The Future of Social Networking

0. Introduction.

Almost three years ago, I started the Appleseed Project as a way to start experimenting with the idea of distributed social networking. Armed with enough hubris and naivete to think I could build it alone, I coded and coded until I got to the point I am now: With a project that stands at around 75% complete, it functions as a sort of proof-of-concept for distributed social networking in general. I've learned a lot, however, about the technological hurdles and impact that a truly open and distributed social networking platform could provide.

I'm writing this as a way to present my ideas and what I've learned in the hopes that an open and distributed solution becomes the direction that social networking takes. Although I would be happiest to see Appleseed succeed, I'd be excited to see any open and distributed social networking solution be adopted and replace the walled gardens that currently dot the internet landscape.

1. The Problem With Walled Gardens.

The current crop of social networking sites (Myspace, Friendster, Facebook, etc) all operate as "walled gardens", where content is exclusive to the site, and most importantly, the sites provide very little interaction with the outside internet. A user on Myspace has no way to interact with a user on Facebook, despite the design of the internet having historically favored the concept of interaction between internet locations. There is no technological reason for why a user on Myspace wouldn't be able to add a user on Friendster or Facebook to their friends list. At the very least, there is no reason why the same Myspace user couldn't send a message to that same Facebook or Friendster user.

While building Appleseed, I realized just how simple it was to get two "nodes" to communicate. It became a matter of a simple behind-the-scenes request which returned a small XML file. It became apparent to me that the reason that we don't have communication between social networking sites had nothing to do with technological constrants, and was a purely economic decision on the part of existing sites. Almost all major social networking sites business models are centered on having the largest userbase possible, and user lock-in is a major part of that. By restricting your ability to interact with outside sites, they also restrict your ability to choose another site and still maintain your relationships and ability to contact your friends.

The whole situation we're in makes no sense in the context of the way the internet was meant to operate. Concentrating user bases into centralized locations and locking them in seems more like the early 90's and the way Compuserve, AOL, and the like attempted to use walled gardens to monopolize the internet. The natural evolution is an open, distributed standard. A sort of SMTP for social networking, which allows any node to fully connect to any other node. Would people put up with an email address at gmail.com which could only email other gmail.com users? Of course not, and the same standard should be applied to social networking.

2. Why "glue" doesn't work.

One of the solutions proposed is to use aggregation services which act as "glue" to hold together the current systems. This is a fundamentally flawed solution, because it ultimately relies on no single standard for communication between sites. Site A, B, and C might work with the aggregation service, but brand new Site D will require that the aggregation service supports their system. And what happens when sites change their format? The result becomes a constant process of modifying and extending the aggregation service when new sites and formats arise.

Oddly enough, when it comes to making sense of multiple walled gardens, the best we've come up with is to glue them together and hope it holds. But this is hardly a solution, and really shouldn't be advocated by those who want to see social networking properly evolve.

3. The Distributed Solution.

The solution is actually pretty simple. Especially considering things like OpenID already solve the problem of distributed logins. A user has a home node, which provides them with a social networking address, much like an email address. I'm currently 'michael.chisari(@)appleseedproject.org'. This also becomes their OpenID identity, and allows them to log in to other Appleseed (and potentially any OpenID site) nodes. Communication between sites exists as a simple http request from one node to another. Friend requests, messaging, all types of interaction between users becomes easily distributed while functioning seamlessly as far as the end user is concerned.

The result is that instead of having one Myspace or one Friendster, each with millions of users on it, we have thousands of sites which range from a few dozen to hundreds of thousands of users. Except they all exist in a network of nodes which communicate between each other.

The importance of distributed social networking can be outlined in the advantage that the user gains: Freedom to choose between any compatible node without losing access to their contacts.

4. Privacy And Trust In A Socially Networked World.

It's a whole new ball game when you're dealing with a distributed social networking model. No longer provided the protection of a walled garden, it's important to think of the system from the ground up in terms of "Privacy" and "Trust."

Privacy means that the home node of a user should never give out any information that isn't explicitly stated to be publicly available. Because nodes are querying other nodes about information about users, the assumption is always on the side of privacy, lacking any further data otherwise. Although you cannot achieve full privacy in a socially networked world, most social networks today function as unlocked glass houses, providing very few, if any, privacy options for the user. In a world that is increasingly socially networked, where social networks will very likely include one's boss, parents, landlord, and more, it's important to be able to provide strong mechanisms for restricting access. Tthe user should have as much granular control over who in their immediate network can see what as practically possible.

Trust is the concept of utilizing social networks to determine relationships with strangers, much like in the real world. If you sit alone in a public place, and a stranger comes up and begins talking to you, you have very little trust between you and that person. However, if you sit with a good friend, and that good friend introduces you to that same stranger, a trust relationship has been established. Social networking must recognize this basic aspect of human social interaction, and find strong and intuitive methods for implementing it on a software level. This not only can help with the random friend requests that many on MySpace get, but also can help to eliminate spam, and even possible provide for a social network where everyone can participate as safely as real life, using their trust networks to evaluate new relationships.

5. Technological Hurdles And Considerations.

Most importantly, it must be stated that social networking works best when the concerns of the users are considered to be greater than the concerns of the developers. Many open source social networking solutions break too much from the current social networking convention in what may be interesting technologically, but can be off-putting to users who have grown accustomed to sites such as MySpace. Being at the birth of a new paradigm provides a lot of opportunities to experiment technologically, but when this is done without usability kept in mind, or when it solves a problem that only really exists for the developer, it serves as a deterrent to building a large userbase, which is the only real purpose of social networking.

Balancing this consideration with the technological problems that distributed social networking creates can be very difficult. For instance, the issue of spam messages, while easily guarded against from within a walled garden with active administration, becomes a much more difficult task during decentralization. One of the solutions that Appleseed has used is a simplified version of the IM2000 protocol (www.im2000.org), which is a sender-stores system, as opposed to the receiver-stores system of SMTP. This provides the most important protection against spam: Accountability. In order to send a message, your node must maintain it's existence and identity on the internet until the message is "read" (downloaded). Without going too far into this idea, the balance between this system and the previous concern of usability is that users will be reluctant to adopt this new system unless it feels incredibly similar to a standard email application.

Other hurdles include scaling outward (as opposed to upwards, like current walled gardens do), and how to perform searches in such a distributed environment. Maintaining that distributed system, from a development and API standpoint, is probably the most difficult task. Error checking for downed nodes, allowing for variable speeds in response times, etc., all become huge issues, and unlike a walled garden, a social networking node cannot control anything outside of it's own server. Fortunately, these are issues inherent in the distributed nature of the internet, and have been solved in varying degrees plenty of times before. The issue is simply to apply those solutions in the best manner possible.

