Do you have an idea for a website like Facebook, but targeting a specific group of people? Maybe members of a professional group, or hobbyists like beekeepers, or cowboy action shooters. Don’t reinvent the wheel, copy Facebook. Not the Facebook of 2012, of course, but the Facebook that started it all, the Facebook of yesteryear. Zach Holman explains:
Tap into the primal urges that got people really excited about the site in the first place. My university was in the first half-dozen of schools added to Facebook, and I remember this new site out of nowhere hitting roughly 90-95% student penetration within a couple of weeks. That’s absurd… but not completely unexpected.
When Facebook first came out, people were excited about person-to-person communication. It was especially enticing for those graduating in my class of ‘08; we were in our first two weeks of our first year of college when Facebook debuted, and it was the perfect service to connect ourselves with both our newfound college friends and our old high school friends from back home. It had some features like class scheduling and planning, but it was most exciting as a simple, straightforward way to keep in touch with your new and old friends.
Zach’s niche-Facebook strategy:
- Make it simple.
- Make it focused.
- Make it social.
- Make it private.
Photo via Neville.