Social media is a relatively young but rapidly growing industry. We define this industry generally as the online platforms we interact with every day, think Facebook, Google, Instagram, Whatsapp. Arguably, it is the defining industry in what is being called the current ‘digital age’, having infiltrated almost every aspect of modern life. With the world’s information available at our fingertips, everything feels easier and more convenient. Yet this convenience has come at a cost and has rendered us increasingly dependent on this technology – the first place we turn when we are bored, lonely, curious, even afraid, is our phones and the virtual world it gives us access to.
Almost all of these services are free, at least on the surface, however there are billions of dollars being made by these companies every year. How? Data and the attention economy. Algorithms embedded in these platforms are designed to keep your attention locked on them as long as possible, keeping you focused on ads and other media. They naturally amplify extreme viewpoints, conspiracy theories, tribalism, online bullying and self-image issues by tapping into vulnerabilities in the human psyche. We do not get to choose what our newsfeed show us and yet it is estimated we spend ~2.5 hours per day on it, subconsciously absorbing everything we see. Furthermore, everything we do online; every page you visit, the products you buy, the people you speak to and your general preferences are valuable data that are harvested and frequently sold to the highest bidder.
Some key facts:
| Facebook & Instagram users[1] | ~2B |
| Daily time spent on phone in America[2] | 5.9hrs |
| Size of Big Data industry[3] | $42B |
| Estimated # of people addicted to internet and social media[4] | 210 million |
| Primary source of news for Americans[5] | Social media |
These are staggering numbers whose effects we are yet to fully understand, but the change in our public discourse in the last decade has become ever more apparent. Political views are highly polarised (Brexit, Trump), flat earth conspiracy theories abound and social media addiction rates are through the roof.
Whilst Social media and the internet have undeniably made life more enjoyable and convenient for many of us, there is a darker side to these apps whose effects on society are more pernicious. With this in mind, we have identified three UN Sustainable Development Goals which adequately capture the problems described above, as follows:
- Quality Education: How much of our time spent on social media are we/could we be educating ourselves through reading news, articles, or other productive media vs. simply scrolling through our friends’ edited holiday pictures? Could social media play a bigger role in educating kids?
- Responsible consumption and production: Is this industry promoting responsible consumption of its products?
- Peace, Justice and strong institutions: How big of a role has social media played in swaying elections and undermining democratic institutions? (Brexit, Trump, Cambridge Analytica)
Current efforts within the industry to address these issues are having a small but limited impact. Technological ethicist and former Google employee, Tristan Harris, has led a movement aimed at ‘Realigning technology with humanity’ attempting to address the ‘mind-hacking’ of these technologies. Further efforts to regulate externally have been equally ineffective, as innovation within the tech industry easily outpaces any attempts at legislation. Industry regulation is touted as government interference in the free market and stifling of free speech. In August 2018, Mark Zuckerburg was hauled in front of congress to explain Facebook’s role in the 2016 US elections to an audience of elderly men who clearly knew little about the internet let alone Facebook’s operating model.
And yet now a generation is being raised who have never known a world without social media, and whose lives, education, relationships and political views are increasingly influenced by the newsfeed they stare at roughly 2.5 hours a day. We would all like to use our phones less, but as we continue to lose this battle, the power of these companies is becoming increasingly unwieldly. With this in mind, we have identified a number of Business Model Innovations which we believe could help tackle these issues and create happier, healthier more informed societies.
Tykn: Identify management for the world’s “invisible people”
Tykn, based in The Hague, is an identity management platform built on blockchain to support the estimated 1.2 billion people globally who lack formal identification. Many of these individuals are refugees of natural disasters, war, or other political problems. Tykn provides a service to public and private institutions to issue a digital identity wallet. This wallet allows individuals to access services or transact in the same manner as if they had traditionally issued forms of documentation.
Tykn’s solution addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goal of Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. As political instability, armed conflict, and environmental catastrophes increase, nation states continue to lose legitimacy over the lives of many individuals. Identification is vital to access basic services needed to stabilize people. While social media has created a form digital identity for most people, this is the first attempt to imbue that digital identity with the documentation power of a government.
Tykn vs. Traditional Models:
Existing models for identity management have failed to bridge the gap between the digital world and the reality of undocumented people. Typically issues by government entities, offline identities usually take the form of passports or national identity cards. However, these are not available to people in politically unstable situations. Furthermore, they lack portability between governments as well as resiliency in the face of governmental failures.
In contrast, social media networks have emerged in recent years to create a digital identifier for people outside the physical world. Yet, social media accounts fail to provide a valid, verifiable link to a real person. Thus, these accounts cannot be used for secure transactions that are legally binding.