6. Conclusion.

Eventually, Myspace and Facebook, no matter what fancy features they may add, will seem as archaic as Compuserve and Prodigy do now. The acceptance of a distributed social networking model is, as the internet has shown, an inevitability. All proprietary walled gardens have given way to distributed models, and social networking is the next frontier. And just like open, distributed protocols before it, social networking requires an open API in order to function properly. Since many walled gardens are based on amassing as many users as possible, in order to maximize ad revenue, adopting a distributed model goes against their business plan. Therefore, it's up to the open source community to come up with a real distributed social networking solution.

Michael Chisari
appleseed.sourceforge.net

Seven Essential Steps Required to Launch and Grow a Successful Social Network (6-7)

Seven Essential Steps Required to Launch and Grow a Successful Social Network (3-5)

6. Determine Rules and Enforce Them.

Determining the terms and conditions for a site sets the tone for participation. Enforcing those rules has a direct impact on who joins and who abandons the site. To protect yourself, have Rules of Conduct in place from day one, explaining the provisions for policy enforcement and the repercussions for violating the policies. And most importantly, follow through and enforce your rules of conduct. Failing to enforce the policy will alienate rule-abiding members, changing the personality of your network and jeopardizing your business goals.

For example, for one popular social network, terms and conditions stated that the site was to be used by those 18 years and over. Initially, the site was used by adults. However, if a member reported an underage user, no action was taken, and soon the site was dominated by teenagers. No adults wanted to use the site. The goals for the online community were never met.

You must also set workflow rules prior to launch. Workflow refers to the business rules that determine how content is filtered, when it goes live, and when it gets pulled. For an enterprise social network, determining workflow practices can be challenging. Various departments (e.g., marketing, creative, legal) often have varying perspectives, which must be resolved before launch.

For example, one online community may allow all content to get posted instantly and only get reviewed if it is reported as offensive by other members. This set-up encourages the most activity, but with little filtering and moderation, a large segment of the audience may be turned off and seek another community. Another online community concerned about brand image may filter every comment before it goes live. This opposite approach does provide pure content but inhibits the flow of expression and opinions commonly sought in a social network. The challenge is to achieve the right balance for your community, meeting the overall goals of the site and conforming to the appropriate company standards and culture.

7. Include a Post-Launch Focus in Your Marketing Plan or "If you build it, they still may not come."

A common misconception exists when it comes to social networks-because social networks grow virally and are so popular, no marketing strategy is necessary once the site is launched. Just turn on the site, send out a few invitations, and you’ve got yourself a social network. Not true.

Make sure your marketing plan includes post-launch activities. Seed the community once it is publicly available. People are more likely to join a populated site. Make sure your plan is designed to attract people who fit your ideal member profile. The first thousand members can shape the personality of the network, and even if the network is designed perfectly, appealing initially to the wrong market can jeopardize the success of your community. Some techniques include:

• Search the blogosphere for individuals who write about your topic and who may have influence and a platform for expressing their opinions.
  
• Identify a subset of your customers to approach first.
  
• Provide early members with incentives and rewards to participate, and then recruit like-minded members.
  
• Build an incentive contest for inviting the most friends, with the right profile of course.
  
• Integrate the site with other communication vehicles owned by your company. For example, if you’re a retailer, attach a flyer promoting the site to every purchase.
  
• Promote at targeted industry trade shows.
  
• Recruit celebrities for your particular niche as early adopters, and leverage their credibility and popularity.
  
• Visit other websites that may appeal to your target audience, and recruit the most active members whose ‘voices’ you like the most.

Once you’ve passed the seeding stage, the next goal is to reach critical mass—the point where your online community can sustain itself and continue to grow on its own. Recruit moderators from within the community. Pay close attention to community activity, and you will quickly notice several members who actively participate and want to see the site succeed. Recruit these users as community moderators. They can also serve as the eyes and ears of the community, providing valuable feedback. The more empowered they feel, the greater their personal stake in your success.

Developing a core group of enthusiastic users goes a long way to reaching critical mass.

A social network done right can generate value for the enterprise now and far into the future. Follow these steps and you’ll have an excellent chance of building a thriving, popular online community that will meet or exceed your goals.

cio.com.au

Seven Essential Steps Required to Launch and Grow a Successful Social Network (3-5)

Seven Essential Steps Required to Launch and Grow a Successful Social Network (1-2)

3. Develop a Budget & Schedule.

A successful budget needs to account for selecting the appropriate vendor and solution, building the framework, creating and implementing the design, marketing the site, signing up partners (if applicable), and moderating and maintaining the site. Also plan for ongoing development to keep the site fresh.

Set the project scope and timeline. Balance time-to-market requirements with building and launching an effective site. Based on market requirements, you may want to employ a "launch and learn" strategy. It may not be necessary to include all concepts in the first version. Launch the community and incorporate feedback from your users to determine site improvements. Make sure, however, you've incorporated enough functionality and design to attract and retain a thriving community.

4. Design Your Community to Achieve Its Goals.

An effective design should enable your community to meet your company's stated goals. More than just graphics and look and feel, the design needs to answer questions such as, "What features will my audience want?"; "Will we charge a membership fee?"; "Will access to some features be restricted to certain members?"; "What type of privacy options will we offer?"; "How will advertising be integrated?"; "Will content need to be reviewed before going live?"; and "How will the site layout and site-flow reflect my goals and shape behavior?"

A social network is much like a neighborhood. People naturally want to live in a place where they feel comfortable and welcomed. Your site's personality is one of the most critical factors to success. Once launched, your site will quickly develop its own personality, based on the online behavior of the early adopters, so it's important to consider your ideal member profile before you launch your community.

One design technique to shape site behavior is to create profile questions relevant to the ideal member. For example, if you are creating an online community for professional chefs, questions such as, "Who are your favorite chefs?" and "What are your favorite foods?" would more likely attract an audience of amateur cooks. However, if you included questions such as, "Where were you trained?" and "Do you own a restaurant?" you will more likely attract the intended audience. Understand what's important to your target audience, and craft profile questions accordingly.

Examples of sites designed to meet business goals:

• A global furniture conglomerate encourages customers to post photos of their favorite rooms designed with the company's furnishings. With one click, customers can easily purchase products they see in other customers' photos. And, all activity on the site earns the members points, which can be redeemed on future purchases. Site goal - improve customer loyalty and increase sales.
  
