Startup: how to cross mobile and social networks, stop worrying and learn to attract people
It's about publishing MMS messages on social networks and blogs. No wonder that the idea of sending MMS to social networks occurred to me - no. It is surprising that it nevertheless received its embodiment, implemented and successfully works. Initially, it was like a fable about the swan, cancer and pike: mobile operators and social networks, driven by completely different goals and development priorities, crawled like earthworms from an orange can with the word PostOK. But first things first..
The idea itself occurred to me more than two and a half years ago, during my meeting with the most stripped of the federal operators of mobile communications. The fact is that MMS, in fact, is a stillborn messaging standard: in due time, large amounts were invested in infrastructure development, and the return was minimal. The entire number of subscribers of the said operator who use MMS every day can be transferred by the Volgograd metro at a time. The consequence of this was the unfortunate fact that the period of return on investment of operators in MMS went far enough beyond the limits of the Mayan calendar.
Our meeting, in fact, was devoted to finding solutions to this problem. The top management of the operator did not want to put up with this “epic failure” and set the task for middle managers to find a solution, and these managers addressed this issue to my employer and, actually, to me.
')
Then, everyone really liked the idea of posting photos and videos to social networks by sending MMS: networks were in vogue, growing at the rate they were growing in wildlife, except for bacteria colonies, and posting and commenting on photos and videos in their accounts was the basis social communication. The MMS standard assumes the transfer of messages up to 1024 Kb in size, and these are practically any photos, about 20 seconds of video and 756 characters of text. VKontakte also took the idea with a bang, but their main condition was “non-discriminatory user access to the service”. Translated into Russian, this meant that the majority of social network users had to simultaneously access this service. This was a stumbling block: it was almost impossible to gather four mobile operators at one negotiating table, which were in tough competition, although I talked about this separately with each one.
The first karmic death of the idea, as it should be in Buddhism, was the day of its rebirth. Soon after the events described, I met a friend and a classmate, described the project to him in detail, and we decided to implement the idea ourselves. From that day to the present, the project develops at its own expense. The biggest investments are joining partner programs of telecom operators. No other expenses in the project (servers, traffic, salaries) were as big and ephemeral as these. The reason is simple - raising the entry threshold for content providers and, apparently, they really need money. This is similar to the situation with international roaming that has been well lit in the press lately.
So that you have the most complete understanding of the project, I will allow myself a few words about the technology and technology solutions. Humanities may skip the next four boring paragraphs.
Initially, the solution is based on parsing (eng. Parsing - analysis, analysis) of telecommunication protocols designed to transmit MMS messages in communication networks: usually MM7, less often ParlayX. Our solution is functionally divided into two independent parts, which we conditionally call “parser” and “poster”. This is done for reasons of reliability and performance. Why - now it will be clear.
The parser accepts MMS messages from mobile operators (MTS, Megafon, Beeline, Tele2, Utel, ETK, BWC and Kyivstar), parses them into identification and content components. Identification: IP address of the operator’s MMS center and subscriber’s MSISDN (phone number). Content components: photo or video and text. If you put several photos, several videos, or photos and videos together in one MMS, the Baby Parser, in its current implementation, recognizes only the first multimedia element and safely goes to search for text. While it does not bother us.
The task of the “poster” is to identify the necessary user by identification data and correctly distribute the content components of the original message in its profiles on social networking sites and blogs. At the moment, the system is friends with Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte. One incoming MMS message is displayed by the system into all authorized user profiles at once. Since the poster and the parser are physically separated into different servers, but connected in a cluster, the system works both quickly and reliably.
However, this decision did not come immediately. There was a time when both parts lived on the same server and were friends through the database. Very quickly, this decision has ceased to be beautiful. With each new operator, with each new social network, with each new message, the base noticeably passed. Heavy content stored directly in the tables made it look like a warehouse of cast iron radiators. And here, once, at the request of the statistics system, the database “lay down” for several hours. Having built “workaround”, we decided to completely redo the system architecture, distribute key elements across different servers and store only links to heavy content in the database. This allowed us to make a horizontally scalable system with a starting capacity of 3 mps. All the boring part is over =)
Now that we have shaken up the excesses of the system, it's time to look at the tip of the iceberg - design and user interface.
Everything is pretty standard: how could they have described the essence of the service and put a big “Create an account” button. There is a little funny promotional video home video and live feed of the latest posts.
When registering, the system asks you to enter the mobile phone number from which the MMS will be published by the user, then the system will send an SMS message with the code that you will need to enter next when validating the account. This is, in fact, the standard in this kind of systems.
