17-Year-Old Wants to be the Next Social Media Mogul





Max BeaumontEDIT
Max Beaumont was just 10 years old when he built his first website. At age 12, he built an award winning game called Project Boom. And now, he’s aiming to be the next social media mogul.

Beaumont’s latest project is a social network called Chains. It will allow users to create 10-second videos to share with their connections but also includes a very collaborative element.

Beaumont is hoping to have Chains up and running before he graduates high school. And the project seems to be on schedule to reach that goal.

As the social app’s launch draws near, Beaumont has been keeping people informed about his team’s progress via Twitter:


At just 17, some would argue that Beaumont’s age is a challenge to be overcome. However, he feels like it is more of an asset. He told Forbes:

“I am in this really creative period in my life right now. I am the target demographic. In ten years, I won’t be in the same position. Right now is the time to capitalize on that. It worries me that when I am in my twenties and thirties I will have to find a quote unquote real job if one of these projects doesn’t work.”

It’s true that the social media market is already fairly crowded. But Beaumont believes Chains has something many other social media competitors don’t.

The idea behind the platform is to do more than just allow users to create 10-second videos and share them with their followers. Those followers will also be able to add their own 10-second clips to the original. In the end, users can piece together a string of up to 10 of these video clips into a unified whole.

So not only does the platform take advantage of the growing online video trend, but it also encourages collaboration and interaction between users. That’s something that current social platforms seem to be lacking, says Beaumont.

He doesn’t want Chains to be just another site where users add friends and connections and then never interact with them. Instead, he wants to create a space where users are given the option to interact and create as a group.

The network is slated to launch this month. And Beaumont hopes to have at least 10,000 users by the summer. It’s definitely an ambitious goal for a 17-year-old. But with a creative idea and some clever marketing, this creative millennial might just be able to make it happen.

Image: Twitter

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Annie Pilon Annie Pilon is a Senior Staff Writer for Small Business Trends, covering entrepreneur profiles, interviews, feature stories, community news and in-depth, expert-based guides. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring all that her home state of Michigan has to offer.

6 Reactions
  1. Could it be the next young social media mogul? We don’t know. There are so many brands coming out. But as long as people proved that it is useful, then it could be the next big thing.

    • Yes, it’s impossible to tell at this point, but it seems to be an interesting idea at this point!

  2. I think the goal of getting 10K users is realistic. It’s a more focused offering that has a very specific function. It could work.

  3. Betteridge’s law of headlines is an adage that states: “Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”

  4. it seems to be an interesting idea at this point