• A retail chain provides avatars (i.e., a multi-dimensional graphic of the user) to users, which can be dressed in the company's products. Users can search other avatars and, with a click of a button, purchase any article of clothing he/she may see on another avatar. The company can also release a new article of clothing to the online community exclusively, as a mechanism to test audience response. Site goal - improve customer loyalty, increase sales, and provide an opportunity for test marketing.
  

5. Choose Your Platform and Technology Wisely.

There are a wide variety of vendors and solutions from which to choose. Determine up front what's important to your organization. For example, will you be hosting the solution yourself, or are you looking for the vendor to host it for you? Are you looking for a platform on which to build the site yourself, or are you looking for a complete, out-of-the-box solution? How much of the design will you do in-house? What features are important to your target audience? Is the product extensible? In other words, are you looking to have your own developers add functionality, or will you rely on the vendor you select to enhance the site? Do you have a multi-site strategy? Can you succeed with a design and feature set similar to other sites, or do you need a complete custom design and implementation? Does it matter to you if the vendor has the right to post advertisements and market to your members, or are you looking for complete control of your site?

If this is your first social network, you may not know the answers to all of these questions, so look for a solution provider that has the experience and know-how to guide you along the way. Remember to look beyond the launch to the long-term. Launching your site is important, but look for a vendor and a solution that can support your requirements as your site grows.

Don't underestimate the importance of selecting the right technology. It is absolutely critical that the platform on which your community is built can handle the community, now and in the future. Scaling is critical, but very often your online community will experience extensive traffic as soon as it is launched. Having a site crawl to its knees will impact the success of the site and may negatively impact your business's reputation and bottom line.

Make sure you understand the technology and architecture requirements up front. The solution you select should conform to your company's technology standards so the IT organization can take advantage of a familiar architecture they know will address the scaling, integration, customization, and security requirements of your enterprise.

Seven Essential Steps Required to Launch and Grow a Successful Social Network (6-7)

Seven Essential Steps Required to Launch and Grow a Successful Social Network (1-2)

By David Ring, Sparta Social Networks

The popularity of Social Networking is growing exponentially by the day. More than just a passing fad, social networks are quickly becoming the new paradigm from which enterprises can increase revenue, drive business decisions, and affect change.

Yet launching and growing a social network can be a daunting task. With the amount of noise, and seemingly "too-good-to-be-true" claims, it's a challenge to know where to begin and what to believe.

An online community must meet time-to-market requirements while ensuring business requirements are met now and in the future. Based on more than eight years of experience solely focused on developing and supporting social networks, we have compiled a list of seven essential steps required to launch and grow a social network.

1. Determine What You Want to Accomplish. Be Specific.

Every organization would like to quickly sign up millions of members. Attracting users is a good thing, but it shouldn't be your goal. Articulate your goals in business terms-what are you trying to accomplish with the site and how will it better the enterprise. Be as specific as possible. Make sure your goals are realistic, attainable, and measurable. Determine a return on investment (ROI), and measure progress against practical, applicable metrics. Generating trend reports for number of visitors or message board posts won't cut it for an enterprise social network.

Examples of business goals include:

• Television network - Attract a younger viewing audience, improve fan loyalty, increase television ratings by 20%.
  
• Phone company - Increase sales by 20% by expanding sales pipeline to include customers' family and friends.
  
• Publishing company - Increase subscriptions and increase advertising revenue
  
• Consumer Products company - Develop a new way to shape the behavior of trendsetters in target market.
  
• Production studio - Drive audiences to specific movies and affect social change.
  

2. Determine Your Value Proposition and Target Your Audience.

Determine the value you are providing for your target audience. Answer the questions, "Why should a user visit my site and, more importantly, why will they stay?" and "What is unique about our online community?"

Establish your niche. The more targeted your audience, the greater your chance of success. By selecting a narrow segment, you have a greater chance of establishing an online community that is compelling and unique. Additionally, the more targeted you are, the more likely you will attract a passionate audience whose needs have not yet been met. The more passionate the audience, the more chance word of mouth will increase community participation.

The value your online community provides must encourage users return again and again. Initially attracting people to your site is extremely important, but the perceived value of the online community is what will keep them coming back. You may also want to include specific tactics and features to retain members.

Examples include:

• Offer the ability to interact with knowledge experts in the target niche segment.
  
• Provide access to original, exclusive content (e.g., a media company provided access to their journal articles when someone joined the community).
  
• Provide unique opportunities for members (e.g., a television conglomerate offered teenagers the opportunity to appear as high school sports commentators on local affiliates).
  
• Provide value-add services for members (e.g., an art workshop site enabled members to post artwork and receive constructive feedback).
  
• Offer the ability to interact with celebrities.
  

Seven Essential Steps Required to Launch and Grow a Successful Social Network (3-5)

Social Network Software More Popular Than Ever

Social Networking websites can be found on every corner of the internet. Virtual communities, offering community software to help people to keep in touch with each other, have been popular since the first networking website was developed in 1995. From Classmates, LiveJournal to MySpace, social networking software is available to anyone who has access to the World Wide Web.

Online social networking began to grow in 1995, following the development of Classmates. This virtual community was designed to give members the community software tools they need in order to network with old friends they went to high school with. Classmates set the way for many other social network software providers to create web communities, to help people network with groups of people of their choice. Some popular online networking communities include:

1. MySpace
2. Blogger
3. MSN Groups

Social networking, in basic terms, is one way for a person to easily keep in touch with a group of people. With online social networking, community software is often available for any registered member of the virtual community. Most social network software will include:

1. an email box
2. a place to set up a user profile
3. instant message capabilities
4. photo sharing
5. public message sharing
6. private message sharing

These are not the only features included with some social networking software, but they are the most common features offered.

A major factor that contributes greatly to the growth of social networking online is the convenience and ease that the community software provides. It has never been easier to leave messages for a group of people, or locating people with the same interests and overall goals. Community software tools also enable picture and file sharing with ease. Private messages, as well as public messages, can be left with a few clicks of the mouse! Convenience and ease are proven factors that are aiding in the growth of online social interaction, as well as the increased use of social networking software.

The increased use of the internet is a contributing factor to the popularity growth of social network software. A great number of households have a least one personal computer, pocket computers, and cell phones with internet access as well. This is not to mention that almost every business has a website, and offer their products and services online. The popularity of the internet itself is helping the popularity growth of online social networking, as well as the software, that these virtual communities offer to their registered members.