On the main page of the authorized zone, management of account activation in social networks has been made. First of all, the user needs to associate a PostOK account with accounts on social networks. The authorization process is quite simple and automated as much as possible. It is enough to press the “Allow” or “Allow” button once for each project. Except, of course, VKontakte. In this social network, you must re-authorize the phone number in a special application, which is generally sad, but expected.
Also, on the main page of the authorized zone, you can find the privacy management of your information directly on PostOK. There are 3 levels of privacy:
1. My posts are available to all, the author I
2. My posts are available to all, the author is anonymous
3. My posts are available only to me.
The content component of the project itself is formed from the first two groups of users, turning it into “a little more than just an MMS gateway”. Posts of these users are available on the menu item "All tape". When you select it, a mosaic of thumbnails of photos and videos appears in chronological order or in order of popularity.
To determine the popularity of posts, there is a simple mechanism that adds the number of “likes”, the number of views and the number of comments under a certain post. You can subscribe to posts of a specific user, then they will be reflected in the “My Feed” section, which is an illustrated mini-blog:
The logic of the mechanism for subscribing to posts of a particular user is similar to twitter, and I must say that it is very informative for some of the users to “follow”.
I admit, initially, a year and a half ago, we had rather high expectations related to this project and its monetization. The main reason was the obvious way to get money - premium rate MMS. But, unfortunately, these expectations were not fully realized.
Now only 3 operators are in commercial operation: MTC, Megafon and ETK. The cost of sending one MMS message for their subscribers is 8.5 rubles with all taxes. For subscribers of other operators, the service is provided free of charge, or rather, at the usual rate for sending an MMS message. For different operators, this amount varies from 5 to 7.5 rubles per message, including taxes. We get nothing from this money, but, on the other hand, we pay nothing to the operators.
We are well aware that now the trends in the market of mobile devices are not in our favor and that the share of smartphones and tablets is growing at the same pace as the social networks themselves grew a couple of years ago. Nevertheless, we have our niche of users and remain one of the most convenient and quickest ways to share what we saw with all our friends.
Strategically, we aim to become the most convenient platform for mobile blogging, and we are already working on expanding the ways and increasing the convenience of mobile posting: we develop our mobile client for the main platforms, alternative ways to publish posts via SMTP.
That's all. To each habretyanin who read to this place - sincere personal thanks. Yet many letters have accumulated over the two years of work on the project. Those who want to see the project live are welcome .
The birth of an idea
The idea itself occurred to me more than two and a half years ago, during my meeting with the most stripped of the federal operators of mobile communications. The fact is that MMS, in fact, is a stillborn messaging standard: in due time, large amounts were invested in infrastructure development, and the return was minimal. The entire number of subscribers of the said operator who use MMS every day can be transferred by the Volgograd metro at a time. The consequence of this was the unfortunate fact that the period of return on investment of operators in MMS went far enough beyond the limits of the Mayan calendar.
Our meeting, in fact, was devoted to finding solutions to this problem. The top management of the operator did not want to put up with this “epic failure” and set the task for middle managers to find a solution, and these managers addressed this issue to my employer and, actually, to me.
')
Then, everyone really liked the idea of posting photos and videos to social networks by sending MMS: networks were in vogue, growing at the rate they were growing in wildlife, except for bacteria colonies, and posting and commenting on photos and videos in their accounts was the basis social communication. The MMS standard assumes the transfer of messages up to 1024 Kb in size, and these are practically any photos, about 20 seconds of video and 756 characters of text. VKontakte also took the idea with a bang, but their main condition was “non-discriminatory user access to the service”. Translated into Russian, this meant that the majority of social network users had to simultaneously access this service. This was a stumbling block: it was almost impossible to gather four mobile operators at one negotiating table, which were in tough competition, although I talked about this separately with each one.
The first karmic death of the idea, as it should be in Buddhism, was the day of its rebirth. Soon after the events described, I met a friend and a classmate, described the project to him in detail, and we decided to implement the idea ourselves. From that day to the present, the project develops at its own expense. The biggest investments are joining partner programs of telecom operators. No other expenses in the project (servers, traffic, salaries) were as big and ephemeral as these. The reason is simple - raising the entry threshold for content providers and, apparently, they really need money. This is similar to the situation with international roaming that has been well lit in the press lately.
Filling
So that you have the most complete understanding of the project, I will allow myself a few words about the technology and technology solutions. Humanities may skip the next four boring paragraphs.
