Looks like another Caribbean start-up, F1rst Media, has begun the ramp up
process to launch, with 100,000 members being their target as reported in
Kelroy’s Geezam blog article entitled “F1rst
aims to be Caribbean Technology Trailblazer”!
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The difference with this Mobile Social Network is that like e-Media
Interactive run by CEO and founder Tyrone Wilson as chronicled in my blog article
entitled “e-Media
Interactive launches the First Caribbean IPTV Network - IPTV Venture Capitalism
in the Year of the Dragon”, F1rst is also owned by Caribbean Nationals. In
this case a quartet of Trinidadians with a shared childhood past in high school
who apparently kept in touch all this time:
1.
Kyle Maloney
2.
Nicolas Maloney
3.
Eesa Mohamed
4.
Kiev Wilkie
Apparently while all four were doing their Degrees in the US of A and UK,
the idea began to bubble. Later upon meeting with Yohance Maycock in Barbados
and Dwight Scott in Jamaica in 2011, the idea took shape and F1rst Media was
born. By December 2012, they had begun hiring staff and now boast a complement
of some 21 Caribbean Media Professionals with another 30 scattered across
places the original four had made business contacts, that being Bulgaria,
Indonesia and India. So says F1rst Media Product Marketing lead, Kris Granger.
So what exactly is F1rst Media?
- Yelp, Foursquare and Google+ tailor made for the Caribbean
From what I’ve read, it appears to be a Mobile Social Network equivalent
of Yelp, Foursquare and Google+ but with a business focus of helping disparate
businesses in the Caribbean connects. According to F1rst Media's creative
content specialist, Aisha Sylvester, quote: “F1rst is an online platform and
mobile application that helps people navigate the region. So if you want to get
information about any place, business, a doubles vendor in Trinidad to a pan
chicken vendor in Jamaica, you can get it there.”
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F1rst Media plans to use the current fervor for smartphones in Jamaica
and the Caribbean created by the DL600 and its companion the DL700 launched by
Telecom Provider Digicel as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Jamaicans fall in love with
Digicel's DL600 and DL700 during Christmas 2013 - Sub-US$100 smartphones
driving rapid smartphone adoption in Jamaica as Manufacturing is Possible” to jump-start their entry
into this lucrative Social Media Marketing business.
How F1rst Media Plans to make money – 1/3 population
of Caribbean Islands needed to achieve Critical Mass
Their money making strategy seems to be basically to develop clients and
get they to create Business Pages on their Social Media Website and then get
smartphone-toting peeps to rate their businesses and connect with them. So says
F1rst Media Director and Partner, Dwight Scott, quote: “At present, businesses
cannot decipher specifically and uniquely who are their customers. When we look
at some of the platforms that are available, they are static. Our boutique
platform, which allows users to find any business and any individuals
throughout the entire region, provides businesses with the option (for a fee)
to conduct promotions through email, text messages and Social media platforms”.
This can be anything from a check-in at a location (foursquare right
there!), a recommendation of a product or service sold at a location, even
pricing (Yelp right there!) and some IM (Instant Messaging) with Video and
Voice Chat capability (that Google right there!).
However, as a blogger myself that recently embedded Social Media Google+
Comment Box into my blog as noted in my blog article
entitled “How
to integrate a Facebook and Google+ Comment Box in Blogger to increase Blog
Traffic - Managing your Google+, Facebook and Blogger Profiles”, Social
Media’s promise of low-cost Product marketing is susceptible to the vagaries of
popularity.
If it “nah happen”
then you might as well be the man in the forest shouting but no-one is around
to hear, no matter how much SEO (Search Engine Optimization) you do. For F1rst
Media to be a hit, it has to literally be better at Social Media than Facebook
and Google+ or even new debutantes to the Mobile Social Network game Kik as
described in my blog
article entitled “Kik
hits the 100 million member mark - Open Source Mobile Rise of the Planet of the
Apes for Mobile Social Networks to develope smartphone OS Defense Against the
Dark Arts of Google+”.
Still, I guess then it’s really
a lot more like Yelp, Foursquare and Google+ then, but built deliberately to
facilitate businesses getting to know their customer better. If this involves
any invasion of privacy, then making money from advertising may not work out
well, especially if their size fails to reach critical mass of at least 1/3 of
the population of each Caribbean Country.
