Hi5 Networks

hi5 Network

Value Proposition:

For the vibrant user, who enjoys expressing themselves and connecting to people worldwide, the hi5.com is a social networking site that provides a platform for easy communication and creative expression of talent, interests, and opinions.

Unlike other worldwide social network providers, our network matches its international user base with international functionality to allow for a unique, engaging experience to fit each individual's needs.

hi5 Network promotes its ability to "discover, connect, and communicate" in order to compete with other social networking providers. Communicating with other individuals across the nation and the world is a common feature of most social networking sites; however, hi5 allows for an opportunity to "discover" and then "connect" with oneself and others. hi5 encourages free expression of each individual's talents, opinions, and creativity. This is enabled by simple applications, such as "skins" and further enhanced by "journals" and "scrapbooks." "Skins" allow each member to choose their own personalized background and style for a profile. Furthermore, "journals" and "scrapbooks" help to express an individual's talents and interests. hi5 promotes these applications as platforms for "established artists" and "underground talent."

To further serve their members' needs, the hi5 Network attempts to expand their functionality by continually adding new applications. The newest applications adopted were iLike and Qloud, both providing access to music and media, which users can share with others globally. hi5 Network's members use hi5.com "to stay connected share information with friends and family, meet new people, and discover linkages in their lives." Overall, hi5 network values the creativity and expression of their members, and therefore, allows for the unique customization of each individual profile.

In connection with the flexibility of creating unique profiles on the hi5 Network, hi5 provides an easy communication channel with people worldwide. The website is available in 15 languages and there are more being developed constantly. This provides the base rationale for how hi5 can match their international base with international functionality. To ensure the best quality of this international functionality, hi5 hires native speakers of each country to help with the translations. Furthermore, regarding hi5's ability to satisfy each individual's needs and this connection to international functionality, applications, such as the iLike, includes other foreign language versions besides just the English language. Altogether, the worldwide communication channel is enhanced by the ability to sort people by country, religion, and ethnicity. By creating customized profiles to display individual talents and interests, discovering people worldwide with those same interests and talents is a lot more convenient on the hi5 network.

Social Networking Strategic Groups:

1. Large, international networks that partner with companies to generate revenue through advertising. They try to appeal toward all social, cultural, and age groups with differentiated products dependent on age, gender, culture, location and more.

2. Medium-sized networks that appeal to mainly domestic groups and also have a focus on high school and college ages. These sites emphasize needs of students and advertise on that appeal. They tend to have smaller labor forces than the first strategic group.

3. Specialty networks focused on niche markets that can be differentiated by age, race, interests and more. They use more personalized advertising by integrating it into the functions and content of the site. The support and resources are lacking in comparison to the first group.

There are many differences between social networking sites, but a few are obvious and would affect each individual social network's strategy. One main difference, size, can relate to both staff size and member size. MySpace, which employs 300 staff and has over 300 million registered members, and Club Penguin, which only has 700,000 subscribers, would not be competing at the same strategic level and would not be likely to have the same competitive advantages when just analyzing the size.

Furthermore, the social networks can be differentiated by their target market. The definition of each networks target market might overlap in some areas, but there are unique differences from one strategic group to the next. For example, Facebook is a global network with a wide variety of members, ranging from political organizations to high school students. On the other hand, Club Penguin has a domestic focus and targets young children, hence it is owned by Disney. These two networks target very different markets, and therefore, would develop unique strategies to fit their personal needs. Another target market distinction can be demonstrated by Black Planet's African American target that the other top social networking sites might include, but do not strictly focus on. Age, race, and interests are not the only distinctions within the target markets, but they are a few of the most obvious.

Besides the simple, "social" aspect of these networks, some differentiate themselves by being more than a social network. Sites, such as Gaia Online and Club Penguin, are more social gaming sites and forums in which members join for a more enjoyable, interactive experience. Facebook, in comparison, has developed games and a variety of interactive applications, but that is not the main focus. In this respect, the gaming and forum sites would fit into the specialty networks, while sites like Facebook, would fit into the international, broader focus groups.

Finally, when separating the strategic groups by their advertising and revenue generating strategy, many of the social networking sites differ in respect to how they integrate advertising into their site. Facebook, for example, generates revenue through banner ads and other sponsored groups. Similarly, hi5 partners with large foreign media companies and advertises for them in order to generate revenue. In contrast to these large ad campaigns, Club Penguin is 100 percent free of ads and is completely funded by the subscriptions it acquires. This difference in revenue generating activities is an extremely important aspect when determining which strategic group the networks are classified under. Overall, the networks are all within the same industry, but must maintain different strategies from one another because of the differences in strategic