Can Any Nigerian Social Network Stop The Facebook Surge?
As I write this, Facebook users from Nigeria is over 340, 000 and keeps surging everyday. In January, when the number of active Facebook users from Nigeria was slightly over 200, 000, we predicted approximately 600,000 Nigerian Facebook active users by end of June 2009.
At the rate at which Facebook is growing in Nigeria, it becks the question: Can any Nigerian social networking site break the Facebook flow?
Granted, with over 10 million Nigerians on the Internet, that figure is just a fraction. So is there a way Nigerian social networks can capitalise on this internet population? Can they offer a service that Facebook is not offering?
Again, if Nairaland was a real social networking site (now with over 320, 000 members), could it out-Facebook Facebook? Can Naijapals or Legwork beat Facebook (in terms of Nigerian users)? While I’m skeptical about the possibilities, I think there’s probably something they need to do to achieve this.
Could they leverage on the over 63 million mobile subscribers in Nigeria to provide great social networking features second to none? I think this is possible!
Given the fact that more and more people in Nigeria are accessing the Internet via their mobile phones, social networking sites could take advantage and offer great mobile social networking tools, products and services that would get people to perhaps move away from the Facebook frenzy.
What are your thoughts?
Stats Via CheckFacebook
Interesting……However, on the contrary i actually think that rather than encourage services or products that would get people away from the facebook frenzy or concentrating on having more subscribers than facebook. We should be encouraging the facebook frenzy, hoping it grows even larger and and actually promote its growth.
As unpatriotic as this might sound, i think it’s the way forward because any Nigerian/African based social networking site, products or tools that can be integrated into facebook would actually do very well on its own and leverage on the success of facebook.
People are happy to use the lot and there is a enough of us to go round.
I agree with Raymond completely by saying that I don’t think that there is any need to move away from Facebook. It’s a fantastic social networking site that is easily accessible in Nigeria. There’s no need really for a Nigerian alternative. Instead, Nigerian sites should find a way to capitalise in it’s popularity like what Sturvs did with their Facebook application.
The next step for some is to start translating the site into Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo or any other languages. It’s only a matter of time. I was amazed last summer when I saw a Sony Ericsson that came with a pre-installed Hausa and Yoruba language pack. However, that’s also up the users as the site encourages the users to translate the site into their own language.
@Raymond - “As unpatriotic as this might sound, i think it’s the way forward because any Nigerian/African based social networking site, products or tools that can be integrated into facebook would actually do very well on its own and leverage on the success of facebook.”
Doesn’t that seem like parasiting (if there’s a word like that)? Come to think of it: If there was nothing like Facebook, wouldn’t social networks leverage on ‘their own’ initial success?
@Paul - I’m not saying, hey, move away from FB. I’m saying do something that FB is not doing and we could witness a stampede.
Realistically, it’s going to be hard for any new company to ‘compete’ with Facebook. Just like Paul and Raymond have suggested, perhaps the best way is to use Facebook as a platform to build on especially now that Facebook has opened up their data to 3rd parties to more than ever (http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Using_the_Open_Stream_API)
With the Facebook open stream API, startups can build websites or apps that exist OUTSIDE of Facebook.com, so it holds alot of of potential for startups to create services (and not just FB apps like Sturvs) without having to worry about growing a user base.
I think we can match up with facebook they were able to beat other networks so i guess with heads on ground the right technology in use we can. Talkn about building on the fb platform thats just a lack of belief in what we can do. There is a huge potential both in web and mobile all we need is the right motivation
cmon guys…..@Oyelaja and @Loy…Why would you want to stop or even begin to discourage anything that has already done the ground work….which is expose a whole load of people to the concept of social networking?? If FB has succeeded in doing that, which i am sure you agree they have in NIgeria then ride on the back of it and milk it….Its already happened so ne need to turn back the clock.
@Loy Talking about parasiting (if there’s a word like that)? Yes, thats what it is…..most major businesses today is a spin off of something else…the idea is to add value and the rest will come.
@Anibe - Good point, but my main point is: Why not take advantage of the 63 million mobile subscribers in Nigeria and offer a mobile application service (with or without Facebook’s API), and create a mobile social networking site that could get people to use their mobile devices to connect with people?
Already, FB has ventured into mobile (m.facebook.com), and thus I predict that Facebook Mobile will likely get more attention from Nigeria than any other African country. The question now is: Is FB tapping into a huge market that other social networks are not seeing?
My answer is YES.
To conclude, if only Nigerian social networks are smarter enough, they’d have tapped into this mobile terrain and become mobile startups that even Facebook can copy. Not the other way around.
So @Raymond, what’s wrong with Facebook parasiting from Nigerian social networks if the above has already happened? And like I asked in my previous comment: “If there was nothing like Facebook, wouldn’t social networks leverage on ‘their own’ initial success?”
Why would one want to compete with FB? Are you competing for users, revenue, profits, etc. How profitable is FB and what are the chances that they will be able to get to profitability and sustain it. And can you even do the same?
What % of revenue do Nigerians on FB contribute to FB? And if you built a site that attracts all Nigerians on FB, can you monetize that traffic or will you be getting traffic simply for traffic sake. And what of the cost of providing services to these “users”, your costs could easily outgrow your revenues, worse with the exchange rate.
Monetizing social networks is extremely hard and monetizing in developing nations is thousand times harder. Check the stats for FBs revenue per user and think about how possibel it is to replicate it in Nigeria.
The trick I believe is to understand the limitations in your environment and create solutions that take advantage of the opportunities that these limitations create, then you can ride on the back of FB for awareness. How many FB widgets make money?
The true total available market in Nigeria is not 63million by any stretch and even if it is half of that, how would you monetize that audience withe a mobile social website? nI think it would be better to have a less popular site that can be managed and grown to profitability easily.
This article that has been making the rounds on the net explains challenges faced by Social networks.
The New York Times has an interesting piece about big online companies struggling to make profits in countries other than the USA and those of Western Europe……Web companies often need more servers to make content available to parts of the world with limited bandwidth. And in those countries, online display advertising is least likely to translate into results. ….Facebook social network is also considering lowering the quality of videos and photographs delivered to some regions in an effort to reduce expenses.
See article here
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/technology/start-ups/27global.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
@waka-about - If social networks can’t monetize or make profits, perhaps they should be used for social causes:D
See this article: http://mashable.com/2009/05/04/asthma-alerts-social-networks/