I got a beta invite to Zivity last night, and per some persuasion, I not only signed up to check it out, but am now writing my thoughts on it.
Zivity is a royalty-based social network for female models and photographers that claims to “empower woman to feel their most beautiful and comfortable.” Zivity Co-Founder, Scott Banister likes to compare the site to a “combination of MySpace, Playboy and American Idol.” It’s been around since about August 2007 and is most similar to Suicide Girls or One Model Place, but could possibly be compared to Hot Fitness Models or Nude Models. Conversely, it’s more high end and a lot cleaner looking than all four. Oh yeah, and you get royalties from the site.
However, besides the high end feel and getting to look at semi- and fully nude woman, I can’t quite figure out why people would pay to be part of the community. Here’s why:
– Only female models allowed. By doing this, you’ve just cut your network size in half.
– According to Zivity’s FAQ, after a 31 day trial, members must pay a subscription fee of $10 per month.
– The “value” and social part of the site centers around “votes”. Each user gets five per month and can buy additional ones for $1 each. The value proposition is that for each vote, the model gets $0.60 and the photographer gets $0.20. Okay, let’s do some math. According to the person who invited me, right now there are 50 models and 50 photographers (100 people total). Each person gets to invite 3 people to join the site. Let’s assume that all one hundred people used all three of their invites. And, let’s assume that all those invited joined. So now we’re at a community with 300 people. Now, let’s assume that all 300 people used one of their five votes for the same model (totally improbable). For this, the “winning” model will make $180 and the “winning” photographer will make $60. If you subtract the $10 subscription fee, the model has now made $170 and the photographer made $50. I’m all about making a few extra bucks, but I don’t see $170/$50 (and most likely, significantly less) being worth the time to cultivate another social network, especially one that’s so closed.
– Okay, now let’s do some “real” math. The most popular model on the site is Pearl. She’s garnered 1,270 votes. This means she made $762 and her photographer made $252. Not too shabby for a month, but what if she’s been on the site since they launched in August 2007? The next most popular model has 816 votes and most have less than 200. If you’re looking for quick, easy cash, there’s definitely better ways to do it.
– If I’m a photographer, I’m probably going to place my content in as many touch points as possible. Therefore, as a user, why pay $10 when I can see the same pictures for free on Flickr.
Now, for some of the really stupid things about the site. And by “stupid”, I mean things I don’t like:
– The initial invite from Zivity gives no indication of who the invite is from. I would have totally deleted the invite had my inviter not IM’d me saying to check my email and Zivity.
– There’s no way of linking to specific pictures, only photosets (their word for photo album). This is just lame and defeats (a) the ability to share content and (b) any chance of referencing a specific look, feel, etc. that you may like.
– Same deal for votes. Once you vote, it registers that you voted for that photoset, but not a specific picture. This is dumb as well. If I was a model or photographer, I’d want to know the specific picture that inspired someone to use a vote.
– While they claim to only allow 19+ years of age onto the site, what’s to stop young ins’ from lying about their age and joining?
– In addition, the privacy settings are drastically lacking. I envision lots of prevy men (or women) joining the site and no way for members to block them en mass (you can block specific users similar to AIM).
And last but least, a few neutral comments / observations:
– Last night, I tried “friending” a few models randomly. My inviter was convinced that they’d accept my friendship request as it was in their best interest to increase their network size. So far, not one of the 7 models I friended have accepted. It’s been 24 hours. This leads me to believe the network is very closed (similar to Facebook) or members don’t log in regularly. Either one is not conducive to making $$$.
– Besides making a quick buck, I’m assuming the value of the site is to pick up work by putting yourself out there. This would be similar to Creative Hotlist for graphic designers. If that is the case, then a member’s profile should include measurements like One Model Place. I’m guessing this was left out so woman could feel “comfortable”.
If you’d like to see other’s thoughts about Zivity, below is a sample:
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