Did Facebook succeed because of exclusivity?
I don’t think so.
Facebook succeeded because of density.
Density for achieving Network Effect
And density is an important concept for products looking to achieve a the network effect.
Density in the sense that there are a lot of people, near each other, that started to use Facebook. The value and success of Facebook is that when you sign up or log in, there are relevant people to you for you to look through.
Thought Experiment: Facebook without Density
Suppose Facebook had started as a university system, open to anyone in any college. The first 100, or 500 people, who sign up, most in different places, don’t have any friends and don’t see anything on their news feed. What if I recruited 50 people I know all over the place to sign up, and they each recruited 50 people from all over the place. In the end I would still likely have a small network!
Successful Experiment: Facebook with Density
Do the same experiment, but now restrict it to inviting 50 people from the same university. And then they each recruited 50 people from the same university. I probably know or interact with a lot of those 2,500 new people. Success.
Now what?
For Minglle, density is key. Word of mouth spreads rapidly & to the right people.
The conference space gives Minglle an opportunity to achieve immediate density of users who need to network with each other.