Company Name	Unique Value Proposition	Advantages	Disadvantages	Similarities	Differences	Learnings	Opportunities
Instagram	Social media, allows users to effortlessly connect with friends and family as well as creators and celebrities	Large user base, allows for creators to make connections and generate income from business ventures	Exposure is dependent on content buzzwords and algorithm compatibility. overpopulation results in high competition	Users can connect their contacts and find their friends on the app and have a similar handle system	Algorithm/success is dependent on engagement metrics	Exposure algorithms are the industry standard for content management. Users enjoy being able to connect with their personal circles as well as creators	Attract creators frustrated with the exposure algorithm by emphasizing personal connection and live interaction
Linkedin	True network for professional connections and communications, highly specified	Connections and degrees of separation (tiers,) ability to connect with other professionals outside your network for mentorship	Content is stale and users avoid the platform in day-to-day life, it is geared towards employment and content related only to that	“connections” and professional networking	Catered to employment and professional development for all industries	Connectivity and community are valuable to users, and professional exposure can be facilitated through degrees of connection	Include a degree/level for mutual connections, create a tagging system to manage art genres like industries to attract more users
TikTok	Short form video format that is easily digestible, allows users to become inspired by other creators and publish their own content	Low threshold of entry for content creators, ease of market penetration via “trends” - Algorithm is very accurate in determining user interests	Foreign corporation, subject to regulatory and political roadblocks. Questionable privacy. High population results in competition between creators	Users can connect their contacts and find their friends on the app and have a similar handle system. Genre tag system	Algorithm/success is dependent on engagement metrics	Privacy control is crucial. Bite-size posts are more successful in managing user attention. An accessible and easy interface for all kinds of users is appreciated.	Attract creators frustrated with the exposure algorithm by emphasizing personal connection and live interaction
VSCO	Native creative tools, equips, educates and inspires users on their journey towards realizing their full creative potential	Geared towards photography rather than purely being social, users can post photos and edit them inside the app.	Small user base, past its prime. VSCO reached peak popularity in 2017-2018. Never reached market saturation	No “likes,” geared directly towards photographers and visual artists and not towards content creation	editing tools inside the app, “journal” system	Filtering and editing photos in-app is no longer popular. Some editing tools are still in use, and low competition inspires users to post more work.	Attract creators frustrated with the exposure algorithm by emphasizing posting freedom and confidence
Tumblr	Forerunner in internet culture, known for its vibrant communities and unique content.	Users have individual site addresses and can customize home pages, repost content from other creators, and leave anonymous comments	Anonymous comments can be a source of online hate, user base size has been shrinking in recent years	Tags for subject matter make searching for content simple and customizable	“notes” (likes) system determines exposure on tag searches	Community is a valuable aspect to users, and personal interaction is emphasized. similar algorithm to other platforms	Attract creators frustrated with the exposure algorithm by emphasizing posting freedom and confidence
Behance	diverse creative community, potential for feedback, connection with Adobe, Adobe Live, and jobs board.	Large user base. Internal job board for artists and designers, and portfolio-oriented design customization	High rate of competition results in difficulty getting noticed. High threshold of entry as it requires more work to create a portfolio	Target audience, community features	threshold of entry, social aspects like direct messaging	Overly complex profile creation system and posting system bog down more casual or non-professional users. Oversaturation of professionally-geared features may discourage new users	Maintain a low threshold of entry to attract a more diversely skilled user base
Pinterest	visual discovery platform. user goals are visual inspiration rather than community interaction	Google search exposure, users who post are able to manage website traffic in more detail than other platforms. association of pins allows for the algorithm to show interests accurately	Due to the popularity of reposting, and the nature of visual inspiration, content has a higher chance of being stolen or plagiarized		Target audience	Inspiration is important to users, and gathering it easily is crucial to the creative journey	Incorporate inspiration-targeted features as well as community engagement features to attract a larger user base