NBC’s Approach To Social Networking: Integrated, Not Standalone Destinations
An interesting post by Sab Kanaujia, VP in NBC’s Digital Media group, on his blog, about NBC’s approach to social networking. He mentions that the company views it as integral to all its online extension, and not necessarily as standalone destinations. This is interesting in light of a few things: the company has looked closely at some of the startups in the space, including the flirtation with Tribe.net earlier last year. That was mainly for buying the technology.
He writes that the decision was made to internally build the platform grounds up…the decision not to buy was mainly due to “integration challenges and the inability of most of 3rd party social networking destinations to scale, a key aspect for a large media firm like ours.”
Then, the standalone destination debate: “NBCU is building a core social networking platform that will provide various tools and functionality on all our major properties…we’re not launching separate stand-alone destination(s), ala MySpace, Facebook, etc….There is no reason why users should go to/create The Office community on MySpace when NBCU has the competitive advantage and the ability to provide a differentiated experience on NBC.com (e.g., get cast members involved, exclusive content, etc). We’ll also work on creatively linking 3rd party communities for NBCU shows/movies to our official communities.”
And this approach sounds rational in theory, though some holes in this line of reasoning: how do you get users to go to the TV sites in the first place, when they’re aggregated on other sites like MySpace, YouTube and others? TV cross promotion is one, I suppose. Secondly, in NBC’s case, iVillage will serve as a funnel. And then, a hybrid approach of partnership (NBC with YouTube) to drive traffic from destination sites. And then of course, allowing users to take elements of NBC’s shows and embed in their own blogs, pages etc.
All in all, continued dual progression of social networking as a platform technology and continued widgetization of media.
Posted In: Social Media, Companies, NBC Universal
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Comments (4)
Jan 7, 2007 4:20 PM
Interesting approach… however I would challenge this in a few ways.
1) How do you like all of this disparate brands that NBCU now owns? How do I know that iVillage and NBC are one in the same? Is this the approach he is describing?
2) Why would I move my MySpace page and my friends? What is the strategy for bringing users in?
Jan 8, 2007 5:59 PM
Even if NBCU builds it’s own custom online network, NBC fans may continue to be drawn to other community sites, such as MySpace. Unlike NBCU, these sites are in the business of community building. Social networking tools are complex and ever evolving. Their construction, maintenance and expansion require enormous expertise. Features that are popular today, such as tags and video, may seem passé tomorrow as users demand more and more cutting-edge communication tools.
NBCU is not in the software development business, nor should it be. I am concerned that by the time NBCU develops its own custom social network, it will seem out-dated and clunky to its users who are familiar with tools created by smaller and more agile developers.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, perhaps NBCU should focus on content and leave building distribution and networking tools to independent developers with whom they can partner. I worry that NBCU building its own network is akin to thinking it should manufacture it’s own video cameras and television sets. Perhaps some things should be left to others.
Jan 8, 2007 10:51 PM
let’s not forget that who we are really dealing with here: General Electric / they make Jet Engines, Plastics… oh and they sell TV advertising and produce movies - no way any division of GE keeps pace with Google/Tube or anyone else. NBC itself has never been in the content business (will and grace and very few other exceptions) NBC is in the Advertising Sales Business and content purchasing/licensing business. the purchase of Universal brings in the content function but not at budget numbers that can create advertising revenue opportunities online. So if they have problems keeping pace with technology, have one of the heaviest corporate structures and have massive overhead costs when it comes to content - I’m not sure how well positioned they are.
Jan 9, 2007 5:20 AM
Here is my quick response to the three anonymous comments above:
Reply to the comment from Anonymous — Sun 07 Jan 2007 04:20 PM:
1) Users don’t need to know that iVillage and NBC are the same. Cross-promotion will be based on content, not brands. This comes from TV industry’s age-old learning that viewers care about the programming, not necessarily the channel delivering it (Friends and Seinfeld would have not lost any popularity if they were on a no-name channel as opposed to NBC).
2) You do not necessarily have to move your MySpace page, though NBCU would prefer that. You can link your MySpace page to the official fan sites of the shows/movies you love from NBCU. Strategy for bringing users in would include everything that Rafat suggested in his blog, and some more that we can’t disclose at this time.
Reply to the comment from Anonymous — Mon 08 Jan 2007 05:59 PM
NBCU will mainly partner with best-of-breed external product innovators to keep its social networking features/functionalities current with the industry. The ongoing initiative also involves external partners.
Reply to the comment from Anonymous — Mon 08 Jan 2007 10:51 PM
As suggested above, NBCU will keep pace with the technology innovations thru external partnerships. In this age of coopetition, we’ll also cooperate with our competitors where necessary.