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What will be the

killer mobile social networking application?

Jordy Mont-ReynaudLead Mobile Developer, Bebo

Mobile Social Networking – Sept 25, 2007

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Mobile as the 7th Mass Media, continued

Overview

1. Technology breakthrough #1: Social Networking• “don’t believe the hype- it’s a lot bigger than that”• the experience vs. technology

2. Technology break-through #2: Mobile

3. Some thoughts on the mobile social “killer app”…• User experience• Technologies• Revenue model

4. …and how we can reach it

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Mobile as the 7th Mass Media, continued

“Social networking” - the experience

friendsClose friends

family

High school friends

High school friendsI never want to see again

coworkers

Favorite DJs

Collegefriends

Professionalcontacts

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Fixed line phones

“Online social networking” – the technology

then

SMS

now

IM

Email

Mobile phones

Snail mail

Smoke signals

Speech OnlineSocial

Networks

A brief history of social networking technologies(* not drawn to scale)

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Mobile as the 7th Mass Media, continuedIs it…• a fad?• just for “those crazy kids”?• A new way to make tons of money?

Online social networking IS:• a technology (or a set of technologies)• that fundamentally improves the way we communicate• with people we already know• and people we don’t know (yet)

Don’t believe the hype – it’s a lot bigger than that

“be yourself” “be someone”

??

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How does Bebo fit in?

Stats source: Comscore August 2007

• 1.5 years old• 3rd biggest social network globally• Beboers more engaged than any other SN

• #1 website in UK + Ireland (pageviews)

• Highest PVE* ratio of any SN (*page view to engineer)

“be yourself” “be someone”

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Mobile as the 7th Mass Media, continuedFixed internet• 13 years old• Reaches 1.1B users• Tons of traffic on free sites• Content industry worth $25B• Greatest revenues from adult

entertainment + gambling

Mobile internet• 8 years old• Reaches 2.7B users• Tons of traffic on free+paid• Mobile content worth $31B• Largest categories: music and social

networking

Mobile opportunity is huge and growing fast

Source: Tomi Ahonen, Communuties Dominate Brands. http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2007/06/mobile_welcome_.html

Mobile internet: younger, larger, and growing faster• SMS worth $100B in 2007 (> movie industry + music + videogames)• Media (in 2005, guess which ringtone outsold all of iTunes?)

Put two game-changing technologies together…

Mobile + Social Networking = HUGE

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Mobile as the 7th Mass Media, continued

The mobile social killer app

The ultimate goal (qualitative definition):• If your app crashes, your users get same feeling

as when they forget their phone at home

4 elements of the killer app

1. Reach: ubiquitous

2. User experience: “push” and “pull” in harmony

3. Technology: don’t sweat it, just pick the right one

4. Cost/revenue model: scalable

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1. Ubiquitous

Sources: Telephia http://telephia.com/html/Comscorejanuary2007UK.html and M:Metrics: http://mmetrics.com/press/PressRelease.aspx?article=20061214-social-networking

• Reaches as many of 3B mobile users as possible• Warning: actual usage of technologies differs from

technical penetration

Handset support(SMS, WAP,

download)

90%

Usage(SMS)

60%

Usage(WAP)

20%

Usage(download)

5%

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2. Integrating push and pull for max interactivity

• Push messages (alerts) are key• Asynchronous important as well

• Don’t leave the user hanging with one-way push

User’s attention span

0s 1m 5m 1h

SMS

WAP/XHTML

Downloadable client

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3a. Don’t sweat the technology – just pick the right one!

User experienceCommunicationSelf-expression

InternetExplorer

SMS

J2ME/BREW

WAP/XHTML

SMS WAP/XHTML

J2ME/BREW

Email

Firefox

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3b. Don’t sweat the technology – just pick the right ones!

• Need to be able to iterate quickly• Use limited mobile bandwidth sparingly

• The “tubes” are smaller on mobile• Consider the “Fun Per Byte” ratio of technologies:

SMS, MMS, WAP/XHTML, client download

• Simple integrations are critical for fast time to market • Social networks need to scale to lots of the carriers• Carriers need to scale to lots of social networks

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4. Scalable cost/revenue model

• Model must make sense for target demographic• Many on prepay plans, not contract• Some have texting bundle, almost none have data• Used to unlimited free model on the web• But are willing to pay for mobile if it makes sense

• Biggest challenge: figuring out scalable model for data + messaging• Data/messaging bundles need to be mass market• Service providers need to be able to deliver push

experience (i.e. SMS) cost-effectively• What happens if we don’t figure this out?

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How do we get there?

• Don’t believe the hype – it’s a lot bigger than that• Focus on user experience first, the rest will follow

• “Drink your own kool-aid”: go ahead, get addicted!

• How is Bebo trying to get there?1. Close partnership with Orange UK for v1.0 launch

2. Learn + iterate quickly

3. Roll out v1.0 product globally as fast as we can• “it’s everywhere you want to Bebo!”

• Join Mobile Monday: http://www.mobilemonday.net

• Global, open forum for mobile industry:

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Thanks for listening…

Jordy Mont-ReynaudLead Mobile Developer, Bebo

Mobile Social Networking – Sept 25, 2007

Thanks…

and stay in touch!

jordy@bebo.com

http://www.bebo.com/jordy