Initially, the solution is based on parsing (eng. Parsing - analysis, analysis) of telecommunication protocols designed to transmit MMS messages in communication networks: usually MM7, less often ParlayX. Our solution is functionally divided into two independent parts, which we conditionally call “parser” and “poster”. This is done for reasons of reliability and performance. Why - now it will be clear.
The parser accepts MMS messages from mobile operators (MTS, Megafon, Beeline, Tele2, Utel, ETK, BWC and Kyivstar), parses them into identification and content components. Identification: IP address of the operator’s MMS center and subscriber’s MSISDN (phone number). Content components: photo or video and text. If you put several photos, several videos, or photos and videos together in one MMS, the Baby Parser, in its current implementation, recognizes only the first multimedia element and safely goes to search for text. While it does not bother us.
The task of the “poster” is to identify the necessary user by identification data and correctly distribute the content components of the original message in its profiles on social networking sites and blogs. At the moment, the system is friends with Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte. One incoming MMS message is displayed by the system into all authorized user profiles at once. Since the poster and the parser are physically separated into different servers, but connected in a cluster, the system works both quickly and reliably.
However, this decision did not come immediately. There was a time when both parts lived on the same server and were friends through the database. Very quickly, this decision has ceased to be beautiful. With each new operator, with each new social network, with each new message, the base noticeably passed. Heavy content stored directly in the tables made it look like a warehouse of cast iron radiators. And here, once, at the request of the statistics system, the database “lay down” for several hours. Having built “workaround”, we decided to completely redo the system architecture, distribute key elements across different servers and store only links to heavy content in the database. This allowed us to make a horizontally scalable system with a starting capacity of 3 mps. All the boring part is over =)
Wrapper
Now that we have shaken up the excesses of the system, it's time to look at the tip of the iceberg - design and user interface.
Home Page:
Everything is pretty standard: how could they have described the essence of the service and put a big “Create an account” button. There is a little funny promotional video home video and live feed of the latest posts.
Registration page:
When registering, the system asks you to enter the mobile phone number from which the MMS will be published by the user, then the system will send an SMS message with the code that you will need to enter next when validating the account. This is, in fact, the standard in this kind of systems.
Authorized zone:
On the main page of the authorized zone, management of account activation in social networks has been made. First of all, the user needs to associate a PostOK account with accounts on social networks. The authorization process is quite simple and automated as much as possible. It is enough to press the “Allow” or “Allow” button once for each project. Except, of course, VKontakte. In this social network, you must re-authorize the phone number in a special application, which is generally sad, but expected.
Also, on the main page of the authorized zone, you can find the privacy management of your information directly on PostOK. There are 3 levels of privacy:
1. My posts are available to all, the author I
2. My posts are available to all, the author is anonymous
3. My posts are available only to me.
The content component of the project itself is formed from the first two groups of users, turning it into “a little more than just an MMS gateway”. Posts of these users are available on the menu item "All tape". When you select it, a mosaic of thumbnails of photos and videos appears in chronological order or in order of popularity.
To determine the popularity of posts, there is a simple mechanism that adds the number of “likes”, the number of views and the number of comments under a certain post. You can subscribe to posts of a specific user, then they will be reflected in the “My Feed” section, which is an illustrated mini-blog:
The logic of the mechanism for subscribing to posts of a particular user is similar to twitter, and I must say that it is very informative for some of the users to “follow”.
Monetization
I admit, initially, a year and a half ago, we had rather high expectations related to this project and its monetization. The main reason was the obvious way to get money - premium rate MMS. But, unfortunately, these expectations were not fully realized.
Now only 3 operators are in commercial operation: MTC, Megafon and ETK. The cost of sending one MMS message for their subscribers is 8.5 rubles with all taxes. For subscribers of other operators, the service is provided free of charge, or rather, at the usual rate for sending an MMS message. For different operators, this amount varies from 5 to 7.5 rubles per message, including taxes. We get nothing from this money, but, on the other hand, we pay nothing to the operators.
We are well aware that now the trends in the market of mobile devices are not in our favor and that the share of smartphones and tablets is growing at the same pace as the social networks themselves grew a couple of years ago. Nevertheless, we have our niche of users and remain one of the most convenient and quickest ways to share what we saw with all our friends.
Strategically, we aim to become the most convenient platform for mobile blogging, and we are already working on expanding the ways and increasing the convenience of mobile posting: we develop our mobile client for the main platforms, alternative ways to publish posts via SMTP.
That's all. To each habretyanin who read to this place - sincere personal thanks. Yet many letters have accumulated over the two years of work on the project. Those who want to see the project live are welcome .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/114756/
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