Why Orkut couldn’t make the cut http://

Why Orkut couldn’t make the cut
http://ow.ly/nGDl30kDVdR

When Social Platforms Stop meeting our Needs

About the same time that Facebook was making it’s debut in the U.S.A. Orkut was making it’s debut in Brazil.

Orkut was named after its creator Orkut Büyükkökten, a google employee. This site was very popular, and widely used in Brazil. Over 90% of all page views had been accessed by users in Brazil.

Similar to other social networking sites, it allowed users to find similar communities. In the first 4 months of operation it gained over 50,000 communities and 12 months later had over 1,500,000 communities. Users could find old schoolmates, people they admire, co-workers, and people that shared similar interests.

By 2012, there  was over 30 million users. Extremely popular with technology workers as well as students. It had an invite only membership.

The site was clean, easy to use. Friends could rate their friends on how cute, sexy, fun, or trustworthy they were.

Brazil quickly became deeply involved in on-line shopping. The country does not allow any outside type of advertising (billboards and the like). It is the 5th largest on-line shopping markets in the world.  Brazil was one of the first countries where cell phones outnumbered the people.  Where 77% of the population shops on-line, they use social media sites, to research products, and trust on-line contacts for word of mouth recommendations.

Brazilians want products and brands that allow you to blog about the products, play games, and want video included in the marketing.

Orkut was the leader of the pack. Well, sort of. It had it’s limitations too. These limitations closed down the site in 2014. With problems with the website, such as blockages, a limited amount of friends one could have. There were also difficulties in loading and sharing of photos.

In the end Orkut, though once so popular, could no longer meet the needs of its users. Unable to fix their problems, the site was shut down in September 2014. It has been replaced with other platforms that were culturally appropriate.

With any social media platform it is important that they stay appropriate not only to the cultures that they serve but to the users themselves. If the site becomes to burdensome, or no longer meets the needs or wants of the end-user, it will become irrelevant. We have seen this with the likes of MySpace and other platforms. Those that keep up with their users live on, to see another day.

 

http://ow.ly/2IA930kqjtn

http://ow.ly/2IA930kqjtn

Attracting all your audiences in one app

Weixin

Weixin, (pronounced Way shun), is a Chinese app, that wraps Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Uber, e-commerce, and many other apps in one. is a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media  and mobile payment app, a “super app” Weixin is owned by Tancent with over 300 million active users in China, Southeast Asia, Europe and America. In 2014 the company was worth $100 billion on the Hong Kong Exchange.

This app target mobile phone users, that are young, living in urban areas. It allows for chatting among friends, sending of photos, texting, or ordering a cab. It is a combination of all the platforms we have here in the U.S.A. and more. It is a truly an “all-in-one” app. If you see a news article you want to read and you click on it, you stay within the app, you are not redirected to the official news organizations site. If your shoppingOne can do just about anything within this app, without having to search, which cuts down on time.

Qiang Hongbao”

Qiang Hongbao, literally means Red Envelope Campaign.

It is a Chinese tradition to give money for the Chinese New Year to family and friends. Weixin added a Red Envelope feature in 2014.  This allowed users to connect their bank accounts to the campaign to send money. The site went even further and made sort of a game out of it. If someone wanted to send a total of $50.00 to 4 friends, the program would randomly set the amounts given to each of the 4. One might receive $30, the second $10, the third and fourth each $5.00.  This created much excitement and buzz with the users, of this social media app. Over 20 million dollars was spent by 5 million users.

Didi Taxi

Didi Taxi was also introduced in 2014. This program works with 350 thousand taxi drivers across 30 cities. This program allows the user to book a taxi, and pay through the Weixin site. It is utilized by more than 22 million users, with more than a half a million bookings made daily.

E-Commerce

With a few clicks, a user is able to get a shop up and running on the Weixin site. When you make purchases from these shops, you stay right on the Weixin platform. Making your selection and purchase you are never redirected to another site.

Why is Weixin so successful?

From a marketing standpoint, Weixin does everything! It engages users in one platform, where here in the U.S.A, we need Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber and more, to do only a portion of what Weixin can do. If users are able to access everything on one platform, why use any other? A few clicks on the Weixin site, and you have an e-commerce site.

Everything on the Weixin site is simple to do, from chatting (through text or voice), shopping, ordering a taxi, or the multitude of other things that are enabled, it has become the norm for users in their everyday lives.

Because Weixin is a mobile app, it is always available to the user, at work, play, or home. This site has become part of the users everyday life. Because it is part of their everyday life, it is easier to promote behavior changes, these changes can be either social changes, or purchasing habits.