
Ask HN: Would you pay for a social network? - sjroot
Hi all! There has been a lot of talk on HN lately about alternatives to platforms like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc. It seems like there is a reasonable demand for a platform that users pay for.<p>So that is what I&#x27;ve been working on. With Clique (clique.app), our customers are our community, not advertisers. Users will drive the development of new features and have total control over what they see and how they share their lives with others. Clique also aims to be highly extensible, with an API and integrations for other communication and productivity software (share suggestions here or with sam@clique.app)<p>We have been running a private testing phase and we are looking to expand it with a larger user base. If you go to our website you can join the waiting list; those who do will receive a free month once we launch (no CC required). Participation in our beta program of course, is free.<p>All that said, this is an Ask HN. What would Clique (or any other platform) have to do to earn your dollars?
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mindcrime
I would potentially pay for a social network, but it would depend on a lot of
details. And I haven't spent much time thinking about it yet. But if you'd
like to continue the conversation, feel free to drop me an email.
prhodes@fogbeam.com

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dirtyaura
Background: I worked in a social networking startup Jaiku (acquired by Google)
in the early days of social media boom (2006-2007) and have thought about
these things since.

Trying to monetize social network service through subscriptions or other type
of payments from users have been tried several times since the dawn of digital
social networks, and I think there is quite much evidence that it doesn't work
for generic social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

I think pg himself once said that "Information wants to be free". There is a
certain truth to it that also applies to social networks.

Social networks that have been able to monetize by subscription model mainly
deal with some kind of exclusivity. For example, three types of social
networks that people are willing to pay for:

1) networks in which people share information that can be used to gain
financial benefit. An example: ValueInvestorsClub.

2) exclusive networks that offer an access to hard-to-reach people. There are
digital versions of these, but good examples from physical world are invite-
only social clubs popular in London, New York, and other cosmopolitan cities.

3) Social networks targeted as internal communication tools to companies and
other organizations. These usually monetize explicitly by offering a better
controls who you can invite, remove and how you can restrict access in finer
granularity. Examples: Yammer, Slack.

Fourth kind of successful monetization strategy involving payments from users
is mostly seen in games and other types of virtual worlds. People buy digital
outfits, avatars or other digital goods that help them to express themselves
or stand out from other users. I haven't seen this model working very well in
social networks in which users use their real identities: dating sites are an
exception, but they usually are not considered social networks, even if there
are elements of social networking in Tinder, OkCupid, Match.com etc.

If I were you, I would study history of failed and successful social networks
and community tools both deeply (try to understand the details of mechanisms
that the services were using) and broadly (don't restrict your study just to
what we currently consider social networking platforms like FB).

Understand what has been tried, what works, what didn't work. It will be very
enlightening.

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dirtyaura
I forgot one approach: Charge content creators. An example: Soundcloud. This
was very much touted as the best strategy during the Web 2.0 era by thinkers
like Joi Ito. However, I haven't seen it working well for generic social
networks. The network has to be build around specific kind of
content/audience.

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CM30
Nah, I wouldn't pay for a social network, and I don't think there's anything a
social media platform could do to earn my dollars (or pounds in my case).

The only hope in hell you'd have to incentivise me to join such a network
would be to get every friend, family member and celebrity I follow/associate
with to join first, and even then I'd be hesitant to pay money for something
that feels like it should be free.

Sorry.

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Rjevski
I would definitely pay, but I know a lot of people who wouldn’t, and the value
of a social network is also about having those people there.

I think a social network that’s paid from the start is doomed. It should be
free at least at the beginning to attract a critical mass; once that’s done,
people are hooked and have no easy way out, so you can start charging and most
will stay (this is what allows Facebook to get away with pretty much anything
nowadays, since people have no other alternatives).

