeed easier to use?
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Initial Recommendation: Customer Interviews
Customer interviews will allow Realcom to collect feedback from a diverse set of current users on the current SocialFeed application and potential feature enhancements.
Several customer interviews should be conducted with a diverse current users before the product roadmap recommendations are developed.
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Sample Questions Include:• What would cause you to log into SocialFeed more
often?• What would cause you to read more content on
SocialFeed?• What additional features would make SocialFeed easier
to use?• What additional APIs & tools would make SocialFeed
easier to use?• Would you make any chances to how you are being
recommended content?• What would help you recommend SocialFeed to your
friends?
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Preliminary Product Roadmap Recommendations: Benefit Summary
To summarize, competitor analyses and benchmarking research revealed key enhancements (bold) that should be made to the SocialFeed applications provided they are validated by the focus groups and current customers.
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News Population & Aggregation End-User Features
Article Capabilities:• Voting • Tagging• Notes• Report Abuse• Searching• Categories• Commenting• Sharing• Saving / Starring
User Profiles:• Picture• Bio• Recommended URLs• Inbox
Friends / Network:• Friend Invitation
– Manually (Separate from Share)– Other Email Accounts
• Friend List
Accessibility:• Mobile Integration• Offline Reading
News Population:• Seeded News Feeds• User-Generated Content:
– URL Submissions– RSS Reader Submissions
Personalized Algorithms:• Individual User Votes• Community Votes• Sharing History• Web Activity• Category Preferences• Similar Profiles• Subscriptions
Sorting:• Most Popular• Most Recent• Recommended• Categories• Saved• Source
Viewing Security:• Public Site• Private Site
Gray = Current SocialFeed Features; Bold = Top Priority Product Recommendations
APIs, Tools & Applications
Website and Blog Publisher Tools:• Buttons• Badges• Widgets
End-User Tools:• Email Alerts• Gadgets• Social Network Applications
– Facebook– MySpace
• RSS Feeds• Bookmarklet
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The following business case indicates that email alerts, voting, manual friend invitations and user biographies would generate the highest return on investment.
The return on investment depicted in this business case should also be validated during the initial focus group and customer interviews.
Preliminary Product Roadmap Recommendations: Business Case
APIs, Tools & Applications•Email Alerts (Plain Text)News Population & Aggregation: •Individual User VotesEnd-User Features:•Invite Friends: Manual•User Profiles: Bio•Individual Voting
APIs, Tools & Applications:•Button•Email Alert (HTML)
End-User Features:•Invite Friends: Email Accounts•User Profiles: Pictures
APIs, Tools & Applications:•Gadget•Social Network Application (limited)End-User Features:•Report Abuse•Tagging
APIs, Tools & Applications”•Social Network Application (full)News Population and Aggregation:•Public SiteEnd-User Features:•Mobile Integration
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Benefit
High
Lower
Low HighCost, Time
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Additional Recommendation: Search Engine Ranking
SocialFeed should also focus on improving the search engine rankings in order to drive new user adoption of the application.
SocialFeed should examine search results from the popular search engines (i.e., Google, Yahoo!) in both English and Japanese and align the results with SocialFeed’s long-term goals.
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Questions
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Life Outside of SocialFeed
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We visited many places in Tokyo and in Japan
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And we spent a lot of time in Asakusabashi
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We saw many famous Japanese sites
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Kinkakuhi Temple, Kyoto Kimono Fashion Show Kotokuin Temple, Kamakura Kabuki
Yomiuri Giants, Tokyo DomeRainbow Bridge, OdaibaGeishas in Gion Corner, Kyoto
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Even Sumo Wrestling….Twice!
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Matsua Shrine, Kyoto
Sumo Hall, Ryōgoku
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We tried many different Japanese cuisines
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Hand Rolls Fugu Yakitori
SushiSoba
Octopus Okonomiyaki Japanese Sweets
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Even Nattou – Not that Bad!
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We learned a lot about the Japanese and Realcom culture
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Mentoring
Appreciative Welcoming
Hospitable & Generous
Open & Laid Back
Inclusive
Thank You Program Welcome Dinner, Asakusabashi Weekly Wednesday Lunches
Lunch: Diverse Levels, Functions Dinner at Ken’s House Weekly Kanji Lessons
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And everyone is very social – Kampai!
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Realcom Employees
Thank you for your hospitality and generosity over the past 3 weeks. I really enjoyed getting to know you all, working at Realcom and getting know the Japanese culture. I hope you all can come visit me in California.
Amanda Boaz 9/16/08
Arigato & Thank You!!