Posts Tagged ‘hi5’

hi5 integrates widgetbox custom widget galleries, partner for OpenSocial widget distribution

August 26th, 2008

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Hi5 last report about its 2008 outlook was quite positive since it showed a surge in growth and user engagement. widgetbox on his own regard launched its Widget Custom Galleries offering as a way to evolve and extend distribution of widgets beyond the widgetbox site and into Social Networks or pretty much any site that wants to do so. the more integrated version of said custom widget galleries were reserved for partnerships or special deals.

hi5 decided to give Widgetbox custom galleries a try. but widgetbox may have looked at a opportunity and a partnership was then formed. the deal gives hi5 a more integrated version widgetbox custom galleries and it gives hi5 the chance to allow OpenSocial widget and widget-app developers that are using hi5 for their Widgets and widget-app as a springboard for distribution thanks to this deal with Widgetbox.

If hi5 is to be believed, there have been at least 2 million widgetbox widget added to hi5 and that has resulted in 65,000 subscription to widgets. the clarity of what exactly does these numbers mean slightly eludes me. if a hi5 representative would like to clear them up for me i would gladly update his post.

in the end it is quite a good set of deals for both hi5 and widgetbox. widgetbox assures  growth along  reach and influence gains for their Widget Distribution network by partnering with the most promising in terms of growth Social Network and hi5 gains even more ways to ensure engagement not only from its users but also from the developers that take a chance with hi5 and its OpenSocial based platform. the most interesting widget the hi5 platform has produced so far is the pixverse pixchat widget, which was so good in hi5 eyes that they ended up acquiring it almost two months ago.

Hi5 Widgetbox

via Mashable

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Posted in Widget Development, Widget Distribution, Widget Platform

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Hi5 growing faster and thriving thanks to engagement

July 24th, 2008

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According to hi5 numbers they have grown 79% in the course of 2008 and have also gained 25 million visits in that period of time.

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This put them ahead of all of the other social networks in terms of the usa market. some think that is is nowhere enough because hi5 has not been clear enough of the registered users number and because that number is of course less than half from what the leading Social Network got.

In my case i don`t think it is needed to compare hi5 to MySpace or Facebook. not anymore. i think that hi5 is in a very specific breed of social network only comparable to Orkut and its cousin Friendster because the focus the users have given to the social network. friendster and orkut have triumphed in very specific markets. Friendster is now the #1 Social Network in Asia not based in Asia. Orkut is the #1 Social Network for India and Brazil and Hi5 from what i have now checked is the #1 Social Network in Mexico having finally surpassed Myspace and it is already a close second in Latin America. so you got that these Social Networks are getting supreme in key markets of the world while still growing Globally and in the US. but i think that the way they should be seen is from the market they happen to dominate and then look to how they are doing in the usa and so on. not the other way around. simply because even the Top 2 usa social networks (myspace and Facebook) already got more users outside of usa and this trend is accelerating.

Hi5 even when compared to Orkut ad Friendster is even more outgoing in its theme of letting friends meet and to a level it is used as a springboard to going out in dates and friend meeting in real terms. this has let hi5 to develop its best differentiation when comparing it to the rest: Engagement

hi5 users show a unprecedented engagement with apps and its profile keeping it open in a tab all day long while doing everything else. this engagement is what is behind the recent acquisition of pixverse and its social graphed hi5 chat app that hi5 sees as a opportunity to engage even more with its users so they don`t have to jump into Live Messenger (#1 IM in Mexico and Latino America) and get to communicate with their friends.

I wish hi5 focuses in accelerating the evolution of its App Platform and gets to do a better categorization of its apps in order to separate profile bling from widget-apps to not fall in the mistake bebo has got into. otherwise i think they are doing mighty fine and enhancing instant communication for its users is half the ticket to a continuous growth that could take them to a 150% of growth for the whole year if played right.

That is why hi5 should be seen and one of the greener pastures for Widgets and Widget-app developers. another reason is that hi5 is a OpenSocial partned social network. something that makes it the perfect target for MySpace Widget-App porting.

hi5

via Mashable

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Posted in Widget Platform

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Hi5 App Platform beats MySpace, Friendster and Bebo in terms of Viral Spread, the why

April 14th, 2008

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Venture Beat and Social Times covered today, the news that the recently launched Hi5 App Platform have beat all the app the platforms in terms of app viral spread in the userbase.

