The purpose of the research-based study was to generate new product ideas for Glostars based on social media industry to be implemented in near future. The study was commissioned by a social networking site called Glostars Limited (www.glostars.com). Another objective of this thesis was to understand the social media industry the prospective users’ requirements, needs, and expectations.

The company overview part of the thesis focuses on the case company products and services, and earning logic. The theoretical background part of the thesis emphasizes on the concept of service, global service sector, information system, digital business, segmentation and operational challenges of digital business, social media and its types, social networking sites, new product development and its steps, and idea generation. The research methodology part of the thesis focuses on business research, nature of data and its types, primary data, secondary data, research methods, quantitative research, qualitative research, and focus groups. The theory parts were based on various literature such as books, articles and online sources. The empirical research part of the thesis was completed by using the qualitative research method. The focus group study was chosen as a data collection method to generate new product ideas. The focus group script included seven questions related to social media to find out insights. Primary data for this thesis was collected from five groups of randomly selected participants.

The results of the study show current popular features of social media. Some of these features are existent, partly existent or non-existent in the market. In addition, requirements, needs, and expectations of prospective social media end-users were identified. Current most used social media were also identified by this research result. Overall, social media’s market environment and competitive situation were reviewed to come to a conclusion. Finally, a few new product ideas based on current market demands were recommended for the case company. The recommendations made as a result from this study were implemented by the case company immediately. Further study is required to find out more new product ideas for the case company to stay competitive in the market.