Social Media Visionary

Social Media Visionary In this game you are an entrepeneur with a love for technology and eager to create something that brings people together. You will have to make choices that will steer your company in the right direction. Keep in mind that these choices will not only have an impact on the performance of your company, but also on the users of your platform. Are you ready? [[Create your company]]

As the CEO of your company you have two main ideas for your website. You can either create a website where people can present themselves on the internet and (re)connect with other people, or focus more on the content they create or the discussions that they provide. Which one will it be? * [[Let people present themselves and connect with others]] * [[Encourage content creation and discussion]] * [[You know what? Starting company seems like a lot of work and I would like to just work for someone else's company in the technology industry]]

Your platform starts out as a fun way to present yourself on the internet and provides a way to be in touch with your peers. However, you are getting reports that people are impersonating others with the intent to do harm. What will you do? * [[Hire admins and add a user reporting feature to get rid of impersonators->Hire admins]] * [[Do nothing]]

Your platform is slowly gaining traction and more content is being created consistently. However, people are starting to see content and comments that is regarded as inappropriate. What do you do? * [[Nothing, the internet is a free place]] * [[Hire admins]]

That seems like such a good idea! Setting up a social media platform is not an easy task and you will be living with a comfortable salary if you are capable of working on such a platform anyways.

Are you sure? Without moderation there is no way in which people would like to be associated with your platform. This also means that the website will have to survive on donations from the users or from your own money. * [[I am sure]] * [[Hire admins and assign moderator roles to volunteers->Hire admins]]

Your users are happy that you have taken measures to ensure their safety and well-being. However, there is another problem. A growing platform means that the operational costs keep increasing. How will you try to make more money? * [[Run advertisements on your platform->Financial struggle]] * [[Crowdsource your platform]]

I'm not sure what made you think that this is a good idea. With no moderation or admins your website thrives, but the content is horrific. Aside from discrimination, rasicm and politically radical it is hard to keep up with everything that is going on on your platform. While you are able to make a little bit of money with the publicity the website is getting it is impossible to partner with other companies. Sadly this is not sustainable for you and you will have to step down as the leader of your company and sell the platform to a company that can find some use for it. (link:"Does this sound familiar?")[= This is pretty much the story of the forum 4chan. The platform where everyone is anonymous, some users are responsible for horrific things and the discussions questionable at best.

Your financial problems are getting better but you are still struggling with making money. The growth of your company is still on track, but you will have to find a way to keep making money. What do you do? * [[Look for investors->Keep the ball rolling]] * [[Stop actively working on new features]]

More money is coming up but it is just enough to keep up with the operational costs. Other companies are starting to catch up with you but it is unclear which company will come out on top. You have a couple of choices. * [[Add advertisements on your platform->Financial struggle]] * [[Just keep going and havce trust in your platform]]

Out of nowhere, a large conglomerate shows interest in your company. It offers to buy you out of the company which is more than enough for you to retire. What do you do? * [[Keep the ball rolling]] * [[Accept the offer]]

Another company is very much interested in your platform and is still willing to invest in your company. For a piece of your company it offers you the money that you need to continue growing. However, this also means that the conglomerate will have a vote on what happens on your platform. * [[Take the deal]] * [[Reject the deal->Stop actively working on new features]]

As the burden of your company falls off your shoulders you take home a hefty paycheck and enjoy your early retirement. You take up photography and travel around the world without a care in the world, only to be pulled back into the world of social media for your opinion on modern social media platforms. Does this sound familiar? (link: "Tom Anderson")[(goto-url: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Anderson')], also known as Tom from Myspace has a similar story.

Unfortunately, without much vision on the future your platform's size starts to decline and other companies are rising above yours. As a social media platform it is important to keep innovating, or else it will fail. This story is similar to (link: "Friendster")[(goto-url:"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster")]

You happily accept the offer and everything seems to be going well. At this point your platform is known worldwide and a large percentage of the population is familiar with your platform. [[Privacy Issue]]

Unfortunately, this does not mean that you are making an profit. Most social media companies make their money by reinvesting everything they have in new features or services. How will you improve your product? * [[Add more advertisements->Add advertisements]] * [[Create more features->Add feature]] * [[Sell your user's data ->Privacy Issue]] (if: $loop)[[[Wait I did this before->Stop]]]

As time goes on, users start to worry about their privacy as there are rumours that their personal information is being used by your partners and investors for commercial purposes.. (set: $loop to false) * [[Admit that this is happening->Doesnt matter]] * [[Ignore the allegations->Doesnt matter]]

The new feature you brought out helped out with keeping your users engaged. More engagement means that more people will stick to your platform and your company keeps growing. (set: $loop to true) [[Continue->Improvement choice]]

The advertisements definitely helps you out with making more money. Your investors are happy with the direction of your company. (set: $loop to true) [[Continue->Improvement choice]]

Turns out that it didn't really matter what you chose to do because your platform is used so much that people can't fanthom not using your platform ever again. [[Continue->Improvement choice]]

After a while you realize that your social media platform development is now in a perpetual loop where nothing should really go wrong. As soon as the company is so large that it is known throughout the world, it is nearly impossible to fail. You can choose to keep working at your company, or you can choose to retire. Whatever you do, your company will thive. For better or worse. Modern examples of these types of platforms include but are not limited to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or reddit

While people still see the appeal to stay anonymous on the internet, it is too harmful to not know who is exactly behind a username for a social media platform that is based on the users themselves. As the abuse on your platform grows it becomes impossible to keep up with the messages on your platform and is forced to shut down. Something similar happened to the social media platform (link:"YikYak")[(goto-url:"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yik_Yak")]