Just 10 days ago i wrote about HI5 App Platform launch and in that posts relies part of the answer on the why hi5 has archived such a huge boost in their userbase.

1.-Hi5 userbase is very used to the constant notification by hi5 via e-mail and that has raised lots of eye brows in the past because of they almost spammy nature

2.-The market where hi5 reigns is one where E-mail still reigns supreme as the prime form of communication as in a 99.9% compared to other markets.

3.-Before the launch of hi5 app platform, there was pretty much nothing, as in nothing-nothing. hi5 users had to conform with mindless bling and 3 apps that more than often didn´t even worked as they should.

I am in a better position to judge these 3 points because i am in the country where hi5 is close to be the king of all Social Networks. so i have seen a userbase starving for things to add to their profiles and way to make their profiles as “blinged” or “Pimped out” as their matching MySpace profiles.

The situation was so dire, that Friendster and Bebo could be seen as Platform with a dozen times more choices than Hi5. if that don´t puts it into perspective. i think nothing will.

Now, how viral hi5 has gone?,. well RockYou app “SuperFive” has been installed 2 million times compared to the top MySpace app that has not even broke 200k… that is over 10 whole times more than the Top MySpace current top App.

I think that after this news, many Widget, and widget-app developers will turn their eyes to hi5 in a more kind way.

At this moment there are now 229 listed app in Hi5 public gallery. so, time to take hi5 serious don´t it?

Hi5

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Posted in Widget Development, Widget Platform

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Hi5 OpenSocial based Platform is now in the open

April 4th, 2008

hi5

Hi5 is a Social Netowrk i know very well because at this moment it is the second biggest social network in Mexico.

Only around 50,000 users behind of MySpace. So it is pretty close to being a tie and i can picture that Hi5 will be able to surpass MySpace for good this year. why? because the worst hi5 got up to now is that it has very few customization options and also very limited widget support and offerings.

This may finally change because they now have finally launched their OpenSocial based platform. this means that MySpace Apps and from other Social Networks supporting OpenSocial can be ported around in just hrs or no more than 3 days. that is a huge advancement.

Also that anyone will be able o develop widgets and widget apps for Hi5, and hi5 got a userbase desirable to any Widget maker and Widget-app maker that wants to put their efforts on OpenSocial

Hi5 needed this, even if they still are too Friendster like for their own good. i mean, Hi5 remains seen with the roots of what founded Friendster. and that that was Dating Sites withthe form factors of  Match.com and people use hi5 as a way to get dates and find new friends thanks to friends of friends.

In mexico and latinoamerica people don`t know friendster at all, the grandaddy of the social networks of today and that is because Hi5 it is indeed the most dominant Social Network in Mexico and Latinoamerica along with MySpace, Orkut (brazil), Sonicos (argentina) , Tagged, Netlog and Live Spaces (if you see it from a social network angle). Facebookoon the other hand is now the fastest growing Top Social Netowrk right now in Mexico and in Latinoamerica but i  doubt it can surpass MySpace and Hi5. so it will have  to comform to the third place.

I always have used Friendster as the way to analize Hi5, and that is not a coincidence. if they decided to merge they would not have any culture shock,style or form factor issues. they are that alike. other coincidence is that Hi5 is not known in the USA but is huge in Mexico and Latinoamerica, Firendster has vanished from USA mindshare but it is Huge in all Asia. so the analogy of they being the most alike top social neworks that proved popular briefly in ther local market but later went to have more than 80% of their userbase outside of it is indeed a interesting parallelism they have.

But returning to Hi5 and Hi5 new platform, i just wish they finally do good and catch up with everything Friendster has and that it is benefited by Developers porting Widget-Apps directly from MySpace.

Hi5 Platform Release Plan

Hi5

via ReadWriteWeb (Marshall Kirkpatrick)

 

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Posted in Widget Development, Widget Platform

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