Social networks are multiplying like fruit flies! Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, 8apps, MySpace (out) Faceebook, (in). MySpace, Gleamd, Zaadz, Ning, and Benny Bix’s fave, Dogster, whew!
Socnets offer a glimpse into the Internet’s future – which will increasingly include mobile communication from devices like the iPhone with small screens. That’s what makes them so exciting.
The “Real Work” is changing
Social networks can look like distractions from the “real” work of business. Business is built on relationships and strengthening relationships is much of the “real work”.
Sometimes socnets are just a distraction, but more often, they help increase the strength of business and social connections relationships. And I’m surely more likely to respond to an email or call from someone I’m in regular contact with than someone I don’t “know.”
I’ve been spending time building my Facebook network, and I’ve made Twitter a daily habbit (ok, I’m addicted) because:
o it makes me and the really smart people I hang out with on Twitter distill ideas into their essence because each tweet can only be 140 characters
o The potential to make money from them is vast. I have already had several client inquiries and been granted direct access to several of my heroes whom I might not have met otherwise
o Twitter is, so far, free from spam and PR pitches. Or at least if there are pitches they have to be only 140 characters. And if someone is annoying, you can easily block them.
o There are already several examples of intelligent marketing use of socnets.
o My socnet guru, Steven Streight, aka Vaspers the Grate, is the bard of Twitter. I love reading the ideas, questions and links he and other active Tweeties post.
o Twitter’s fun
Socnets are changing blogging, and much more
Already this form of micro-blogging has led me to use my blog for longer, more thoughtful posts (well, not always) and put the short takes and links in Twitter, or Facebook, or 8apps.
This type of change by several well-known bloggers has caused some speculation that blogging is dying. That could not be farther from the truth. Blogging is evolving, and only those who are truly dedicated to writing and sharing information are still, well, dedicated.
Some will say that expressing thoughts in 140 characters contributes to the dumbing down of our society. And they’re probably right. But honey, fighting that one is a losing battle, so you might as well join in.
Shiny Object Syndrome
The A-list blog crowd is flitting around in what some call Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) like moths to a flame. Nobody, repeat nobody, has time for active participation in six or eight social networks. As an Internet marketing strategist, I join and test socnets because I want to see if my clients should participate in or sponsor them. Until you join and look at the features and give it a test run, you can’t tell which is a keeper.
Soflow, one of the early social networking sites, just announced today that it is closing. Adrants, which had a forum on Soflow for years, recently replaced that with a Ning-based ad industry forum, which seems more feature rich. So the socnet shake-out has begun. And funny thing: podcasting and Second Life seem to be so last quarter.
Many people are heavily invested in creating their LinkedIn networks, and aren’t about to leave those contacts behind in any hurry. Facebook is the “in” socnet of the moment among the digerati, who will most likely abandon it a few weeks from now. It’ll be a long time before the monster business networking app makes itself known.
Remember the web portals, bulletin boards and chat rooms of the 90s? They were all the next big thing once.
We’ve come a long way baby. We’ve got a looooong way to go.
UPDATE: Seth Godin, posting about farmer’s markets, makes an (as always) astute observation which also applies to early adopters online:
“It’s the normal progression of things–from the edgy early adopter who seeks purity and novelty above all things, all the way through the early majority and then the mass market. As the market grows, it gets, by definition, more average. Until, as Yogi Berra says, “no one goes there, it’s too crowded.”
This creates opportunities and challenges. Last one in with a mass market offering can do very well after the market is pioneered by the iconoclasts. And the iconoclasts have to be very careful of depending on the market they created staying just the way it was, but bigger.”
Posted by B.L. Ochman
I think there is a lot of value in social networks – but its like a gold mine. You need to get the shovel and start digging! Effort must be put into following up with the contacts made.
I keep reading a few higher profile bloggers write about how linkedin is no longer cool and how facebook is the new amazing place for business professionals and working people.
I spent time looking at and critically examining facebook, their offer and the users who congregate there. I browsed about 70 profiles on facebook. Every single profile was of a 18-25 year old doing Jello shots of some chicks abs.
I didn’t see a single professional profile or a person over 25ish. OK so no professionals here…why is this useful for professionals then? Then I looked at the applications and widgets available on facebook and all of them were for entertainment purposes (music, movies, jokes)…nothing for professionals so why is this useful for professionals??
I went to groups and saw more college age kids hooking up and socializing…no business or networking groups. I didn’t see any business or industry news or information and I could not find a way to be introduced to professionals in specific industries.
PEOPLE – Either I have completely missed something or facebook is offering bloggers access to their IPO to pump up the site.
What do you think is more likely? That and application built for college kids is more useful then other applications built for professionals or that there is a pump and dump scenario brewing?
Bulletin boards, e.g. message boards, are still very popular among certain audiences (automotive comes to mind) — just ask the Whole Foods CEO! ;)
Seriously, though, there are some technologies that stick around and others that fade away… if the tool works for the community then why bother jumping to the next “best thing”?
excellent post. thanks for the links, too.
“You need to get the shovel and start digging!”
exactly!
i think social networks do have their value (disclosure: i work at Zaadz, ahem). even with the popularity of myspace and facebook, it shows that there’s no social network to rule them all.
the key to the value of a social network is proportional with the quality of interaction (read: conversation) we (can) put into it. and since people have different interests, people will invest more time with the social networks that interest them the most.
e.g. my main social network is Zaadz, even if i have Myspace and Facebook accounts. i’m still very active on Flickr since their early days because i love photography. i also twitter a lot. and yep, my Friendster account is still active so i can keep in touch with relatives and friends in other countries.
so i think the idea of “channels” is right on the mark.
thanks and keep it flowing…
~C
I thought YOU were MY guru! I am corn fused now. Who’s leading who around here and in the Twittersphere? Very perplexed.
Very few conventional bloggers will move to include micro blogging or streaming video or digital surrogate presencing streams.
People land in one platform, then cling to it for dear life, with rationale that is mostly sentimental and not phenomenonologically sound.
Guided by Ethnomethodology and Derrida, I spin cycle through the Future Web as we tunnel our way to it.
Micro. Multi. Mobile. Future Web. Now we own all the tools of production, promotion, and distribution. Astonishing what we can now create, wtihout government or corporation.
The social network business is a jungle, and this is why it will not be for proffesionall use, ever, I think. It’s like settled and unsettled markets and industries. Socnets keep changing, and myspace, which was super cool a while ago, is now a bit “yesterday”. That has been the situation since the first networks. They’re generic as hell. Another one will pop up, with the same functionality, and some. It’s a full time job keeping up with it, and picking one or two is a must. It won’t stop for a long time, but we need network sites to be able to communicate with each other, full out (read industry standard). I’m axhausted.
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