Hater Network - The pitch

A place to bitch about things, coffee sucked today? Stop light has messed up programming? Bitch here. If something really bothers you, you can try to organize with other haters for real change.

Hater Network - The fun part

Social networks are really scary businesses. They have no inherent value. Period. The only value social networks have is their use, so the key to making this into a real business would be to make a compelling product that people want to use routinely and share with their friends.

Hater Network - The growth potential

If the network took off, tens of thousands of businesses would want to sign up. The revenue could grow to millions of dollars per year with most businesses signing up for basic monitoring. The ad system could also grow to millions of dollars.

Hater Network - The monetization

The way to make money with this idea is pretty simple. Businesses sign up to monitor their reputations and get detailed summaries of the main complaints. Basic tracking for small businesses would run $10/month. Advanced analytics for large businesses would run $25/month.

Hater network would also have targeted ads, where if someone hates on a business, they might get recommendations for similar businesses that are hated on a lot less. I think the ad system could bring in as much money as the monitoring service.

Hater Network - The idea

Social networks like Twitter have created a world of constant public commentary, much of which is banal.  However, there have been campaigns born on Twitter that have lead to real change. For example, Bank of America a few years ago wanted to increase debit card fees; It didn’t end well thanks, in part, to Twitter. Large groups of people can have a real impact when they act with a single voice. However, Twitter is not a great platform to affect things on a small scale.

Hater network would be a centralized place to complain about the (fixable) things that bother you in your day-to-day life. For example, you get a coffee to-go from the local coffee shop, when you get home and try it you, realize that it’s marginally stronger than water. You find the business and explain (colorfully) about what went wrong and what they could do to fix it. When you go into a business that people have been hating on a lot recently, your phone would let you know that you may want to go somewhere else. You can also search for local businesses that people haven’t been hating on very much. If something really bothers you and it’s something you can fix on your own, you can start a hater petition. As other people hate on the same place, they can see the petition and sign on. As it grows, other people who are similar to those who have signed the petition will see it and get a chance to get onboard. The goal would be to get the business to make a change, such as a change to a company policy.

On the flip-side, hater network would be a source of honest feedback for businesses. This would allow them to spot problems as they arise instead of finding out about them after they snowball or make many customers angry.

So far, this social network doesn’t sound very social. I think the sharing/social model would be to see what people similar to you are complaining about or global trending in hatred. If someone is really colorful in how they hate, then you would ‘follow’ them a la Twitter.

Hater network could also be an opportunity for non-hated businesses to get new customers. If you say you are really fed up with Starbucks, you might be interested in another coffee shop nearby.

Hater network could also be great tool for civil engagement. If a traffic light is programmed poorly and is super annoying or there is a nasty pothole on your drive to work, you could hate on it. Also, if you are irritated that you don’t have any real choice with your cable provider, hater network could inform you about political organizations that are trying to get real competition in that space.

Hater Network - The motivation

What do you do when you have a bad experience with a website, a shop, or a product? Do you write them an e-mail? Adjust your rating on Yelp? Neither of these are great solutions. When you have a problem you usually want two things: 1) the business to do something to fix the problem and 2) to warn others about the business or your experience. There isn’t a venue to address these use cases right now.