On Social Networking
The earliest I can remember of social networking was back in college when a friend asked if I had a myspace page. I had no idea. The most comprehensive list to show the current state of social networking that comes to mind is from Pownce’s profile editor page (plus some others I found); and it looks something like this:
- 43Things
- Bebo
- Catster
- del.icio.us
- Digg
- Dodgeball
- Dogster
- Dopplr
- Fatfold
- Flickr
- GoodReads
- Hi5
- Jaiku
- Last.fm
- LiveJournal
- MOG
- Multiply
- MySpace
- Naymez
- Newsvine
- Ning
- Orkut
- Pandora
- Pownce
- SonicLiving
- StumbleUpon
- Tabblo
- TagWorld
- Technorati
- Tribe
- Upcoming
- Vox
- Yahoo Mesh
- YouTube
- Zooomr
You’ll have to pardon me if I missed any, but I think my point has been made. The web is FLOODED with social networking sites right now. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’ve all done wonders for the internet (especially the most grassroots of all the social mediums… the blog), but most of them fall into the same generic template:
- Get an account
- Fill out a profile
- Add some friends
- Look up an old girlfriend
- Get sick of it and move on
They all have their individual quirks that set themselves slightly apart from the rest of the pack like videos, traveling, music (I’m listen to Pandora as I write this), bookmarking, etc., but until there’s a service that really stands out as something unique, we’ll be stuck in some sort of a social internet rut.
The industry has recently recognized users getting tired of creating profiles and signing up for every site they find with OpenID. For those of you who aren’t familiar with OpenID (I wasn’t until January of this year), it’s essentially a global login/password system. If someone makes a web site that requires a login, they can hook it up to OpenID and then the users won’t have to sign up for an account, they can just log in with their current OpenID username and password, then approve the site (try it out, its actually really nice from a user perspective). Google is using it on a few of their apps and the folks at Web Directions have used it for conference goers. I imagine it will be a topic of conversation at The Future of Web Design in London this April too along with the Mobile web, which is coming on very strong, thanks to the iPhone.
If the web really is getting more and more mobile, how will the classic model for social networking hold up? I know Facebook mobile is actually a little better than the version currently available for the desktop web.
This brings me to the actual point I sat down to write tonight… the future of social networking, not sure how I got sidetracked to OpenID, but no matter. I can’t for the life of me remember who said this… I think it was either Jeffery Zeldman or John Allsopp, whomever it was… they said that the future of social networking was in the mini-blogging applications like Twitter, and if you follow Jeffery on Twitter, you can tell he must really believe it. Apparently 2008 is supposed to be the year Twitter really explodes onto the market (more so than it has already). I don’t use it that often, maybe a few times a week (my Twitter account). I signed up while Twitter was in it’s infancy but have only really used it recently. They’ve really jumped into the mobile market with multple options for posting like IM, text message or right from the web. It’s very simple, and I know everyone knows that already (anyone who is reading this atleast). My point is that this is not just another bland social networking site. Yes, it has a lot of the same features, but the main feature, the mini-blogging is the direction social networking appears to be headed once everyone finally gets sick of Facebook, as they did with MySpace, it’ll be Twitter’s turn to really shine. Heck, maybe they’ll even integrate OpenID… that’d be a hoot.
Places like Twitter, Pownce and ::ahem:: Fatfold should really have a strong showing this year, if they can get to the public, that is.
my2cents
any thoughts?
with ease,
Tim
March 25, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I think Twitter, Pownce and Fatfold are not the be all to end all for social networking. These apps combined with other apps will determine the next evolution of social networking. Look at Buxfer and its integration with Twitter. You can send a text message to either reconcile or view balances of your bank accounts. Its the marriage of these apps with others that will push them to social networking supremacy.
March 25, 2008 at 3:48 pm
oh i agree about twitter & pownce. they’re not the be all end all by any means; just the direction its heading right now. I imagine someone will strike gold with a mash up.
I actually think text messaging is (very slowly) on its way out as far as social networking in concerned. Think about it, if the web is going mobile, there won’t really be a need to text message twitter when you can just go there on your phone and post that way.
March 25, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Yes, but for there not to be a Twitter or Pownce in between text messaging services…the wireless carriers will have to open up their protocols without costing their customers $texas!
April 3, 2008 at 9:27 am
Everything, including social networking is getting personalized and on-demand. Get me into contact with whatever information or people I want immediately. The social network itself is a type and source of information. Computer contact is increasingly becoming less tied to physical space (move from desktops to laptops to wireless networks to mobile devices).
It shouldn’t matter where you’re computing, people’s desires for the same types of information won’t decrease - in fact, they’ll have desires for new types of information as the circumstances for new interactions arises. I think the key, as you’re saying, is making is easy for the user to put it all in one place and then broadcast it to build a community.
The traditional social networking model will have to change. Look at dopplr.com. It’s a completely different way of conceptualizing social networks. You’re networking with people over location, not your favorite death-metal album. And that’s USEFUL. It’s not just about building your friend list, but about creating conduits for information. Utility and form will always win over popularity.
I think Google Earth will become the next big player in social networking. Take over the planet - name your places, add your images, connect information to location - and share your personal “planet” with the world. I’m gonna name mine “Bob.”