SNW INTERVIEW -- Sep 27, 2007 -- WAYN is one of my favorite social networks. I really like the map which shows where I've traveled to in the past, and the mails updating me on new people that are moving/traveling to town. I last interviewed Peter in June 2006. WAYN.com has dropped its paid membership program since then. Here's my latest interview with Pete. - Mark Brooks
How is WAYN unique?
WAYN is unique because it’s a social network that allows you to meet people based on where you are now, where you’ve been, and where you are going. If a Londoner is traveling to San Francisco and would like to see who else from London will be traveling to San Francisco that same weekend, they can log on to the site, run a search, and see which, say, 18-25 year old London females will be there. It allows them to plan their journey in advance.
That’s not the only reason why people use the service however, maybe you’re just interested in seeing who is coming to your hometown so you can show them around and have a bit of a cultural exchange. The core unique selling points of WAYN are location and travel. Rather than saying we are a niche player, I’d say we are a much more focused player that caters to the lifestyles of those who travel.
How many members does WAYN have and where are they now?
WAYN now has 9 million members around the world, 20% of which are predominantly in the U.K. We have almost another 20% in the U.S. and Canada as well. We have members traveling all over the place, but mostly people are still in their hometowns. They don’t travel all of the time.
We had about 4.3 million unique visitors last month. That number has grown from around 2 million a few months back, so we’ve literally doubled our growth in terms of unique visitors.
You no longer charge a membership fee. Why?
We still have a subscription element to the site, but we decided that the key focus for us moving forward is growth. A subscription-based model that limits interaction unless you pay wasn’t sustainable. We need to ensure that we are a scalable and growing business. So, with the help of our Chairman, Brent Hoberman, who has had a lot of experience growing online businesses, we decided to open up the integration and see what happens. We now provide a lot more features and services to all members, regardless of whether they’ve joined or not. And that seems to have been a very successful move for us. Since doing that, we’ve seen our page views per user double and the time spent online actually double also. It’s clearly had a very positive impact on the usage of the site.
We are looking to maintain the subscription element and currently are in the process of recalibrating that model. Those who upgrade will benefit from a number of both online and off-line services and benefits. For example, a U.K. VIP member will receive free annual multi-trip travel insurance across Europe, along with other benefits such as free trials of downloadable language translators and free cocktails in bars around the world.
We’re also building up a network of partners who are interested in providing our large community of traveling members with certain benefits when they come to that particular destination; 2-for-1 restaurant offers, entrance tp nightclubs, free cocktails in bars etc. We see that as a great way of providing the traveler with a number of things to do when they get to their destination, along with the ability to meet the people with whom they’ve interacted on the site. From our research we know that many of our members are interested in that kind of service.
That sounds like a worldwide version of the Entertainment Book.
Absolutely. I think we see the potential in ultimately becoming the most useful travel and lifestyle portal. We started off as a pure social network with a traveling slant, but we are clearly focusing on how we can build that service into something that is much more valuable both online and off-line to our users.
Are you profitable at this stage?
That’s a very good question and we’ve decided to invest more than we’re making. When we changed the model, our subscription element took a big hit and advertising is taking some time to ramp up. The good news is that the advertising revenue that we’re generating is growing 25% month-on-month, so we’re really getting close to the point where we can see the growth in the long run being much more exponential and valuable than where we were before. I think we have taken a short-term step back in terms of revenues but have benefited from the growth and ultimately long-term revenue potential from the business.
Now the site is very international. How are you monetizing abroad?
We use a network of agencies who have the local expertise in their particular geography. We’ve recently signed up with a fantastic agency in the U.S. that is more premium focused than the average network, and they focus on the travel sector, which is also more lucrative. We’re working with them to come up with some innovative campaigns that will really drive value for our clients without inhibiting the user experience of our members.
We’re also partnering with other agencies in key geographies. In fact, India is one of our fastest-growing markets representing around 8% of our overall traffic. We’re partnering with one of the leading media companies over there to grow our brand and opportunities in that geography.
What do you have planned for 2008?
For 2008 we have a lot of exciting new features and offerings coming to WAYN. In the next few months alone, each week we have several announcements of both new partners and new functionalities that we’re bringing to the site. I think you’ll see a fuller service in terms of travel in particular. We’ll be integrating with some of the leading travel service providers and launching new travel-related products. We’re looking to grow products such as insurance, hotels, hostels, and experiences. In short, there will be a newly-refreshed and fully-interactive travel guide that will let users not only find out who has been and who is going to certain places, but also share their experiences and add them to their trips.
