Place "News" and "Social Networking" side by side and couple that with "Education" for kids, and you would get a online service which could garner high engagement and value in your #dailyhabits amongst its key user segments - parents, kids, educators. Here is one such service - The Whiz Times - a one of its kind News, Enrichment and Entertainment platform for the entire family.
My friend and ex-colleague, Shalabh Pandey, Chief Whiz and founder of "The Whiz Times" tells me this about his platform service ...
- The Whiz Times brings the real world closer to Kids (Tweens) via parents in a Safe, Simple and Fun environment.
- Our content engine can 'filter' stories based on various age groups, users can get reward points for using the platform, get access to hundreds of stories, loads of custom produced videos and much more.
- The idea is to provide a family friendly environment - that is 100% safe, privacy protected, full of custom produced content and tonnes of interactivity including videos, quizzes, games.
Why the engagement? The multimedia contents for worldwide and local news in The Whiz Times have been specially composed and published for kids and at times even published by kids themselves! See the video below.
Why the value? There is a growing trend and market attention on EdTech. Already we are seeing also trending increasing digital publishing and consumption of books and education contents today. And we are seeing in the last 2 years in 2012 and now into 2013 that niche vertical communities are positing themselves in the ecosystems and thriving in the markets around us. Social networks for kids with contents could offer huge and untapped ancillary revenue channels and opportunities as well!
Not to mention, that anecdotally (in online surveys done in Singapore and I am pretty sure is a worldwide phenomenon as parents always want the best for their kids), parents for kids age 7 to 12 years do tend to spend more on their kids (for example education) than on themselves. Well, I as a parent, would attest to this!
In closing, with niche social networks like The Whiz Times, with news content and which have educational value - as a platform for kids and families to participate and learn together on what's happening in the real world in a SIMPLE, SAFE, FUN manner - could help inculcate interest, instil passion in learning and creating contents in kids. This would bode well for the kids' future as digital literacy could well be the new financial literacy of the future.
What are your thoughts on such social networks and how they could play in today's new learning paradigms?
Talk soon,
Nelson Wee, Singapore
See my presentations in Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.com/nelsonwee
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With help from the rapid proliferation of mobile devices, mobile data connectivity with affordable data plans from mobile network operators and wifi services and innovations from the apps and contents ecosystems, the online and mobile Internet today has been shaping how consumers are consuming apps, services and contents and converting into daily habits.
Here is an analysis on how the daily habits of online and mobile users with respect to the different categories of apps, services and contents, served up and consumed on their feature phones, smartphones, tablets, PCs etc, are being segmented. The 4 types of segmentation are characterised against the frequency of usage vis-a-vis retention over time (source: analysis of Flurry blog analysis and AC Nielsen consumer studies on apps and second screen).
(1) In the upper right hand corner Quadrant I "High Engagement and Value" segment, communication (email, social instant messaging) and news come up tops being habitually consumed by consumers intensively and to which consumers grow loyal and stick to over time. With a power base of stable, growing audiences, advertising revenue or subscription charging are business models being pursued.
(2) In the upper left hand corner Quadrant II "High Engagement and Churn" segment, social networking, social games, streaming music etc serve as high traffic drivers with consumption often contained within short bursts. To stem churn, acquisition and retention have to be constantly reinforced via for example, in-app item purchases, gamification.
(3) In the lower left hand corner Quadrant III "One-off premium use" segment, contents for education, health and fitness or medical tend to lead to one-off consumption and so warrant a premium charge. Entertainment and personalisation also fall under this categorisation where the situational context could lead to the users needing to buy a piece of music, standalone game or a theme to personalise their mobile devices.
(4) In the final Quadrant IV "Scheduled use but high value" segment, here we see habits for travel, navigation, utilities etc, as they are highly valued by the users when the situational context demands it, like for that schedule business trip or social holiday.
The focus on daily habits of mobile and online users were highlighted by Yahoo's Marissa Mayer when she laid out her vision in transforming Yahoo and bringing the cool of the Internet portal back into its stable. Real life momentum in developing on the daily habits of mobile and online users are in evidence today.
Understanding the daily habits of online and mobile consumers provide great value by helping businesses determine their digital content Internet business go-to-market strategies by reviewing first, which consumer segments, what content categories and business models, how to evolve product portfolio and so on.
I look forward to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Till the next post, you can find me on:
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signing off,
Nelson Wee
Photo credit:
Phil Hawksworth /
Foter.com /
CC BY