The will also have to deal with issues of how to authenticate and
identify Caribbean Nationals that Join the Mobile Social Network, or it might
end up like other Social Networks full of anonymous faceless individuals that
log in either from smartphones, Tablets or Laptops. A list of phone numbers
gained from such a Mobile Social Network isn’t much help to marketing to
clients in the Caribbean unless you can put a name and personality based on
their Mobile Social Network Profile.
It may very well end up utilizing cookies and the analytics gained by the
company being sold to Business that Join their Mobile Social Network. This as
many may initially join using their Desktop or Laptop computers, giving F1rst
Media the ability to track your browsing habits within the F1rst Media Mobile Social
Network.
E-Commerce is the moneymaker
for Mobile Social Networks – Mobile Money Digital Wallets Required
Albeit Caribbean and not too highly concerned about cyber security
issues, when it becomes a matter of money, there may be a problem. E-Commerce
is the way to go, both via monetizing Gaming on their Mobile Social Network as
well as Sales and Transactions across the Caribbean for physical goods.
To process Credit Cards for online Transactions, however, requires that
you use a Credit Card or Prepaid Debit Card such as Scotia
VISA Debit Card or CIBC VISA Debit Card and be connected via a
Third-Party Payment Gateway as explained in my blog article entitled “How to receive Payments online and spend it here in Jamaica
- If it doesn't make spendable cash it doesn't make sense to Work online or do E-Commerce”.
Worse, to receive payments online requires that
you have an International Prepaid Debit Card, as our local pair of Scotia VISA Debit Card and CIBC VISA Debit
Card can only allow you to spend online, not receive money.
Payoneer, an International Prepaid Debit Card
powered by MasterCard is currently the accepted Standard for Internationals
(persons outside of the US of A working for clients in the US) to receive Funds
from online purchase as noted in my blog article
entitled “Payoneer,
the US based Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card - How E-Commerce MSME's, Online
workers and Reggae or Dancehall Artiste can receive money via Paypal and spend
it in Jamaica”.
There are other alternatives to Payoneer, but currently they are the
standard in receiving money from E-Commerce online without the hassle of having
to wait several days for a Cheque from a Payment Gateway such as Paypal or
ClickBank to clear. I’ll be doing an article explaining who and how the other International Prepaid Debit Card Services work in the near future.
In the meantime, F1rst Media Director and
Partner, Dwight Scott, is urging Caribbean Nationals to lobby their respective
governments (actually the Banks too!) to allow Jamaica and other Caribbean
Nations that have an interest in E-Commerce to allow for direct transactions to
bank accounts in the Caribbean instead of the complex system of Payment Gateway
go-betweens quote: “We are anticipating legislation changes that will empower
our ambitions. We cannot allow legislation to remain static, we are going to
push it. But we first need the tribes of people to take the lobby to
governments”.
F1rst Media ahead of their time
– NCB’s Mobile Money and Remittances across the Caribbean may be their savior
This may well explain the reason why few Jamaican entrepreneurs have
decided to build their own E-Commerce Websites. As with renting a POS (Point of
Sale) Terminal, there are rental fees and costs associated with having these
International Prepaid Debit Cards that reduce the benefits of online sales,
especially when shipping costs are factored in.
There is still the coming of Mobile Money as stated in my blog article
entitled “JCCUL
get's approval from BOJ to launch their JCUES Mobile Money Platform - JCUES
Mobile Money Wolverine marks the Kick-Ass 2 beginning of a Cashless Society”.
There is even
the possibility that when NCB (National Commercial Bank) launches their Prepaid
VISA or possibly MasterCard Debit Card after having cut their relationship with
MoneyGram as predicted in my blog article entitled
“NCB
Under Pressure cuts ties with Remittance Agent MoneyGram - NCB using innovation
Edge to plan Mobile Money, Remittance and E-Commerce Triple Play Services by
September 2014”, it may be empowered to do Remittances and also E-Commerce
by directly receiving funds in Bank Accounts and even Mobile Money, opening up
local and even Regional E-Commerce opportunities in Jamaica.
I’m really
skeptical F1rst Media Mobile Social
Network will work, as
it seems a tad bit overzealous and optimistic for a Marketing Company to launch
with their own Mobile Social Network that has less members than Facebook or
even Google+, slated to beat Facebook by 2016 as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Google+
is expanding rapidly and is set to beat Facebook by 2016 - Batman the Dark
Knight Rises as the new Social Network King”.
Worse, the real
moneymaker, E-Commerce, won’t be in place for yet another year or so, meaning
that their company is burning through a pile of cash possibly acquired from
Private Equity i.e. VC (Venture Capitalist) partners forged in the respective
European countries.
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