Arch Viral
Creating Social Apps for Social Platforms
Market for Social Apps is Exploding
2005
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (U.K.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Wikipedia.org
2008
Alexa Global Traffic Rankings
2
Web 1.0 Website Growth
Year 0
Year 10
3
Web 2.0 Application Growth
Year 0
Year 10
4
Top Growth Categories
Messaging and Gifting
Social games and quizzes
Other
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Top Growth Categories
No channel for being notified when friends do something Social games and quizzes
Messaging and Gifting
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Million User Applications on Facebook
FACT: only 1% of all applications reach 1M installs
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Referral traffic is key for viral growth
Primary sources of referral traffic Install flow Engagement flow
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Install flow example for Bumper Sticker
You don’t have to be grammatical to be a top 10 app!
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Engagement flow example for Friends for Sale
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Metrics for viral loop
User
Call to action to invite friends
x = invited friends
Yes Accept? y% = accept rate No
x * y > 1 gives you viral growth!
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Typical viral numbers
Install flow – x = 5 (friends invited on average) – y = 22% (acceptance rate for invites) – Viral factor = 5 * 0.22 = 1.1 VIRAL!!! Engagement flow – x = 20 (friends invited on average) – y = 6% (acceptance rate for invites) – Viral factor = 20 * 0.6 = 1.2 VIRAL!!!
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Use multiple flows and channels
Install flow – x=5 – y = 10% – Viral factor = 5 * 0.1 = 0.5 Engagement flow, invite channel – x = 3 (invites) – y = 10% (acceptance rate for invites) – Viral factor = 3 * 0.1 = 0.3
0.5 + 0.3 + 0.3 = 1.1 VIRAL!!!
Engagement flow, notification channel – x = 6 (notifications) – y = 5% (acceptance rate for notifications) – Viral factor = 6 * 0.05 = 0.3
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Supplement with Ads
Install flow – x=5 – y = 10% – Viral factor = 5 * 0.1 = 0.5 Engagement flow, invite channel – x = 3 (invites) – y = 10% (acceptance rate for invites) – Viral factor = 3 * 0.1 = 0.3 Paid ad for 30% additional flow – Growth factor = 0.3
0.5 + 0.3 = 0.8 NO GROWTH
0.5 + 0.3 + 0.3 = 1.1 GROWING!!!
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Important tips
Install flow should generate most of your referrals – everyone installing will use that flow so make it good – user test different calls to actions
Engagement flows supplement virality – not everyone will engage, generally weaker than install flow – left nav and profile action should link to the primary engagement flow – consider having the primary engagement flow invite new friends – user test different calls to actions
Decay – invite rate decreases as you saturate – acceptance rate decreases as you saturate – engagement tends to decay – continuous improvement required!
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The End
Who is the fastest growing company ever?
50
Registered Users (MM)
40 30 20 10 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13
(1)
(2)
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21
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Months
Source: eBay Investor Presentation, RockYou (1) eBay starts Q2 98, PayPal starts Q1’00, Yahoo! starts Q1’95, AOL starts Q1’92, Facebook starts Q4’04, and RockYou Starts Q4’05 (2) Facebook data represents active users, which was disclosed on 12/05 and 12/06. Undisclosed active user data is extrapolated by applying an average active user penetration to global Unique Visitors (per comScore Media Metrix)
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RockYou is the fastest growing company ever!
50
Registered Users (MM)
40 30 20 10 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13
(1)
(2)
Facebook platform launch
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21
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Months
Source: eBay Investor Presentation, RockYou (1) eBay starts Q2 98, PayPal starts Q1’00, Yahoo! starts Q1’95, AOL starts Q1’92, Facebook starts Q4’04, and RockYou Starts Q4’05 (2) Facebook data represents active users, which was disclosed on 12/05 and 12/06. Undisclosed active user data is extrapolated by applying an average active user penetration to global Unique Visitors (per comScore Media Metrix)
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