Web 2.0Business Opportunity Analysis

Prepared by: Dustyn Brown Jen-Wei Hung Chao-Yin (Joanne) Wu Amee Parikh Long (George) Zhang

Advisor : Prof. Brian ButlerDate: 4/17/2007

Agenda

• Matrix

• Cervical Cancer

• Smoking/Weight loss

• Mature Network

• Acquisition Opportunity

• Engagement Metric

Matrix Purpose

• The matrix is divided based on GSK brands corresponding to social networks and websites grouped by segment– Examples: general sites, mature sites, health

sites, fashion sites etc.

• From the large quantities of information on the matrix, promising case studies and business opportunities were picked and studied in greater detail

Cervical Cancer

• Requirements for starting a network– Developing a core user base with an interest

in spreading the word• Sneezers – people who have initiative to tell

friends

– Software infrastructure• Either developed in house or via technology

partner

– Meaningful topic to initially center discussion around

Cancer Discussion

• What’s out there now?– http://www.mycancerplace.com/

• Social network for cancer survivors and loved ones• Functions as educational and informative support

cancer related to cancer

– http://lchelp.org/• Support groups such as lchelp for various forms of

cancer – function more as message boards or “groups” than social networks

Potential Issues

• The cervical cancer community is not large enough to support a social network– According to the American Cancer Society,

11,150 cases of Cervical Cancer are projected to be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2007

• 3,670 cases resulting in death

– Between 1955 and 1992, number of deaths due to cervical cancer has dropped by 74%

Alternatives• Partner with a technology company (similar

to Nike partnering with Google on Joga social network) to start a social network around cancer prevention and awareness– Not just cervical cancer – too small of a population – it’s

questionable whether it fits a “meaningful topic to center discussion around” for a large enough group to develop a full fledged network

• Acquire mycancerplace.com– Site opened in July 2006– No statistics available on user base – although appears to

be extremely small

Recommendation

• While acquiring / starting a general cancer social network makes sense, a modified cervical cancer site seems best

• Structure it similar to a site like lchelp.com– Feature information about disease, a message board,

plenty of referral links in lieu of a social network– Current five year survival rate for early stage cervical

cancer is 92%; overall 72%• There is a community of necessary cervical cancer

survivors

Smoking / Weight Loss

• Smoking cessation and weight loss are both popular topics on the Internet.– Many blogs focus on these topics– Many weight control or smoking cessation

organization websites provide free info

• Many large websites such as Yahoo, about.com or, webMD.com host sections or communities for both topics

• Most smoking cessation or weight loss sites are content-oriented instead of social networking oriented

• Smoking cessation or weight loss services often offer group therapy.

• Smoking cessation or weight loss communities tend to be more cohesive and have tangible goals rather than just interest sharing.

• Offer calendar or content to track smoking or weight loss history

Smoking / Weight Loss

Smoking / Weight Loss• Potential Partners

– Weight loss• diet.com

– Smoking cessation• Quitnet.com

– Both• Yahoo health

• Possible cooperation– Product testimony campaign– Smoking cessation or weight loss competition– Community building

Smoking / Weight Loss – diet.com

• Rich diet content and social networking functions (personal weight blog, podcast, forumn)

• Highly focused on US market (85% traffic from US)

• Increasing traffic (Alexa reach 0.0155%, 3 monsth avg up 175%)

• Also partnered with WSJ, MSN Fitness and People Magazine

Smoking / Weight Loss – QuitNet

• Launched in 1995, QuitNet is the Web's original quit smoking site. QuitNet is owned by Healthways and operates in association with Boston University School of Public Health.

Smoking / Weight Loss – Yahoo Health

• Most popular portal website

• High traffic– Alexa daily traffic reach : 30%

• Already has existing similar partnership (P&G Capessa – community for women health)

Smoking / Weight Loss – Takeaway

• Smoking cessation/weight loss information or communities are widespread in various health-related websites so partnership with websites will access more audiences than acquiring single website.

• Most smoking cessation/weight loss website/communities provide weight/ smoking functions which could be product promotion partnership focus.

