There are some names associated with social media sites that most users would recognize, and Muhammed
Saleem is one of them. Known as one of the most influential users of the news aggregation site Digg, Saleem is one of four co-founders of a site launching this morning: Tip’d. The new site is yet another social media site, but focused on a specific niche (financial news), and bootstrapped with no outside funding.
Tip’d is launching at a time that’s both fortuitous and treacherous: With the current state of the global economy, interest in financial news is surging. At the same time, as investors become more cautious and companies cut back on expenses like acquisitions and advertising, it may be tough going for a start-up.
However, Tip’d has an ace up its sleeve: It’s launching at a time when yet another Digg user protest is underway, with many users upset about the banning of long-time and well-known Diggers.
The most obvious question for Saleem is how he got involved in a start-up that’s a competitor to the site where he’s spent so much time and effort. Saleem replies,
“I got involved with Tip’d because I believe that the site’s focus on one niche/vertical, given the global economy and the elections here in the U.S., is perfect. I think sites like Digg and Mixx give you an okay general purpose overview, but they hardly give you a comprehensive picture of what’s going on.”
He went on to compare the forecast for Tip’d:
“Niche social media as an investment: The problem with most social media sites is, they accept too much funding (e.g.: Digg), and then can’t monetize their low-value audience well (again: Digg). This makes it hard to make money by investing in social media.
“First, the investment was small (~$25,000), so we don’t need a $100M valuation to be a success. Secondly, we’re picking a niche (investing) where the audience is actually valuable ($10-50 CPMs is normal for investing Web sites vs. $.50 CPM on other social sites).”
The business plan for Tip’d is to begin advertising in three to six months, after building a community. Saleem and his cofounders are focused on long-term growth and sustainability, and may have the industry knowledge and skills to be a success. What remains to be seen is whether the Web needs or wants one more social media site, even as timely as Tip’d seems to be.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
There are already a number of “Digg-like” websites but this one has a great potential because of its single niche approach. Important business news will not be overshadowed by weird nonsense articles or media that gets somewhere on the top digged links.
Tip’d seems promising. I will definitely try this one. Thank you for sharing.
Very nice information about the social media, i like it very much.
I hope you will share your thoughts again with us.
Hard to find good social media site that focusing on financial news. I will definitely check Tip’d.
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I have been seeking a service like Tip’d. It looks like it has tons of potential and a good place for financial services to post their information.
Well i think both the things are totally different. I think social media is the only thing through which you can get a chance to connect to the world. Here you can get the lots of services. It is very sad that most of the people think that social media is a chat only.