MySpace is currently ranked the most popular website offering social networking software with membership, with over 38 million registered users who are unique. This means that MySpace has over 38 million "different" users, as opposed to having many of the same users creating different accounts. Although MySpace has come under scrutiny on many news stations, the popularity of the social networking software they offer continues to grow at a very high rate.

Blogger is another very popular social networking community with over 18 million registered unique users. Social network software on this website enables the member to publish entries in his or her "blog" as often as desired. This is only one feature included with the community software tools available with membership to this website. With an 80 percent year to year growth statistic, it is predicted that the popularity of Blogger will continue to rise.

Finally, Facbebook took the college demographic by storm, growing the site into a billion-dollar company in just a few years. The site, originally developed by a student from Harvard, catered to individual colleges. It has since expanded to high schools, and other networks, and has added many new features including classifieds, games, and a developer tools.

In recent years, social network software has begun making its way in an affordable form to the average small business or individual. These powerful and low cost solutions allow individuals to start their own social networking site, with the potential of becoming a huge success. What used to cost tens of thousands of dollars to develop in the early 2000s, now costs only a few hundred dollars, with setup being done in a matter of days. The rise of these sites run by individuals will cause a huge influx in the number of people running and accessing the various types of social networking sites out there today.

In conclusion, it is safe to say that social networking software will continue to grow in popularity. Because of the ease and convenience of community software offered by different virtual communities, many people will continue to take advantage of their use.
_________________

Ron McNeil promotes social networking software to start your own MySpace clone, FaceBook clone, and run your own community site powered by WebScribble software located at webscribble.com/products/webnetwork/index.shtml

Do’s and Do not’s of Professional Social Networking

Karin Dalziel

I’ll share a few do’s and do not’s I thought of- feel free to add more in the comments.

Do: Learn how each social network works. There are different ways to use each service, and it is likely you won’t use all of the features on any of them. For instance, I am not very active in groups on Flickr, but I always look at my contacts’ photos, comment where appropriate, and monitor my conversations. (Flickr makes this easy!)

Don’t: Use networks to spam people. Individualized messages are great, form letter sounding messages are not so great.

Do: Choose the networks that work for you. Twitter may not be your thing, and that’s fine. Find the networks that work for you and use them. (Hint: if you like Scrabble, join Facebook and challenge somebody to a Scrabulous game.)

Don’t: Join networks for the sole purpose of asking for a favor. Joining one day and then asking people if they know of any good jobs the next isn’t kosher. If you are going to use social networks, you have to be social- start early, and keep it up!

Do: Put up pictures of yourself. I use an icon for my profile pic (it is fairly distinctive) everywhere, but I also include another picture of myself if allowed. I also put my picture on my about page. People like to know who they are talking to, and it will increase the likelihood people will recognize you should you ever meet them.

Don’t: Put up potentially embarrassing pictures of yourself. I know this should go without saying, but it bears repeating. If you are already on social networks, you might want to clean up your profile a bit before you start friending professional contacts. (e.g. get rid of pictures of yourself surrounded by beer cans.) There’s always the option of maintaining a separate identity- that always seemed like a lot of work to me, but it is certainly do-able.

Do: Check your name in search engines. If you have a very common name, you might want to consider adding your middle initial or using a nick name to differentiate yourself from the other “Jane Smith’s” out there. If you do this, you have to be consistent and use it everywhere- resume, business card, website, social networks, etc. If nothing else, make sure that your name + library (or whatever industry keyword you want) brings up something about you.

Don’t: Fall for “Search Engine Optimization” offers. If you stick with a well known blogging platform (like WordPress, Blogger, Movable Type, Drupal, etc.), enable name based URL’s, and especially if you buy your own domain name, your site will already be optimized. You can increase your ranking by commenting on others’ blogs (real comments, not “mee toos”) linking from any other sites you own, and perhaps asking a few well known acquaintances to link to you, if appropriate. The absolute best thing you can do is develop content: i.e. write in your blog.

Do: Share your knowledge. Some might say that you don’t want to give everything away, but especially in the early part of your career you have to demonstrate that you have something to say before you can reasonably think of charging for your knowledge and skills.

Don’t: Become locked into your opinion. It’s perfectly OK to revisit something you wrote about before and say you changed your mind. That’s not wishy washy- that’s showing the ability to think in the face of new evidence and make an informed decision.

Do: Carry business cards with your web address at all times. I’m a student, so I don’t have professional cards- I just ordered some Moo Cards and use those. The point is to make yourself findable whether you meet someone online or off.

Don’t: Complain, gripe, be snarky, or otherwise be overly negative. I’m not saying everything has to be sunny and roses, but try to put a rational face on things and look at the bright side whenever possible. Try offering a suggestion for change or research how other institutions handle similar situations. If you’re not sure, get a second opinion or sit on a post for a day.

Do: Utilize a number of social networking sites in your “main” site. For instance, instead of uploading pictures to your private web space, put them on Flickr or another photo sharing site. You can incorporate books you are reading into your site through LibraryThing, or show the blogs you are reading using a Google Reader widget. Link back and forth to different services with wild abandon.

Do: Similar to above: Link early, link often. You might think that linking to another person’s website doesn’t really do anything, but it does. They might see that incoming link, and link back, or come visit your site.

Don’t: Limit your networking to online. OK, this probably doesn’t belong on this page, but it’s important. Try to make it to local conferences, write articles for your state library association publication, give local presentations and join mentoring programs. These are just a few examples of ways you can get involved locally. Online networking is great, but meeting someone face to face really solidifies a relationship. And dress nice when you attend the conferences- you never know when you might get an on the spot job interview or pre-interview.

Do: Use Creative Commons licensing whenever possible. You can get a license for your work here, and on some sites (like Flickr) you can set a license for the content you upload. I have most of my content under a CC By: license- which means anyone can use it, but they have to credit me. This does two things: it gives you more links back, and it just about guarantees your work will be spread more widely. If you are worried about stealing, think of it this way: If someone wants to steal your online content, they will. It’s happened to me. But some people will look for content they can use legally, and you want those people to find your content, because they are good about linking back. Besides, it’s just cool when you find one of your pictures on someone else’s blog header.

nirak.net

Business Social Networks: For the People, By the People

Niche Social Networks have been a hot topic on this and many blogs for a few months now. Their popularity has been increasing exponentially to the point that businesses who are normally behind on the internet are now starting to take notice and find out “what is social networking and what can it do for my business?”

