The launch of Linda Ikeji’s very own social networking website – Linda Ikeji Social – almost broke the Nigerian internet on Tuesday.
Bearing a remarkable resemblance to Facebook, Linda Ikeji Social (LIS) enables users to create a profile, post images, include and search for good friends, along with share what’s on their mind.
The long term strategy for LIS, expecting the execution is flawless, will be to competing Facebook in Nigeria. Of course it is a herculean task, but it is unlikely anyone will bet versus Linda Ikeji Social (LIS) pulling it off all the very same.
Even tech ‘heads’ who (seemingly) understand much better are scared to prophesy doom for Linda Ikeji Social.
– ? (@xylemic) November 1, 2016
LIS is using rewards consisting of shared advertisement revenue and $3 rewards per initial user-sourced news to catalyse engagement.
According to Linda Ikeji:
“There’s a great deal of money from advertising on social media, a great deal of brands put money on popular online platforms and we desire to share some of the cash we make on this platform with our users,”
The method appears to be very efficient. Barely two days after it initially released, the platform currently lays claim to over 50,000 users and counting.
Almost 50k users on LIS in 24hrs. Chuffed! Thanks guys! If you haven’t signed up, please join us on https://t.co/7vKviiDjzG
– Linda Ikeji Blog (@lindaikeji) November 2, 2016
And from all indicators, most of these users are not just nominal, they’re rather active.
Why Linda Ikeji Social might pull through
In all this, Linda Ikeji is not resting on her oars. She has currently started installing huge billboard campaigns to create interest and awareness around LIS.
Besides, if there’s something we have actually discovered from the whole story of Linda Ikeji, it’s not to ignore her audience. With an audience that is mainly driven by selfless love for the renowned blog writer, Linda appears to have acquired a set of follower to her course. While Linda Ikeji’s Blog (LIB) has prospered for nearly a years for this factor, the shared profits method will just serve to add brand-new sets of follower to this very same course.
However, running a social networking platform requires heavy financial investment in tech. This involves putting together a team of world class engineers to keep track of the platform daily. The site went offline briefly, hardly 2 hours after in released on Tuesday. Following that was an extended duration of over 12 hours where early adopters were not able to activate or login to their accounts. These are signs of how things could go incorrect if the tech side isn’t accorded due importance.
No doubt, LIS is still far from a completed item. The site still needs a great deal of enhancement in the location of use and engagement.
For example, Facebook algorithms are so effective that they can dictate the tone of one’s feed; either by making sure that the feeds include just the things particular to the user or by producing special functions that keep such user entirely engaged. This is currently doing not have in LIS. However, Linda Ikeji’s financially incentivised approach to user engagement may well prove effective in the long run.
I keep informing these “intellectual” to study the Linda Effect as a part of modern social sociology. https://t.co/q3xJzW5NDU
– Funmi Iyanda (@Funmilola) November 1, 2016
The media business twist
Indeed, LIS does take the mould of a social networking website. However, its real nature still remains elusive. While the failure to predict the true type of LIS is a bit distressing, it also what makes it distinct maybe.
In August, Linda Ikeji revealed she would be her company to include other forms of media like online TV network, an online radio station, a music site, and something else she called “LIS.” Nevertheless, the gesture was applauded. But truly, everyone was unaware about how this was going to happen.
But somehow, LIS speaks of Linda’s lofty intent and how she was going to bring them to fulfillment. Still at its early days, it stays to be seen what LIS will develop into, but there’s every possibility that it will be a parent platform to Linda Ikeji’s growing army of subsidiary companies; enabling her to integrate all of these functions in one single platform.
Being that the case, the possible stream of untapped wealth this will open for Linda Ikeji is actually terrifying. In all of this, one questions if LIB might well wind up as her least appealing platform.
While Linda Ikeji mentioned explicitly her intention to handle Facebook in Nigeria, the viability of that stays to be seen. For all we know, Facebook hosts a meagre 18 million of Nigeria’s 97 million strong web population. There just might be adequate area for both of them.
