Will a social network combining the functions of ask.fm and vk.com be relevant?

Question

Startups

Please evaluate the idea for a startup. About 3 years ago I saw sprashivai.ru, ask.fm and other anonymous question services. I immediately studied the technologies of writing websites and wrote a trial version of the site, terribly written due to lack of experience, which somehow worked and you can see it here . Please do not judge strictly my first experience, this is not about that. The idea of ​​the service is to (list sorted in order of importance):

• To allow people to write not just anonymous letters, as it is possible on the same ask.fm, but also to allow people to communicate personally in PM. hiding behind a nickname.
  
• Add social network functions as in the same VK, but in the context of anonymity (by "anonymity" I mean hiding the registered user behind a nickname), such as leaving comments, posting on the wall, etc. Moreover, the user will have 2 accounts (anonymous and public) and he will be able to perform social actions from any of them to choose from.
  
• Improve the design and functionality of the social network. Make everything on the site convenient, fast and optimized for the user (we strive for the vk.com level).
  
• Increase user engagement due to "smart" algorithms that select suitable news from his friends in the feed feed (and these are posts on the wall, comments under photos, and other standard actions of standard social networks), suggestions from friends.
  

Since then, 3 years have passed. I more or less learned how to program, there were friends-programmers ready to help me in the implementation of the project, and the idea stubbornly does not go out of my head and I really like it. Do you think such a social network will be relevant today? Will investors be interested in this or will the attitude be standard: "Another student launches another social network."
In defense of the idea, I can say that:

• If there are competitors in the form of sprashivai.ru and ask.fm, then there are potential users who can be lured to a more advanced service.
  
• I have never seen such a social network anywhere (perhaps I was looking badly).
  
• Excellent user optimization will be implemented that competitors do not have (by priming I mean a fully interactive web application like vk.com, pages load quickly, almost everything is done asynchronously without reloading pages, etc.)
  
• An interactive character that helps new users navigate the site (similar to a lion cub on lingualeo.ru) that will joke, entertain the user and thereby not only show the functionality, but also attract new users to the site.
  

Answer 1

Paradoxical as it may seem, the answer to the question has a bipolar connotation... Option
networks, the disease of the "dating site" is very developed, when the % of the outflow of visitors is practically equal to the increase. And, at the moment, this is due to the fact that the market has a full range of social services (with the exception of "extraordinary").
Yes, it is possible to lure some users from Ask.ru (where, approximately, 5M visits per month), ask.fm (where, approximately, 75M visits per month) and nekto.me (175K per month) + VK / Facebook /Twitter. But, some kind of deterrent is needed that would not allow them to leave in the same way.
It is difficult for most people to change their habits (and also, the services they are used to, where they already have their own ecosystem).
See for yourself. Surely, there are many applications in your phone, but basically, you use only a certain set and, oh, very rarely, something else. Or bookmarks in the browser ... there are probably a lot of them too, but not all of them open, even within a month. Perhaps the example is subjective...
In this version, I described the main negative point that may prevent the development of something without which the social network cannot exist - a critical mass of regular users. But there is another small nuance. It will be very difficult to attract external funding. This is due to the fact that now investors and business angels already believe less in "another Facebook". So, 80/20, that you will have to pull everything out yourself ... up to a certain point.
It is very good that you admit to yourself that the first pancake came out lumpy. I'm sure a lot has already been revised; and in terms of design and usability, everything will be much better. The fact that the idea has not died in 3 years is also a good sign.
Your idea, if it is implemented at least as a pilot, has both a segment and a market for development. But, you will need a very strong team. And this is not a pompous statement, but 100% practicality. Since it will be very difficult to lure people to you (see Option 1) + promotion should be public (maximum scale).
Here several times spoke about the difficulty of monetization. You shouldn't worry about this. You can get income from absolutely everything, and even more so from a social network, no matter what it does to people. And first of all, you need to think not about how to earn money, but about what visitors will need/important, so much so that they will come again and again. Motivation system, gamification or something else... but you need a very good hook.
PS I think that your idea needs to be implemented. Make a pilot version, until you try, you will not understand anything. In any case, this will bring you tangible benefits.

Answer 2

IMHO (which does not lend itself to criticism, since this is a purely personal opinion).
This project failed 100%. (with an error up to one millionth).
Have you been thinking about writing this post for all three years? It's too late ... It was necessary to act exactly 3 years ago, maybe even a little more ...
Of course it will be... If VK and ASK unite... Is the hint clear?
Where are you going? You want not only to become a competitor to VK, but also to ASK. Roughly speaking, you need to bend both ...
Turn on your head and think about what you are talking about? To calculate the chance of luck , you will need a calculator, since the number will be approximately 0.000012%.
I've said everything, but one question remains for you:
Why not Facebook? Why are you trifles on VK?
Once again, this is a personal opinion and perhaps the most adequate view of this startup. Which may save you time and money.
By the way, recently launched social. net for animals.... Heard? We bet that your project will not even catch up with her in terms of the number of users :)