Social Marketplace
(1)The "six degrees of separation" intro system finds people with similar interests as well as friends and family
(2)Registration is easy; afterwards users see a quick intro to features like IM, privacy, friends, explore, feeds
(3)To ensure usability, the profiles emulate existing sites. A scalable backend makes room for improvement
(4)The shopping cart and checkout features facilitate the exchange of "credits" for digital media
(5)Each seller profile is equipped with communication features, content libraries and sales management tools
(6)The "people page" let users see and sort all friends' activities in one window
(7)In a "social marketplace," messaging is more than a fun feature; it's a sales and customer service tool
(8)Quick survey feature for fun or for business
(9)A template library makes it easy to find and add personal flair to a page
(10)The sales interface is clean and intuitive, making it easy to price and publish files
(11)A custom-designed personal profile in action
(12)The intuitive interface for customizing a profile makes it easy to find and activate/deactivate settings
(13)Users can seek and find other social network users with advanced search tool
Our Role
- Usability Strategy
- Interface Design
- Communication Systems
- Social Structures
- Custom eCommerce
- Backend Development
- Content Management System
- Key Performance Indicators
- Sales and Marketing
The Objective
Given the successes of "free" user generated content (UGC) sharing websites like YouTube, Flickr and MySpace, Project ROX sought to help users monetize their creativity in art, music and video. Pushing the task to a whole new level of development, the site would also be expected to support guerilla and viral marketing initiatives by embedding the "digital store" into a social network. Independent artists would have an outlet to post, price, promote, and sell their own digital media, while Project ROX would profit from ads and commissions.
The Challenge
Needless to say, Project ROX would be a massive undertaking with dozens of front-end and back-end intricacies. It would have to combine (1) intuitive web design, (2) eCommerce, (3) and social marketing tools, so that registered artists could do more than promote themselves among friends and user groups like on MySpace or Facebook; they could also quickly construct multidimensional storefronts, then sell and/or buy content there for as little as $0.05. Meanwhile, buyers would want to find and locate content in an ocean of UGC, as well as communicate instantly with sellers. Prior to Project ROX, this unique self-pricing/promotion concept was unheard of in the media industry.
The Solution
Since no off-the-shelf or open-source solution existed to fully facilitate Project ROX, we based it on our proprietary technology named Jove. In addition to enhancing security and scalability (unlike existing social sites), Jove enabled our engineers in the Development Lab to rapidly update features on the back-end. Front-end inventions included:
- "Drag-and-drop" design for creating functional multi-page layouts without knowing any programming
- Sub-dollar eCommerce for selling UGC at a reasonable value to both buyer and seller
- Automated recommendation system for intelligent product- and personality-referrals
Results
After a full year of software and interface development, Project ROX rolled out to great viral fanfare. In the first quarter's Beta test, registered membership grew 2000% without any active marketing. Killerstartup.com rated it as a Top 10 Social Network. The site removed the common barriers-to-entry for countless new UCG artists: costly site development, high transaction fees, and complex marketing.
