Why are people moving from social networks like Facebook to Instagram/LinkedIn,
and what could this tell us about e-commerce?
Facebook reported a first-time decline in monthly user growth last quarter,
while Instagram and LinkedIn have been galloping with more than 2x and 5x growth
over the past two years.
I personally haven’t used Facebook in years, and most people concur with it “not
being useful”. That is key to what is likely the reason.
“Generic” social networks like Facebook are turning out to be everything for
nobody, swamped with a sea of content. “Specific” social networks like LinkedIn
and Instagram are serving a need for a specific segment/niche.
As the internet reaches more users, platforms targeting niches will become more
useful. This is an outcome of the well known long tail effect, where the sum of
niche users becomes very large.
Applying this to e-commerce means that generic (horizontal) e-commerce websites
(Amazon) will be less useful than specific (vertical) e-commerce websites
(Nykaa).
Finding medicines in the sea of Amazon is a far more complex user experience
than going to a dedicated website, that has all the relevant tools, filters and
products.
With details on Nykaa here (https://bit.ly/2FGZmWC), the future is specific, not
generic.
Posted by Aviral Bhatnagar on LinkedIn
link: linkedin.com/in/aviral-bhatnagar-ajuniorvc
and what could this tell us about e-commerce?
Facebook reported a first-time decline in monthly user growth last quarter,
while Instagram and LinkedIn have been galloping with more than 2x and 5x growth
over the past two years.
I personally haven’t used Facebook in years, and most people concur with it “not
being useful”. That is key to what is likely the reason.
“Generic” social networks like Facebook are turning out to be everything for
nobody, swamped with a sea of content. “Specific” social networks like LinkedIn
and Instagram are serving a need for a specific segment/niche.
As the internet reaches more users, platforms targeting niches will become more
useful. This is an outcome of the well known long tail effect, where the sum of
niche users becomes very large.
Applying this to e-commerce means that generic (horizontal) e-commerce websites
(Amazon) will be less useful than specific (vertical) e-commerce websites
(Nykaa).
Finding medicines in the sea of Amazon is a far more complex user experience
than going to a dedicated website, that has all the relevant tools, filters and
products.
With details on Nykaa here (https://bit.ly/2FGZmWC), the future is specific, not
generic.
Posted by Aviral Bhatnagar on LinkedIn
link: linkedin.com/in/aviral-bhatnagar-ajuniorvc
