Overexposed: Too Early, Too Far, Too Fast

I recently met Kyle Psaty from BostInnovations, a really smart guy working with a bunch of smart guys in Cambridge, Massachusetts at a Hangout Hub. One of the start-ups that Kyle is involved with is called Pinyadda. Kyle graciously invited me to participate in their early Beta program, and I was really excited.

Pinyadda.com

I am a frequent early adopter and any invitation like this is really intriguing. Pinyadda looks promising (take a look when you have a second), but something I noticed early in my interaction on the new platform highlights one of the major concerns I have with early-phase new media channels: the integration of features that increase reach too fast, too early.

The key force at play

In the early phases of a new media channel you have to strike a balance between inviting constant and sustainable new user adoption without risking too great an exposure to an audience that is not ready to adopt your new concept. (To be honest, there are people out there who aren’t ready for your awesome new idea. These people just won’t get it, and they can do a lot of damage.)

In the experimentation phase for a new channel, it’s extremely important that you don’t invite too many people to the channel until the content and the community that’ve been created are ready to showcase its value.

Pinyadda Invite Screen

When I signed onto Pinyadda, one of the first screens I was presented with invited me to connect with people from my address books in Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL. This is the kind of overexposure and early connection that can cause high attrition.

The concerns that arise

The problem in the early phases of your start up is that your audience is extremely fickle. If their immediate reaction to the new channel isn’t positive and enthusiastic, you need to help ensure that they aren’t influencing others that may arrive later in the channel’s life cycle, when the content and user base has evolved. This means that you want to avoid some of the very early connections your channel might be able to make, but shouldn’t.

Compounding the problem is that your average early adopter is incredibly influential and has the kind of platform reach that later or mainstream adopters (usually in the escalation phase) are heavily influenced by. If the early adopters are turned off, they won’t hesitate to share their distaste for your new channel.

Let’s say that I don’t like my initial experience with Pinyadda, but I had connected with fifteen of my friends already here that really find value. It’s possible that my reaction to the channel is uneducated but highly influential. This could cause my ‘friends’ to shift their opinion rapidly.

The other fear is that my connections aren’t very active (or aren’t active at all). Immediately, my experience on the channel will be hindered and could be a big disappointment. Even if I like the channel’s potential, I’m less likely to participate until I see my friends actively engaging.

Either way, once someone has tried a new channel, if their experience isn’t positive, it’s really hard to lure them back.

The solution

Be selective about who initially participates in your new media channel. Allow users to get a real feel for it. Invite them to participate with some super-users (even if they don’t know them personally) who understand the channel and who will immediately add value. Do this before you invite your new user to ‘connect’ with friends that might already be on the channel through their web-based email accounts.

The result

At the end of the day, the goal in the experimentation phase is to create a passionate core group of users who find tremendous value in the channel’s service offering — that’s the foundation for a successful new media channel. Otherwise, you may have a tremendously large user-base that never returns and adds little value. This may impress your investors or advertisers (from a pure numbers perspective) but it most likely will not lead to long-term channel success.

About Incubator Insights

At Tippingpoint Labs our strategy team is constantly evaluating new media channels. During our analysis we see opportunities for improvement using some of the key learnings across a wide variety of new media channels.  We publish Incubator Insights every Friday to help Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists and visionary start-ups avoid some of the pitfalls we’ve seen others make. Please let us know if these are helpful and productive. We’d love to know.

About the author

Andrew Davis -

In 2002, Andrew founded Tippingpoint Labs with journalist James Cosco. Since then, he's spent countless hours exploring the online universe and building a methodological approach to developing digital strategies that drive revenue or reduce costs.

Andrew's always asking big questions and analyzing data to understand markets, online forces and even business models. Andrew's research has resulted in the creation of innovative online metrics including Online Brand Value and Category Brand Value, eye-opening graphical representations of website evolution through the New Media Life Cycle and even using online data to predict offline revenue.

When he's not surfing the web, Andrew's traveling the globe speaking to a wide-variety of audiences about everything from social media to the future of print. Andrew is a frequent contributor to the Tippingpoint Labs website and has been creating valuable content since the early 1990s for The Jim Henson Company, CNN, The Today Show and MTV.

He's contributed to a book of short stories, called The Way Things Were and produced and co-wrote Roadside Ambition a documentary film about one small town with two huge balls.

"In a world where content is consumed as rapidly as it's created, companies need to develop a sound strategy to creating valuable online experiences that can, and should, be leveraged enterprise-wide. There is a content solution to every business challenge."