Design a social networking app for students of class 1 to class 12?

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Design a social networking app for students of class 1 to class 12?

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Arshia M · Answer 1 · 2021-10-13T18:41:27+0000

Questions

What is our product goal? None yet
Do we have a target user in mind? None yet
Are we a PM at a startup? Yes
Are we focused on a certain grade level? No

To design a social networking app for students of clasas 1 - 12, we'll think through user segments, identify the one we want to target, list their pain points, list out potential solutions, then identify the best solution.

Users

Students who are homeschooled*
Public school students
Private school students
Students with a disability

Since we're a startup building a new product, I believe the students that are seeking a new social networking app the most are the ones we should target. Based on the 4 segments mentioned, homeschooled students seem to have the biggest need for such an app.

Pain points for homeschooled students (importance 1-5, frequency 1-5)

Difficulty finding friends (5, 4)*
Difficulty participating in group projects (5, 4)
Inability to attend field trips (4, 4)
Inability to attend school's social events (3, 4)

We can rank importance and frequency for each based on my assumptions about the life style of a home schooled student. Not all students may lack the social connection, ability to work on projects with ohers, attend field trips, or go to social events so I've ranked frequecy as 4 for all of them.

The two biggest pain pionts seem to be difficulty finding friends and partificapting in group projects. It seems that making friends could be a catalyst for building group projects with them, so I think that's the pain point we should focus on first.

Solutions ((impact per user * # users impacted) / cost) 1-5

App to see who else is your grade level at school and the ability to message them (4 * 4) / 3 = 5.33
App for homeschooled students to meet other homeschooled students (5 * 4) / 3 = 6.66*
App that allows homeschooled kids to plan field trips with the help of their parents (3 * 3) / 4 = 2.25

The second solution could have the biggest impact as other homeschooled students are more likely to want to be friends with homeschooled students. It will be helpful for almost all students, except those who are not interested. It shouldn't be too resource intensive as we can test this concept with a simple messaging mechanism along with minimal recruiting.

Summary

In order to design a networking app for students grades 1-12, we're building an app that allows students to meet other homschooled students for homeschooled students who have a difficult time finding friends.

Trade offs:

Parents who choose to homeschool may be skeptical of our app
It's not clear how effective messaging will be for students grades 1-4