This week Livemocha.com reached the astonishing mark of 3.000.000 members, adding the last 1.000.000 in less than 5 month!
They also added 12 additional languages and are now offering courses in 22 languages. What makes this platform so successful?
I think the success lies in the community. I think I joined Livemocha when the community was way below the one million mark and even at that time you had members who were there all the time, correcting lessons for free etc.
One of the founders must have read “Tribes” from Seth Godin quite intensely, I guess. To be honest, the courses are no rocket science, they are good but surely not the next big thing. So it must be something else that makes Livemocha so special.
The system of earning Livemocha points and getting little badges might be a part. It is always motivating to get those little signs of “you are important to us” or “we appreciate your work”. Even if it is just a bunch of pixels in your profile.
Then there is something like a critical mass, a point where things start to move on their own. How many online communities never reach that point and stay a regulars table of 10 or 20 and then die one day. I would say 90%.
Seth Godin recently put a very interesting video on his blog explaining the effect of Guy #3.
In his words
…Before him, it was just a crazy dancing guy and then maybe one other crazy guy. But it’s guy #3 who made it a movement.
When communities reach the point of Guy #3 the effect is astonishing. The members of the Livemocha community translated and corrected 12 complete courses voluntarily for free! Quoting Livemocha
Qualified native speakers collectively spend hundreds of hours translating and verifying every word and phrase of the courses, then submit spoken audio for each. This elegant yet simple process allows Livemocha to publish courses in a limitless number of languages.
And here something about the dedication of Livemocha members:
Livemocha members who submit a spoken or written language exercise receive an average of 3 reviews from native speakers, demonstrating that reciprocal, peer-based learning can work on a global scale.
and
Livemocha members completed over 2.2 million language learning activities in the month of May, which collectively equates to over 50 years of language learning activity.
It is quite amazing but then exactly what you would expect if the language learning market is estimated to be $50 billion with over 375 million people wanting to learn a language.
Ok, you will say now, this is all for free. Yes, sure but
Livemocha has a global footprint, with paying customers in 76 countries.
and remember the Livemocha Pearson deal earlier this year. And there are still those one on one tutor sessions in the pipeline. Even with a very low conversion rate, if you have 3.000.000 members there should be some money on the table for Livemocha.
But much more important: Livemocha should be the poster child for the online language learning market. If one company can have a massive success like this it must be possible for others to get a piece of that pie, too. It is the ultimate proof that this market works. You just have to understand how and Livemocha seems to do that in a brilliant way.
Related Posts:
- From Busuu with Love: Language Learning Community adds Russian
- Back to the Roots: Livemocha crowdsources Ideas for new Features
- Livemocha secures another $8 Million in Series B Funding
- E-Teachers Conference 02 – Communities and the Power of Crowdsourcing
- Livemocha now offers Travel Crash Courses for $9.95
