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Can somebody tell me why Twitter, Instagram and all the other big social media sites do not offer something like hats (TF2) or weapon skins (CS:GO)? I am prett

Can somebody tell me why Twitter, Instagram and all the other big social media sites do not offer something like hats (TF2) or weapon skins (CS:GO)? I am pretty sure there are millions of people who would be totally happy to increase their social credibility with a platinum-twitter-supporter-star in their profile. Make people think that they are not a true Instagram professional without a diamond Instragram supporter badge on their profile. A basic silver supporter start costs 5$ a year and the exlusive diamond ones go for 100$ a year. There is not much effort in implementing this and if done right you have a constant stream of revenue.

throwaway2048 11y ago
The main reason that sort of model works for valve so well is threefold. Valve is at best, a medium sized company so its more worthwhile for them to bother from a profit per employee perspective (hats make them a lot of money in a relative sense, but it wouldn't be a notable blip on facebook or twitters radar) because... Valves market is almost 100% heavily committed and "entrenched" customers, people that have steam accounts worth $100s/$1000s, there is a good chance that they are already capturing most of the value in the "games hat market" dispite being only a fraction of the total game market. because... Valve is an extremely well liked and trusted company by their customers, likely because other players in the gaming space have been exploitative and abusive to truely mustache twirling comicbook villan levels. People have less worry sinking a lot of money into their platform because they both like them, and are generally of the opinion that even if they screw up, they usually make things right. How many people love facebook or twitter as a company the way people love valve? not many id warrent. It should be noted, hats started off as a thing at valve BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE COMPLAINING THERE WAS NO EASY WAY TO GIVE VALVE MORE MONEY. How many people are lining up to shower zuckerberg with more money? Its just not in the DNA of a company like facebook to engender that sort of rabbid fanboyism, maybe it was for twitter once upon a time, but they have burned community goodwill by the railcar-full.
- yoodenvranx 11y ago
  I think you are right, thx for the input! One exception I see is Instagram and the whole fitness model industry. These are people who are mostly just famous because they look beautiful amd sporty. Some of them earn money as a personal coach or by offering custom fitness programs. But none of them are truly "professional". I think if Instagram would offer some sort of Diamond-Instagram-supporter-badges those people would invest in this to look more professional. All their fame is based on Instagram so why not show their support? And if one fitness guy starts with it the other have to follow because they'd look "unprofessional" without such a badge. Also there are tons of rich people on Instagram flaunting their money and for them a Diamond-encrusted-Instagram-Supporter badge would just enhance their prestige. They could easily price the highest tier at something ridicously high like 500 $/year and those people would buy it just to enhance their prestige compared to their peers.
rhino369 11y ago
I think the market still feels like selling stuff isn't sexy. Worry about grabbing users and worry about monetization later. And there is real truth in that. But its a decade past their founding. Their growth is slowing. Another problem is that the "how to monetize" method is still just a slight variation on how Google and Facebook do it. I fear we are about to find out that all these companies hoping to monetize like Google and Facebook are going to find out they are all competing for the same pool of advertising spends. Wall street and VC's may start valuing users and user-engagement less and less.

throwaway2048 11y ago

The main reason that sort of model works for valve so well is threefold. Valve is at best, a medium sized company so its more worthwhile for them to bother from a profit per employee perspective (hats make them a lot of money in a relative sense, but it wouldn't be a notable blip on facebook or twitters radar) because... Valves market is almost 100% heavily committed and "entrenched" customers, people that have steam accounts worth $100s/$1000s, there is a good chance that they are already capturing most of the value in the "games hat market" dispite being only a fraction of the total game market. because... Valve is an extremely well liked and trusted company by their customers, likely because other players in the gaming space have been exploitative and abusive to truely mustache twirling comicbook villan levels. People have less worry sinking a lot of money into their platform because they both like them, and are generally of the opinion that even if they screw up, they usually make things right. How many people love facebook or twitter as a company the way people love valve? not many id warrent. It should be noted, hats started off as a thing at valve BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE COMPLAINING THERE WAS NO EASY WAY TO GIVE VALVE MORE MONEY. How many people are lining up to shower zuckerberg with more money? Its just not in the DNA of a company like facebook to engender that sort of rabbid fanboyism, maybe it was for twitter once upon a time, but they have burned community goodwill by the railcar-full.

yoodenvranx 11y ago
I think you are right, thx for the input! One exception I see is Instagram and the whole fitness model industry. These are people who are mostly just famous because they look beautiful amd sporty. Some of them earn money as a personal coach or by offering custom fitness programs. But none of them are truly "professional". I think if Instagram would offer some sort of Diamond-Instagram-supporter-badges those people would invest in this to look more professional. All their fame is based on Instagram so why not show their support? And if one fitness guy starts with it the other have to follow because they'd look "unprofessional" without such a badge. Also there are tons of rich people on Instagram flaunting their money and for them a Diamond-encrusted-Instagram-Supporter badge would just enhance their prestige. They could easily price the highest tier at something ridicously high like 500 $/year and those people would buy it just to enhance their prestige compared to their peers.

rhino369 11y ago

I think the market still feels like selling stuff isn't sexy. Worry about grabbing users and worry about monetization later. And there is real truth in that. But its a decade past their founding. Their growth is slowing. Another problem is that the "how to monetize" method is still just a slight variation on how Google and Facebook do it. I fear we are about to find out that all these companies hoping to monetize like Google and Facebook are going to find out they are all competing for the same pool of advertising spends. Wall street and VC's may start valuing users and user-engagement less and less.