Innovate or Die: A lesson from Bebo

Trying to hold a share of the market in a world dominated by big brands can be tough and none tougher than in the fickle world of 'social media'.

The inhabitants of the world of myspace, facebook and until more recently Bebo are a demanding crowd. After all, like the best bars, clubs, shops and brands you only go there if your friends do - and in social media it's even worse - whilst you might chose to wear clothes to stand out, there is no point or way to 'stand out' on a website that no one visits or joins...and so Bebo - once inhabited by c.6m members in the UK & Ireland (that's nearly 1 in 10 people!) - has been put to pasture by AOL - the company that bought if not just 2 years ago for a staggering $850m! Now try explaining that one in the board meeting - ouch!

In contrast, during the time of Bebo's demise, Facebook not only gained about 8m new users (more than Bebo had it total) but also monetised its model into a high-targeted ad-space. I do wonder how much of this assumption that things could stay the same and be ok is as a result of the previous owners (Michael Birch and co) entrepreneurial spirit being removed from the development process at Bebo? Perhaps the era of big corporates thinking they can just stuff and make money from it is over?

The lessons for me are clear - if you aren't focused on delivering to your audience the experience they seek you will die (in a corporate sense at least!) This doesn't mean yesterday's rules are acceptable today. If you're not careful it won't be just the rules but the entire game that will have changed before you even knew!

This means choosing either a target market (niche) or being not only early to market but consistently fast and best of market for innovation.

Online communities relying upon an existing base to remain loyal must either become the medium of choice (as for now at least, Facebook has been come) or have a solid and clear niche (like Keiron O'Neill's Playfire.com has become for online gamers). It doesn't mean it is impossible to top Facebook's reign - it just becomes harder the ubiquitous it becomes.

Offline the rules are the same - albeit a little slower - but if you stand still you will be going backwards and on the slippery slope to doom, disaster and death.

In a sentence: innovate or die.