Mature Network

•Growing SeniorsBy 2030, the number of Americans aged 65 and older will more than double to 71 million older Americans, comprising roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population. Increasing demands on the health services.

•Growing Silver Surfer 76 million aging boomers (born in 1946-1964), who gained Web knowledge in the workplace, are forming a "silver tsunami" that will dramatically increase the older online population.

Mature Network – Objectives

• Reach more senior people in target segment with fewer resources.

• Create Word-of-Mouth among seniors.

• Maintain GSK’s reputation in healthcare.

• Pull market – customer pulling things toward themselves

Mature Network – Eons.com

• Potential Strategy alliance with Eons.com Eons.com is a new, full-fledged social network

and information portal for baby boomers, encouraging them to celebrate life, get things done, learn and connect with other people over the age of 50.

Eons.com Traffic Analysis

Mature Network

Advertising alliance with Eons• Banner ads• Text ads • Cost: The minimum advertising campaign on Eons is $10,000.

This campaign would include a mix of text and banner ads that have an average CPM (cost per thousand impressions) of $15.

Content Alliance with Eons

• e-Newsletter

• Health Index

• Health Map

Mature Network

Acquisition- Selection Criteria

• Can cover several brands or product lines

• Communities : balance of quantity and quality

• Established reputation and credibility among the target users

• Bonus: Good existing and potential technology capability for the web2.0 applications

Acquisition Analysis (Tool: Matrix)

• Good for cooperation, not for acquisition– General website, Fashion, Women

• Niche, good for cooperation, but need to watch out for growth potential– Parent/kids, Senior, Niche community

• Good for acquisition– General health– Niche health

Target – Dailystrength.org• Health based social

network with niche communities Comprehensive support

• Good traffic• Established by three

veterans with 20 years experience– Strong leadership

experience

Why?• Private• Good traffic, user base.

Broad segment• Community of

communities

To note:• Valuation?

– Discounted cash flow– Newcomer in

fledgling industry

Target – Patientslikeme.com• Semi niche• Validated support- clinic.

– Partnerships with doctors, pharmaceutical companies and medical device companies

• Good traffic• Entrepreneurial- 3 MIT

engineers• 5 M in Venture Capital

funding – Series A

Why?• Semi niche segment

To note:– Valuation- Discounted

Cash Flow ?– Newcomer in fledgling

industry– Matter and segment

growth– IPO better off for

founders?

Target – http://weight-loss.fitness.com/

• Started by Jelsoft Enterprises• UK based company started in 2000• Has a community builder software and has

established several communities on the same • Weight-loss.fitness is one of them with a traffic

rank of 10,000 (weightwatchers.com is about 4000 in rank)

• It is the most visited after weightwatchers.com in weight loss support forums

• Has 12,000+ members

Target – Diabetesforums.com

• Started by Jelsoft Enterprises

• Community structure: Message board

• Good for niche (small)

• has 7000+ members.

• most popular Chat and forum site for diabetes according to alexa.com

• Potential to give information about various drugs and links to GSK information is high

Recommendations

• Acquiring websites is a superior alternative because infrastructure, image and community support is already in place

• There also exist many opportunities of collaboration with websites like ivillage ( for women communities), eons (mature segment), about.com/health (OTC drugs)

• The final “fit” of a social network and a brand image building depends on the engageability of the content with the audience. The value gained would be proportional to growth and active participation of community members.

Engagement Metrics

• Engagement is an estimate of the degree and depth of visitor interaction on the site against a clearly defined set of goals.

• Given all this, the visitor engagement metric is composed of six sub-metrics, each of which can be examined individually to provide context to the larger calculation. The six sub-metrics are:

• Click-Depth Index: Percent of visitor sessions of "n" or more pages • Recency Index: Percent of visitor sessions occurring in the last

"small n" weeks • Duration Index: Percent of visitor sessions of "n" or more minutes • Brand Index: Percent of visitor sessions originating directly or

originating from search engine searches for terms like "eric t. peterson" and "web analytics demystified", etc.

• Blog Index: Ratio of blog reading sessions to all sessions • Conversion Index: In this case, session- or order-based

conversion

Thank you!

Questions?