It is in the wording of the question itself that the problem lies.

First, here is a brief explanation of what a social network is done Twitter-style in 140 characters or less:

Niche social networks are websites where people with shared interests can network with each other, share thoughts and ideas, contribute resources, and be a part of a virtual community where they can interact with people anywhere in the world.

Okay, it was longer than 140 characters. Still, niche social networks are sweeping the internet and businesses are starting to take wholesale notice. The problem is, many are approaching it wrong. They are looking at it as “how can I get more business from it” instead of approaching it as “how can I help contribute to my industry and my customer base by offering a genuine resource, and thereby potentially increasing business as a result?”

For this example, we will look at the car business. For the most part, social networking in the car business has failed. Many dealers have tried to get into it by creating MySpace and Facebook pages. Some are putting social networks on sites like Ning and GoingOn. In almost every case, the focus is sales, plugging in the inventory, or talking about how great the dealership is. It isn’t working.

If a dealership (or any other business) really wants to participate in Web 2.0 by offering a social network for their client base they need to take it a step further. Here are some pointers:

• Keep it Local, Publish Global - A good niche social network for a car dealer will be centered around their community but offer tools, articles, videos, and photos that can appeal to anyone.  Why?  Keeping it local has obvious advantages, but you want anyone who comes to the network to be able to gain something from it.  The more people involved, the more content there will be.  Fresh content, even from people out of the market area, can keep the locals coming back for more.


• Offer Resources and Fun, not Sales Pitches - People might be interested in the nice trade-in that came in last week or the 0% financing that the manufacturer just released.  Might.  They will almost definitely be interested in things that pertain to them whether they are buying a car or not.  Humorous stories, videos, and photos arre crowd pleasers.  Tips on car maintenance, buying advice, and local auto clubs can keep them coming back.  Features on local events and charities touch the community in different ways.  The sky’s the limit, but keep it centered on benefits, not sales.


• Avoid MySpace and Facebook - This goes against what many recommend, but here is why. Both Facebook and MySpace are antiquated formats that get spammed a lot and are, in general, unattractive.  People who use these networks regularly are used to them, but new users trying to join your network will probably be unimpressed.


• Promote it with Customers - Someone buys a car.  Why have them on your social network?  You want them there because they will give the best content.  People who are happy with a purchase may be willing to tell the world about it.  We know the ones who want to complain will find a venue, so why not give a place for positive statements?  Give them the URL and encourage them to join.

Any of these examples apply to other businesses, not just the automotive industry. Translate them to your business and you have a chance to really tap into areas of the internet where you aren’t currently present.

socialnewswatch.com

Warning: Social Networks are a Haven for Spammers and Scammers

Online communities are a hugely important part of the online experience. I have no doubt that their importance will continue to grow as people look to harness the power of the Internet to chat with friends, network and find new people with similar interests. Advertisers will also become more attracted to social networks and other online communities as their importance grows.

As a result of this growth, more and more social networks are appearing online. If you decide to set one up, you need to be aware of one of the major potential pitfalls: social networks are highly attractive to spammers and scammers.

Social networks: My definition

I define a social network as any type of membership based site that exists to bring people together. The Just Chat email penpals (http://www.justchat.co.uk/epals) section falls within this category - users register, fill out a profile and then search for and correspond with other members.

Social networks: The attraction to spammers and scammers

These social networks are a highly prized target for spammers and scammers because of the potential number of people they can gain access to. Unlike spam email lists which can be full of fake or no longer used addresses, a spammer or scammer can be pretty confident that the majority of accounts within a social network are linked to real people who will read their messages. Indeed, many social networks display information on when a user last logged in - this allows such undesirable users to only target those who are clearly genuine, active members of the community.

Almost all social networks are free to join - therefore the spammers and scammers need not make any investment other than their time in order to gain access to a site’s database of members. They simply sign up, and start sending messages to members.

How to combat spammers and scammers

Unfortunately there is no 100% fool-proof way of combating such users - not that I know of, anyway! To prevent such users affecting the Just Chat epals section, I take the following action:

* Every single new profile is manually approved before a user can gain access
* A limit is placed on the number of messages that can be sent each day
* Warnings against spammers and scammers appear prominently around the internal mail section
* Clear safety advice is provided, along with information on how to report undesirable members

Why you need to combat spammers and scammers

Manually approving or declining every single email penpals account is certainly a chore, however it is currently a necessary one. I would estimate that on average, around a third of all new accounts are set up by spammers and Nigerian 419 scammers. I am now pretty good at spotting these and cannot remember the last time a user contacted me to report such a member.

By keeping the epals database relatively free of such users, it makes the section far more pleasant for my users. Members do not want to be bombarded with spam and potential scams every day - if they are, they will soon leave the site never to return. One message every now and again may be accepted, as long as the member is aware that once they report the incident, immediate action will be taken. Once it becomes a regular occurrence however, you can kiss that member goodbye.

As an online community developer, you have an obligation to keep your members safe. Nigerian 419 scammers are no joke - on occasion they are successful at robbing people for every penny they have, and have been known to use violence to achieve their goals. You need to educate your members about such people, and the potential dangers of meeting people they only know online in real life. Similarly, you need to advise your members to never reveal personal information and to report any members that ask for such information to you immediately.

A spam free community is a happy community

Before establishing your own social network, you need to be aware that it will be a target for spammers and scammers. By being aware of this, you can draw up an action-plan on how you will combat them. A community that is harbouring such undesirable members will struggle to be successful, and your reputation will be at risk. If you don’t have a spam and scam-free community, you cannot expect to retain members.

Do you run a social network? How do you deal with spammers and scammers? Share your thoughts, opinions and experiences by leaving a comment below.

Martin Reed - communityspark.com

Social Networks Starting to Click

By Rebekah Tsadik

Studies show social networking growing in the b-to-b space, even as marketers acknowledge need for measurement.

As b-to-c marketers dash ahead adopting new media platforms—blogs, viral videos and social networks—their b-to-b counterparts struggle with questions about the effectiveness of these same tactics. While some count the downstream benefits social networks are believed to provide, such as brand- and relationship-building, others wonder whether the efforts are worth the cost and warn about unrealistic expectations.

Trade shows and events are two growth areas for social networks. One CEO, who belongs to nearly 30 social networks, thinks they're as essential to events as name tags.