Tykn bridges the gaps between these two traditional models by bringing potentially game changing blockchain technology. Distributed ledger technology ensures that an identity database is not dependent on the stability of any one government or entity. Private key infrastructure will provide more security over social media accounts by securing identities from tampering or fraud. By creating a solution to offer to governments, enterprises, and NGOs, Tykn has introduced a business model innovation.
Potential costs, risks, and barriers to Tykn:
Potential costs and risks of this innovation center primarily around adoption and dissemination as well as security. For an already vulnerable population wary of attempts to gather identity information, it might be hard to convince refugees to adopt a technology like blockchain that most people do not understand. There are also legitimate concerns in that, while accounts are anonymized, they could potentially be traced back to the individual, especially if their private key is compromised.
Any identity management system requires network effects to scale. Likely the biggest barrier to scaling this business model will be getting sufficient user adoption. There is a two-sided marketplace problem of ensuring the service is offered by enough institutions to be relevant to users, while presenting enough users for institutions and governments to sign on as issuers. Tykn will need to build momentum through high-profile strategic partnerships.
M-Shule: Ed-tech innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa
M-Shule, a startup based out of Nairobi, Kenya, has developed an innovative solution to tackle the digital divide in education between African countries and the developed world, by exploiting high mobile penetration rates and increasing youth engagement in technology. Unlike many of the existing EdTech solutions that rely on internet connectivity (and hence possession of a smart device), M-Shule provides primary school students and their learning communities with a first-of-its-kind SMS-based mobile learning platform that only requires access to a basic phone. This removes the burden of owning a smart device and the associated high costs of data.
Recognizing that each student’s needs and learning speed is different, the M-Shule platform begins with material adapted from the local curriculum, but then leverages AI technology to automatically generate individualized lesson plans for student (and their parents) to engage with based on their learning needs, via an SMS interface. The student’s performance is periodically analyzed and fed back to his or her school and parents via SMS or web and, in so doing, creates a system involving the entire learning community to accelerate the student’s progress. The goal of M-Shule is not to replace primary education and the human interaction associated with it, but rather to serve as a complement to these core aspects of the learning experience.
M-Shule vs. Traditional Models:
Traditional tutoring models often require a 1-to-1 staffing model and supplementary textbooks or materials. Both of these come at a cost, with the former (human tutors) often being in short supply relative to the large demand from students requiring supplementary education. Other recent EdTech innovations often require access to internet.
M-Shule’s business model outperforms traditional business models both financially and socially.
- Financial: M-shule combines the concept of a tutor and revision materials into a single platform for each user at a fraction of the cost. Users pay only Ksh90 (~€0.80) for a monthly subscription, compared to an average cost of ~Ksh500 (~€4.50) for a primary school textbook. Furthermore, it circumvents the scarcity of bandwidth and high cost of internet access(a handset + 500MB data costs ~10% of avg. monthly income).
- Socially: With Kenya’s mobile penetration rate at ~90%, M-Shule’s SMS-based model allows for increased accessibility to quality supplementary education, overcoming financial (higher costs), physical (the need to physically attend tutoring sessions) and social (family / gender-based structures that limit access to education) barriers that would otherwise occur through traditional models.
Furthermore, the social impact of this innovation forms a feedback loop in that the more people using platform and the higher the engagement, the better the algorithms that allow for adapted / tailored content will be.
Potential costs, risks and barriers to scaling M-Shule:
- Exposure to government: The content of the platform is based on the local (government) school curriculum. As such, any changes to the curriculum and the speed of implementation of these changes will impose changes on the M-Shule content and will dictate the pace at which the changes can be rolled out.
- User engagement and adoption: Despite the accessibility advantages of the start-up’s SMS-based business model, adoption by potential users is not always guaranteed. M-Shule has had to invest in building relationships with parents, students and school partners in order to communicate the benefits of their platform and to encourage adoption.
Heterogeneity of local education systems: M-Shule’s approach of entry at the community level results in more time required to execute their business strategy given the level of adaptation required when building local content both within a single country and then across multiple countries. This is a significant consideration as M-Shule plans to scale their business model across the African continent.
SHENG GOH | MICHAEL MADOFF | GRACE MBAZIMA | SAM SZAMOCKI
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
https://www.pcmag.com/article/361587/tech-addiction-by-the-numbers-how-much-time-we-spend-online
https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2018/05/23/10-charts-that-will-change-your-perspective-of-big-datas-growth/
https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2019/01/how-much-time-do-people-spend-social-media-infographic.html
https://twitter.com/OurMShule/media
https://textbookcentre.com/catalogue/category/text-books/primary-school/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/mobile-in-sub-saharan-africa-can-worlds-fastest-growing-mobile-region-keep-it-up/
https://www.jumia.co.ke/mobile-report/