* This story is reposted from an article on the WebPass website.
SNS business model that mixes public and private
As SNS has expanded, the term SNS fatigue has been heard, and now more and more people are exhausted by SNS, and more and more people quit SNS.
SNS is a fun and useful tool, but it was originally designed for private communities.
*Since Twitter was originally designed as a microblog, it has a slightly different character from a private SNS.
If you take a closer look at SNS fatigue and slander, most of it happens when a public element, or more precisely, "a user who is not particularly close to you" enters a private community.
The reason why SNS, which was originally designed as a private community, has a public element is actually in the business model of SNS.
Many SNSs initially offer private enjoyment to users in their teens to early twenties, mainly high school and college students.
When many young people gather, a market is born, and adults come in with a business mind.
In fact, the customers (targets) for SNS operators are these business-minded adults.
The SNS business model is established by having these adults buy paid tools called advertisements.
As such, the inclusion of these adults is a business model designed from the ground up by social media operators.
Influencers are also businesses
Also, some young people use SNS as a business.
Influencers are a good example of this, and many influencers are striving to gain influence as their business.
Business is a public activity
Whether it's an adult business or an influencer business, the business itself is a public activity.
In the real world, your home or room is your private space, and your workplace is your public space.
Working with business partners and colleagues is a public activity, even if you're working remotely from home.
To begin with, in the real world, it would be very uncomfortable if a business man came to a house where the family was relaxing.
This unpleasant thing is happening on social media.
A particularly troublesome area is around the blurred line where the private community of close friends and relatives and the public community as a business are not strictly separated.
Private and public should be strictly separated
To avoid the problems mentioned above, it is effective to strictly separate private and public spaces.
You can understand that by looking at the space in the real world.
The web itself is inherently a very public space.
It should be considered that there is a private space (private network) called SNS that is separated from the public.
And do not bring public elements into the private space.
In other words, it is important not to bring in business.
This will solve a lot of problems within SNS in the first place.
However, the problem of the public space, the web, remains.
Public space is essential for business, and we cannot stop our activities in the web space just because we want to protect ourselves.
Therefore, we need to make the web space, like the real world, a trustworthy space where we can do business.
WebPass gives trust to the public web
WebPass proposed by kinois, which realizes a common ID that can be used across the web, builds a network of trust on the public web.
Ultimately, WebPass is the ultimate weapon for doing business on the public web.
It proves that the user's activities on the public web (that is, SNS is not included) are the activities of the same user, and the user's characteristics and abilities can be analyzed, thereby visualizing the user's value. .
By visualizing the value of users as ``individuals'', users will be able to do business advantageously on the Web, while irresponsible actions that damage that value will be avoided.
In other words, it will be a space that emphasizes "trust" in doing business, just like in the real world.
Separation of public web and private SNS
WebPass doesn't invade traditional private SNS, but it does try to move the public elements that have been carried over to private SNS, that is, the business part, to the public web.
WebPass makes it possible to migrate networks that are effective for business to the entire public web space.
This allows the public web and private SNS to be strictly separated.
The public web will become a convenient business space based on trust, and the private SNS will become a space that guarantees a smooth community and fun with close people.
However, there is one big problem here.
The business model built by SNS will collapse, and the operation of SNS will become difficult in terms of funds.
Future private SNS business model
However, in fact, there are already companies that are proposing a completely new business model for private SNS and are achieving success.
It's Apple.
As iPhone and Mac users may have already noticed, the content business such as Apple Music, Apple TV, and game centers and the community business (equivalent to SNS) such as Facetime and iMessage are fused, and close friends and relatives living distant places It makes it possible to enjoy common content.
Community members can talk and play games while enjoying the same music even in remote locations.
Say your impressions while watching the same movie in a remote place.
Even though you are far away, you can feel as if you are enjoying a home party.
Since the source of revenue is the content business, not advertising, there is no need to let external adults and influencers with a business mind enter the community like conventional SNS.
Community participants are themselves customers and revenue streams.
I think this is the private SNS that we should aim for.
In the future, it is expected that such community venues will expand to the Metaverse as well.
If that happens, I believe that the business model will increasingly move toward the fusion of Apple's content business and community business.
Please see the pitch deck for the business plan.
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This article is a reprint of "Public WebPass, Private SNS" posted in the "Thoughts of the developer" section of the WebPass website.