"Social network systems provide a great way for people going to the event to find out who else is coming," said Elliot Masie, CEO of the Masie Center & Learning Consortium, a think tank that explores topics of learning, technology, business and workplace productivity for companies such as American Express Co. and Target Corp. The company has used social networks in connection with events for the last three years to create more connections among attendees before, during and after events.

The company created a social network for its Learning 2007 conference for senior executives in human resources and training for Fortune 1,000 companies in October. About 70% of the 2,040 attendees created profiles, adding video and stories about themselves and their companies. One attendee came with a stack of profile pictures she had printed of all the people she planned to meet.

Elsewhere, b-to-b companies are borrowing social networking ideas from the b-to-c space while creating measurements and tactics to fit their own needs.

New media apprehension

A joint survey by the Association of National Advertisers and BtoB last year showed that marketers were apprehensive about adopting new media, with lack of experience and the challenge to find measurable ROI chief among their concerns.

The survey found that while most b-to-b marketers are using e-mail and their own Web sites to reach customers, only 10% viewed social networking as effective. Among the b-to-c marketers surveyed, 36% viewed social networking as effective. The b-to-b respondents said they used social networks, blogs and virtual spaces such as Second Life for brand-building rather than generating new leads.

"It's hard to put an ROI on it, and that's where there's some hesitancy," said Jonathan Mendez, founder and chief strategy officer of OTTO Digital and a blogger at optimizeandprophesize.com. The company tests behavior patterns and responses to online content to increase relevance for companies such as General Electric Co., IBM Corp. and Siemens Corp. Mendez has worked with Walt Disney Co. and T-Mobile USA to better configure their sites to audience behavior online.

"The value is the platform and the ability to listen to your audience, your customers, even to yourself and your own business," Mendez said. "That just requires new ways of measurement more than anything else."

But customers don't always want to be found. Masie gave an example of a social network user who may advertise the need for a learning system—typically a seven-figure product—then get bombarded by offers. The company limits the number of e-mails users can send to reduce spam within the network.

True, brand- and relationship-building play a large part in the professional world, as decision-makers use those relationships to filter product and vendor information when making purchasing decisions. But will people go online for those relationships?

"I have serious questions about whether [those relationships] actually form online," said Myra Norton, CEO of Community Analytics, who has worked with companies such as Microsoft Corp.

Norton pointed to research and interviews that highlight the important differences in the social dynamics that govern sites like Facebook and MySpace, where people find "friends" and create networks based on similar music tastes or other interests, versus those with a corporate focus.

In the business world, relationships that already exist offline may be nurtured online through social networks that encourage, for example, the sharing of best business practices or vendor recommendations.

"There's a lot of value there because those sites are providing a platform that allows a dialogue and the relationships that happen between people to happen faster," Norton said.

Measuring impact

But quantifying that value can prove more difficult. Page views, click-through and conversion rates, and customer retention decorate the measuring stick against which social networking is compared to other online media.

But how much a company values a conversation with its audiences, clients and employees "depends how you define success," Norton said.

A survey of clients of SelectMinds, which builds "white-label," or unbranded, social networks for corporations, showed that 70% of all employees said the social aspects of work are very important to their workplace satisfaction. And nearly half (46%) of workers ages 20 to 29 rated the availability of support/networking programs for employees with common interests as a very important factor in their decision to join or remain with an employer, compared with 36% of their peers.

For younger workers, especially, social networks help maintain connections to family, friends, fellow alumni—and business contacts. That thirst for connectivity speaks to recent increased feelings of isolation in the workplace. In fact, 87% of the employees surveyed said they are most productive in their jobs when surrounded by colleagues with whom they have a good relationship.

White-Label Networks

"Companies require lots of controls around who can see what information and have access to what people," said Diane Pardee, CMO, SelectMinds, which works mainly with b-to-b companies such as Dow Chemical Co. to create internal social networks as a way to connect global sales teams and share new product information. Like other white-label social networking software developers working in the enterprise space, SelectMinds has found data and security concerns to be top priorities.

According to SelectMinds, its clients say corporate social networking helped increased productivity on average 10.33%, new business on average 11.65% and retention on average 5%. Internal social networks provided a way for companies to connect global sales teams and share knowledge of new products.

Pardee said reinforcing online relationships with offline meetings is essential. SelectMinds' own statistics show that more internal solidarity increases employee retention, translating into millions of dollars in benefits for companies.

For some companies, former employees can provide valuable connections to new business prospects via the social network. These "alumni" may mediate connections between their clients and their former employer, generating new business. Other companies have used their social networks to create subnetworks—for instance, tying key developers to executives.

"We actually see social networks getting smaller and more focused," said Shaun Priest, senior VP-sales at Omnifuse, a white-label social network company. "Instead of saying we want to be all things to all people, how can we [reach] a targeted group?" he said.

Employee Intranets Growing

The largest growth of social network use is in the areas of employee intranets, software groups and associations, Priest said.

Take the case of CareSeek Inc.'s social network careseek.com, which has 1,000 members. The site allows nurses to review comments about doctors for patients, and will eventually include hospitals and care homes. The site was launched in September during the Health 2.0 conference. CareSeek's member profiles are designed to create a sense of trust among patients, caregivers and care providers. The 600,000 doctors in the U.S. are entered into the site already; whether they choose to join is up to them, as well as social workers, physical therapists, pharmacists and other eligible community members.

"Engaging people in this is a giant outreach for volunteers to contribute content," said Gale Wilson-Steele, an Omnifuse client and CareSeek's CEO and founder. She that the idea of an open dialogue can be uncomfortable in such a heavily regulated industry. "Feeding and care to keep it alive has to happen, and it has a big investment of time and money," she said.

CareSeek invested thousands of dollars in the platform, design, handling focus groups, redesign, branding and messaging. Including staff time and maintenance, Wilson-Steele said the site basically created its own department.

"I wouldn't say it's a get-rich-quick-scheme at all," she said.

Community Analytics' Norton, agreed.

"This is not `Field of Dreams,' where you build it and they will come," she said.

btobonline.com

Researchers Plunder Social Networks

By Jon Stewart

Every day millions of students at college in America log onto Facebook. Like any other fan of the site they update their status, message each other, upload and tag photos, and link to their friends.

What they are not aware of is that they are being monitored by researchers, who are almost overwhelmed by the amount of data they can gather about tastes, preferences and relationships.

Sociologists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Harvard University in the United States are using the social networking site for academic research.

