11. Fatal flaws - 1
• Social networks rely on network effects
• No members means no network
• If I arrive and no-one else is there why
would I come back
• Must provide up front value - solve a
problem I know I have - only a few of the
current offerings do this
12. Fatal Flaws - II
• Scientists are not very social...
• Are looking for solutions; not for people
It’s not the scientists that are social - it’s the data
(I think paraphrased from Neil Saunders)
13. Five guidelines for online services
1. Tool must solve an existing (and pressing) problem
and fit an existing workflow
2. Tool must clearly outperform any existing tools that
are available to the user
3. The service must be near 100% reliability
4. Provide at least one killer feature
5. Prepopulate. Don’t provide new users with an online
wasteland; they won’t come back