Consumer Social 2.0
Consumer social defined the first wave of the Internet - both web and mobile.
But there hasn't been a breakout consumer social hit since the early 2010s. We had Clubhouse, but that fizzled out quickly. We had Be Real, but that, too, faltered. Of course, we've had TikTok, but that's a different type of social - more akin to broadcast media with hyper-personalisation than building connections between humans based on a social graph.
A big question is how AI reshapes what consumer social means.
Three themes that I keep coming back to:
- Platform plays: AI is encouraging us to interact more widely and deeply with technology than ever before. It understands any input, in any format, and uses it to supplement its understanding of us as the user. I think this rich identity and context can be applied across different experiences within a social context - similar in some ways to what Wabi is building with its mini-apps approach. Imagine a common understanding of "me-ness" being applied across distinct social environments that I can opt into or out of, bringing and revoking my personal context as I go. I could show certain elements of myself to inform algorithmic feeds and personalisation engines within specific communities I choose. I can contain multitudes.
- Co-creation: AI has reduced the barrier to participation for so much creative expression: whether that's music, video, image, gaming, etc. New social platforms can be built around any or all of these media, with multiplayer experiences and social features built on top to enable fundamentally new ways for people to connect and interact. Rather than "I create, you consume" the model can shift to "we create and consume", with software powering the collaboration.
- Nichification: AI unlocks huge supply and reduces the 'minimum viable scale' for so many sectors: the minimum wealth for someone to take financial advice, the minimum legal complaint to take action on, the minimum income required for a personal tutor, etc. What if AI could enable hundreds, thousands, even millions of social networks that come into and out of existence on demand. Mods, curators and network starters could all be AI or AI-augmented, meaning even the smallest niche communities could find each other online in a rich product experience.
I'm sure there are more than can be added, and I will add to this post over time. But for now, they're the ones I'm noodling as potentially massive businesses of the next generation. If you're building anything like any of these, get in touch!