"We're harvesting information from Facebook. We have all the information on an entire class of students. We are gathering that data and transforming it into a dataset that can be easily used for all kinds of analysis" said Andreas Wimmer, professor of Sociology at UCLA.

"It's a wealth of data on who relates to whom, and who becomes friends with whom, that is quite unprecedented. Compared to the usual survey data it's a huge leap forward in terms of the precision with which relationships are recorded," he said.

Facebook users can set privacy controls, to limit who can see their profiles. But researchers say that currently most of the students they are looking at haven't chosen to make their sites private, and therefore they are knowingly making details of their lives public.

"There's just a phenomenal amount of work being done that takes advantage of what I would call this passive, massive, data collection effort" said Professor Nicholas Christakis from Harvard University.

He told the Digital Planet programme on the BBC World service that as well as Facebook, scientists are gathering data from all sorts of online activity.

"There are lots of people who are taking advantage of the fact that we leave digital traces nowadays. People have been mining all kinds of data. For example they've been looking at telephone networks, instant messaging networks, blog postings. Some people have machine-readings of hundreds of millions of blog entries.

"There is even a website that tries to track how people are feeling in different parts of the world - looking at whether there are there hotspots of sadness, anger or happiness in different areas" he continued.

Facebook is particularly useful to sociologists because of the way members accurately record relationships. Friends can add applications to compare tastes in everything from films to music to books. That can help researchers establish whether people tend to form relationships with others who are similar to themselves.

The study looking at the entire class of students is scheduled to run for four years. Early results are helping to shed light on how people make friends.

"If you look at the entire picture of who is hanging out with whom - or what are the principles of group formation in this college, then you see that the most important thing is co-residence, who people who have been thrown together with in the same dorm" said Prof Wimmer.

"It seems that since this 'opportunity' structure matters so much, what this college and a lot of others are doing, is mixing people from different backgrounds - racial, social-economic etc - in their dorms and their residences. It really helps to establish ties across these various divides."

Longer term the researchers believe the increased understanding of the way relationships form could help identify students who aren't fitting in, and who are perhaps at a greater risk of suicide.

news.bbc.co.uk

A Mirror to the Way We Live Now?

Social networking, Facebook in particular, is fast becoming a dominant force in shaping the way people stay in touch, organise and spend their leisure time. A research study by Instrata flagged up some issues arising from this change, whilst raising questions about whether it is changing segments of society or simply highlighting the way things already are.

“It is difficult to say whether the changes in communication and models of friendship are caused by these sites or whether Facebook’s popularity is due to a timely commercial response to existing social changes such the flexible workforce that moves regularly and has wider, more dispersed friendship groups,” says Anita Mackenzie Mills from Instrata.

Ironically in the light of debates over social networking and the loss of a real social life, much of the success of Facebook has been its insistence on the use of real names and networks. These networks: academic, workplace and geographical, are where people identify themselves as being part of the previously distinct worlds of virtual communities and real life.

VOYEURISM OR STALKING?
The popularity of social networking in some ways is similar to that of reality TV, but with people you have met, or friends of friends. Part of the appeal is voyeurism, permitted and encouraged because people are happy to post their personal information, including photos, videos, contact details and lists of favourite films, music etc in the knowledge that it can be seen by friends or, depending on your choice of privacy settings, strangers in your networks. Stalking is a term commonly applied to browsing profiles. In this context stalking has begun to lose its very negative connotation, and even become a common in-joke amongst users. There is even a new term “Facestalk” describing this activity. The result is that friends can be very aware of what their contacts are doing, where they are going, see pictures of their nights out, and thus feel very in touch without ever seeing each other, talking or even directly exchanging messages.

PRIVACY
One of Facebook’s benefits is that profiles are less open than MySpace – unless you keep it open to the whole network, only friends you accept can view your page. Even so, during the two weeks when participants kept a diary of their social networking activities a surprising number of misunderstandings, arguments and difficulties arose. A school was having problems with pupils discovering teachers’ Facebook pages. One participant was upset that her boyfriend’s page still stated that he was single, another had suspicions due to her boyfriend’s numerous attractive female friends. A male participant posted a photo of a friend’s “harmless” flirtation on a night out, causing a rift in the friendship and leading him to decide to delete his own profile to avoid future problems.

Like any new communication tool, social networking needs time for users to formulate and understand the necessary unwritten rules of usage. Many of the initial problems have been exacerbated by the high speed of its adoption. There is a chance that these issues could inhibit the growth of social networking, but probably only in the short term while new models of acceptable social network behaviour are being worked out. As Dr Rachel Jones from Instrata says: “Whether social networking is a passing fad or a phenomenon that will change the way we communicate forever remains to be seen.”

usabilitynews.com

Online social networking new lifestyle

Online social networking websites saw their ranks swell and values soar this year as everyone from moody teenagers and mellow music lovers to mate-seeking seniors joined online communities.

A woman looks at the MySpace website in this undated photo. Online social networking websites saw their ranks swell and values soar this year as everyone from moody teenagers and mellow music lovers to mate-seeking seniors joined online communities. [Agencies]

Google's freshly released "Zeitgeist 2007" reveals that seven out of the 10 hottest topics which triggered Internet queries during the year involved social networking.

A Top Ten list compiled by the world's most-used search engine includes British website Badoo, Spanish-language Hi5, and US-based Facebook.

Video-sharing websites YouTube and Dailymotion are on the list, along with the Club Penguin online role playing game where children pretending to be the flightless birds "waddle about and play" together.

Virtual world Second Life, where people represented by animated proxies interact in digitized fantasy settings, is the final social networking property in the Zeitgeist Top Ten.

The world has only seen "the tip of the iceberg" when it comes to online social networking, says MySpace vice president of business development Amit Kapur.

"It is a natural step in the evolution of the Web," Kapur said.

"The Web is getting more personal. I think you are going to see much more of that happen on every website across the Web."

MySpace aspires to become people's homes on the Internet, with profile pages serving as online addresses as well as springboards to online music, video, news and other content conducive to their tastes and interests.

"It is a next-generation portal," Kapur said.

Industry statistics show Facebook membership more than doubled in the past year to about 55 million, while reigning champion MySpace grew 30 percent to top 110 million.

One in every four US residents uses MySpace, while in Britain it is as common to have a profile page on the website as it is to own a dog.

"We are very social animals and this allows us to ramp it up to a whole other order of magnitude," says professor Jeremy Bailenson, who heads a Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University in Northern California.

A strong appeal of online role-playing games and virtual worlds is that they free people to "interact as their ideal self and not their real self," according to Bailenson.

