Mobile  Social  Networks
A Giant Fish?
Benjamin Joffe | CEO, Plus Eight Star | 3G Summit, Kunshan | 2009.10

Benjamin Joffe
本杰明
ベンジャミン
벤자민

4 years
1 year
4 years

Consulting | Startups | Community

| Plus Eight Star
• “Innovation Arbitrage”
• Internet & Mobile Digital strategy
• Best practices from China, Japan & Korea
• Published reports
• Inside Cyworld
• Inside Tencent
• Inside Alibaba (upcoming)
• Contact
• www.plus8star.com

References
EUROPE USA
ASIA

Mobile Monday Beijing
30 events
107 speakers
3,500 members
1,500 companies

Startups
• Newt Games
• Mobile SNS in 2003
• Japan, 3G, GPS
• Too early!
• Cmune
• Social Web Games Developer
• First 3D FPS on Facebook!
• #1 Widget on Apple.com
• Virtual Goods
• www.cmune.com
• Looking for funding!

You are on the wrong panel!

“Social Networking
Is Not a Business”
MIT Technology Review
(July/August 2008)

TIME (April 2009)

How about mobile?

Questions
1. Is it all so new?
2. Does it make money?
3. What exactly makes money?
4. What are the market catalysts?
5. The way ahead: Panel

1. Is it all so new?

ImaHima (Japan)
(“are you free now?”)
250,000 users in 2001

Mogi
(Japan, 2003)

Book | Mobile Social Networking
• Author: Tomi Ahonen
• 50 Case Studies!
– Published: 2009
– 10 EUR / 100 RMB 

It’s not about technology

XHTML, Flash, Java

Chat room
WAP Brower Game
Info: finance,
Music player
book, news
E-mail Movie
Qzone (blog) Source: Inside Tencent Report 2009
www.plus8star.com

Cyworld Zone:
Mini hompy Map, Video service
Item shop
My picture 1.Guest book
2.Photo album
Emotion expression 3.Friends list
4.Diary
About service fees
5.Plaza
Find subscribers
6.BBS
Registering for fixed
payment 7.Club
8.’My Cy’ (settings)
Source: www.plus8star.com

Ad banner
Reminders: new “add to my friends” request;
“new message from a friend”, “new comment on
your diary from a friend”
- Main photo (here: Mixi’s CEO)
- Message box,
- Latest diary entries,
- Write an entry (from PC or mobile)
- My photo album
My favorite friends, “Foot-prints” (who visited
my profile page), Search function
My mixi friends’ list (here: 580 friends)
My communities’ list (here: 70 communities)
My profile / My introductions (what friends
wrote about me)
Invite a friend (using mobile email)
Latest diary entries by my friends
Source: www.plus8star.com

Go to “my page”
Invite a friend
“New!”
- New avatar items release
- New game (golf game)
- Get new items by inviting friends
- Get Moba Gold by registering to the site
“Let’s play”
- Games: visual and text on the latest game release
- Decoration mail: animated illustration in your emails
“Let’s gather together”
- Visit MGT town
- Read latest diaries
- Search for new friends
- “Circles” (equivalent of communities)
- Q&A “the Questions market, let’s ask!”
Source: www.plus8star.com

Mobile Game Town

Source: DeNA

Source: DeNA

Business models
&
Ecosystems

Does it make money?
Going back in time
Conference in Washington D.C.
June 2008

Mobile users 2008 (estimate)
3 mln 50 mln 6 mln 10 mln 10 mln

Profit 2007 (USD)
(50 mln) 225 mln ~100 mln 35 mln ~60 mln

Mobile Social Networks in Japan
Company Mixi DeNA GREE
Usage 2/3 mobile 100% mobile 100% mobile
Revenue 2008 $120 mln $320 mln $60 mln
Profit margin 31% 40% 63%
From users 5% 80% 75%
www.plus8star.com

Mobile Facebook
• 2009.06 | 3 million users?
• 2009.01 | 20 million users
• 2009.09 | 65 million users
• Revenue = 0?

4. Catalysts

1
High speed & Flat fee

2
Payment systems

3
Girls

4
Companies & Schools!

Panel Discussion

Mobile SNS | Panel Discussion
• Panelists
– Yong Wang CEO, DeNA China / TX.cn
– Akio Tanaka Founding Partner, Infinity Ventures
– Richard Robinson Co-Founder & President, Kooky Panda
– Christopher Kahler Founder, Urbian.org
– Eduardo Sciammarella Founder, Protohaus.com
– Stephen Bell Managing Director, Trilogy Ventures
– Shintarou Yamada Founder & CEO, UNOH.inc
• Moderator
– Benjamin Joffe CEO, +8*
Partner, Cmune
Co-Founder, Mobile Monday Beijing

Topics
1. Introduction
1. Mobile SNS and You
2. Mobile SNS Business
1. Successes, Barriers, Catalysts
2. Growth, Engagement, Monetization
3. Opportunities
1. Concepts
2. Local vs. Foreign

Conclusion
(from Wikipedia)

Thanks!
Learn more about “Innovation Arbitrage”
www.plus8star.com
benjamin@plus8star.com
+81 | Japan
benjamin0123 +82 | Korea
+86 | China
http://twitter.com/plus8star
Telecom & Internet
www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminjoffe + Added Value
* High quality
www.slideshare.net/plus8star