1. Design Learnings from Viral Applications April 2008

2. 2 Who is RockYou? Over 50 Applications and Widgets

3. 3 To engage the world through social applications The RockYou Mission

4. 4 Stats! Invented the Space Double Digit penetration across leading social networks (MySpace, Facebook, Bebo..) 105 Million Uniques 1.5 Billion Pageviews 150+Million Widget views a day

5. 5 Agenda The Social Space Product Design Development Phasing Tuning in Depth Q&A

6. The Opportunity

7. 7 Wikipedia.org Alexa Global Traffic Rankings Market for Social Apps is Exploding 2008 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2005 (U.K.)

8. 8 Social Applications Increase Site Traffic Over 150% Growth! Over 18,000 applications 95% have an application 60%+ have a RockYou app RockYou Integration

9. 9 Source: eBay Investor Presentation, RockYou (1) eBay starts Q2 98, PayPal starts Q100, Yahoo! starts Q195, AOL starts Q192, Facebook starts Q404, and RockYou Starts Q405 (2) Facebook data represents active users, which was disclosed on 12/05 and 12/06. Undisclosed active user data is extrapolated by applying an average active user penetration to global Unique Visitors (per comScore Media Metrix) Facebook platform launch (2) Registered Users (MM) Huge Growth Potential

10. 10 How did we grow so fast? Rise of open platforms + laser-like focus on metrics and viral channels Flash Widget Era - Profile - Bulletin - Profile - Requests - Notifications - Email - News Feed - Profile action - Profile - Messages - Notifications - Email - Activity stream - Home surface

11. Product Design

12. 12 RockYou approach to product design Apply advertising principles to user-facing web design Build fast and launch asap Iterate on original design Let data guide product decisions

13. 13 Apply advertising principles to user-facing web design Its all about Conversion Rate Each touch point equivalent to an ad pageview –Profile Views –Canvas Pages –Invites –Feeds Grow by increasing number of touch points and maximizing conversion on each touch point Have a plan to maximize use of every channel Must consider implications for long-term user experience –Dont abuse the channels

14. 14 Build fast and launch asap Design simple concepts Focus on virality and growth Accept the fact that channels >> features –Channels bring in new users and keep them coming back –Only the top 0.1% of features can accomplish this alone Validate concepts quickly –User tests –Just launch it

15. 15 Iterate Rapidly Viral channels should drive product concept and feature development –Not the other way around! Tune the viral loop A/B Test Release Often

16. 16 Let data guide product decisions Dont Be Emotional –Numbers dont lie There are no user experts –60% + female –15-25 Do user studies when you dont have web metrics Viral channels should drive product concept and feature development –Not the other way around! Have a plan to maximize use of every channel

17. Development Process

18. 18 Development Process 1.Marketing / Validation 2.Growth 3.Engagement

19. 19 Application Types Channel –Superwall, HugMe Content –Flixster, iLike, Watercooler Dating –Likeness, Compare People Games –Zombies, FluffFriends, SpeedRacer, Friends for Sale Gifts –Grow-a-gift, Free Gifts, Boozemail Self Expression –Cities Ive Visitied, Bumper Sticker

20. 20 Marketing / Validation Audience Channels Messaging

21. 21 Skew heavily to teen and young adult womenbrand influencers Audience

22. 22 Audience Whats the total size of market What percentage penetration is goal –Whats possible virality of market? –Average number of friends –Myspace vs Ning vs iGoogle

23. 23 Messaging Develop your concept around high-converting calls to action –Simplicity –Universal –Social persuasion –Novelty (art)

24. 24 Channels Focus on 1 to 1 channels Map out several different flows to test –Install to invite to interacting –Install to interacting to invite Balance relevance to throughput –Channel vs Content Applications

25. 25 Viral Channels News Feed Notifications Email Profile Invites Non-user pages Profile Action

26. 26 Growth Phase Break viral barrier Tune growth (Install vs uninstall) Promote It

27. 27 The Viral Loop User Call to action to invite friends x = invited friends Accept? Yes y% = invite accept rate x * y > 1 gives you viral growth!

28. 28 Tune It Superwall Launched in 2 days tuned for 2 weeks Preview page Invite Messaging Targeting

29. 29 Promote It You know the math works All about throughput to multiply Give it a boost! Ad Networks

30. 30 Engagement Phase Saturated social circles (audiences) Critical mass makes features more useful Tune for experience Build new features to keep users engaged and happy!

31. 31 Critical Mass Youve achieved your goal Percentage of Social Circle supernodes –40% Active –10 % of that –4% of Market

32. 32 Channels Focus on 1-to-Many to get People Engaged –News Feed –Profile –Notifications –Non User Pages Focus on 1-to-1 to re-engage current users –Email –Notifications

33. Viral Tuning in Depth

34. 34 Metrics for your viral loop User Call to action to invite friends x = invited friends Accept? Yes y% = invite accept rate x * y > 1 gives you viral growth!

35. 35 Hypothetical viral numbers Install flow –x = 5 (friends invited on average) –y = 22% (acceptance rate for invites) –Viral factor = 5 * 0.22 = 1.1 VIRAL! Engagement flow –Repeat users can generated additional virality!

36. 36 Combine multiple flows and channels Install flow –x = 5 –y = 10% –Viral factor = 5 * 0.1 = 0.5 Engagement flow, request channel –x = 3 (invites) –y = 10% (acceptance rate for invites) –Viral factor = 3 * 0.1 = 0.3 Engagement flow, notification channel –x = 6 (notifications) –y = 5% (acceptance rate for notifications) –Viral factor = 6 * 0.05 = 0.3 0.5 + 0.3 + 0.3 = 1.1 VIRAL!

37. 37 What to track –Requests sent & request CTR –Notifications sent & notification CTR –Feed events & feed CTR –Adds / removes –And everything else…platform tracking is not 100% reliable How to track – …if youre tight on resources (arent we all) –Paid or home grown if youre serious about growing big –Get stats in real time instead of waiting a day –Store events that cant be tied to a page (i.e. number of requests sent) –Slice and dice data however you want Tuning the viral loop – watch your metrics

38. 38 Using metrics to drive product decisions A/B test entire user flows A/B test calls to action Base decisions off of statistically significant data Flow A Flow B A n new users B n new users X% user dropoff Y invites sent/userZ% invites accepted

39. 39 Making the most of viral channels Graph and compare activity metrics over time to analyze trends Focus resources on tuning the largest traffic drivers All viral channels eventually decay – why? –Invites sent decreases due to saturation –Response rate decreases due to user conditioning So keep tuning to stay ahead of the curve! …and when youve exhausted your primary channels it might be time to explore some creative alternatives

40. Questions?