"You can be whatever age you want -- 20 forever -- dress any way you want, be any gender you want, and be socializing with zillions of people at once all the time," Bailenson said.

His lab has created 3-dimensional digitized models customized with people's facial expressions and mannerisms.

"You can make a digital version of you that is animated so your grandkids' grandkids could put on a helmet and you can read them a story from the grave," Bailenson said, adding virtual communities offer a sense of immortality.

"People love virtual community."

Interest in online communities surged in 2007 as the gregarious nature of humans merged with increasingly available high-speed Internet and affordable computing hardware, according to Bailenson.

"It has reached a critical mass," Bailenson said. "It is not just the geeks doing it. It is my mom."

California-based social networking website BOOMj just launched as an online community for Baby Boomers, the first of which turned 65 years old this year.

"Boomers grew up meeting people through mutual friends, which a lot of times meant it was the bartender," said BOOMj spokesman Jim Welch, himself a "boomer."

"Now you have Boomers re-entering the single world, widowed or divorce, and on new-relationship terrain they haven't set foot on in many years. As they re-enter the single world they reach out to the Internet."

Younger generations are much more comfortable with the Internet, which has woven ever more tightly into their lifestyles.

"It won't replace face to face interaction," Bailenson said.

"It is another way of thinking about maintaining social relationships. It is here and it is not going anywhere."

Forrester Research senior analyst Jeremiah Owyang said the social networking rage is happening "where ever there is high-speed Internet."

Owyang said membership at the website Cyworld includes 85 percent of South Korea's Internet users. A major company in that country gave employees annual bonuses in the form Cyworld currency.

Online communities and virtual worlds are forums for commerce, advertising and business meetings, said Owyang.

MySpace's Kapur says social networking will become increasingly global and mobile as the use of Internet-linked handheld devices becomes ubiquitous.

The meteoric rise in popularity of social networking websites is driving up their values in the minds of investors as the firms grapple with how to cash in on membership bases.

Microsoft recently paid 240 million dollars for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing paid 60 million dollars for a piece of the San Francisco company.

The investments give three-year-old Facebook a theoretical value of 15 billion dollars. News Corp-owned MySpace wouldn't disclose its value, saying only it has about triple the membership and activity of Facebook.

chinadaily.com.cn

8 Tips B2B Mobile social networking

OV op je mobiel, datingsites, Hyves op je mobiel, aanbiedingen, tips en lokale zoekers naar toilet, taxi of winkel-in-de-buurt. Je moet de mobiele networker verrassen en zeer waardevol 'lastig' vallen op hun Smartphone. Denk daarbij wel aan de verschillen tussen b2b en b2c social networks. B2b gaat namelijk niet om entertainment maar om zakelijke contacten. En vooral: het moet zakelijk van waarde.

Acht stappen, acht tips voor meer 'engagement' met je b2b mobile social network. Vaak heel logisch, maar als stappenplan altijd handig:

1. Define your goals

- Do you want to improve or build better customer relationships?
- Do you want to increase your knowledge management capabilities?
- Do you want to facilitate sales or recruitment?
- Do you want to increase your personal and corporate visibility to gain more brand awareness or business opportunities?
- Do you want to build a community in which ideas and information can be exchanged and discussed?
- Do you want to hold one-on-one or engage in multiple conversations at the same time?
- Do you want to use certain tools or applications?

2. Determine available resources

What kind of resources do you have on hand to build this initiative, and do you understand what it takes?

3. Blend with your brand

Next, integrate your mobile social network with your brand positioning and strategy. Consider where your customers and your competition are and whether a mobile social network will improve your positioning and competitive advantage by making you more immediately visible and accessible.

4. Determine how you will get customers to use it

Customers, partners and colleagues will require tools to enable them to interact with you and one another. You will also need to come to grips with what will motivate them to use mobile networking.

- People will need something to talk about. This might require you to begin the conversation, to advertise an event or product, ask a question, set up a competition or encourage interactivity.

- You might have to allow customers to set up their own groups, blogs and community forums within your network based around common areas of interest.

Members of a custom-made B-to-B mobile social network, for example, might want to co-create or share information within an open or closed environment. B-to-B social mobile networks are more sophisticated than consumer social networks. “You want to meet somebody, discuss with somebody in a forum or post a blog” says Thomas Power, CEO, ecademy.com.

5. Understand cultural sensibilities and legal obligations

People in different countries interact with each other in different ways. Some accept certain types of content; others don’t. Consider who will monitor and censure conversations and what the legal implications and community guidelines are. Always be transparent.

6. Find the appropriate mobile social platform

You must determine the mobile social platform you want to use. Start by looking at those that complement the objectives you want to achieve.

7. Have a viral marketing strategy in place

What will make people flock to your mobile network? You’ll need to find evangelists who can influence others. Keep them informed about what you are doing. Much business is gained through referrals, so make sure people can connect with you and each other. Be prepared to respond and participate in conversations.

8. Integrate with other social networks

Look at your marketing strategies and channels from a tactical perspective: What are you going to do apart from the obvious?

Two typical measures are:
#1. Return on investment. How much time have you spent using it and how many sales have been generated, or how much has it cost to create your own in comparison to brand awareness or sales?

#2. Return on relationship. What did you get out of the relationships you’ve created in terms of customer loyalty, retention, referrals and new sales? You need to invest time in learning how your customers, partners or colleagues use the network.

Kyte Nabs $15M for Mobile Social Network

Mobile social-networking startup Kyte on Thursday said it got $15 million in funding from Spanish carrier Telefonica, Japan's NTT DoCoMo, and Nokia Growth Partners.

The funding, which pushed San Francisco-based Kyte's tally to $17.2 million, is the second venture capital investment in a U.S.-based mobile social-networking startup this week. Juice Wireless on Monday scored $6 million in what is now a mobile social-networking spending spree. (see Juice Taps $6M from Mobile-Funding Geyser)

Venture capitalists pumped $431.2 million into 92 mobile social-networking companies in the first three quarters of 2007, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association Moneytree.

But none of these firms have yet made a dent in the promising, but revenue-challenged, market.

"The market does not feel that crowded to us because frankly there are few services, no revenues, no users, and no one has yet established a footprint in the market," Kyte CEO Daniel Graf said.

Despite an industry trend toward open mobile networks in the United States, access to customers is still controlled by carriers and will be controlled by them at least for a few more years, Mr. Graf said, so Kyte will seek out carrier partners.

"There is a very high entry barrier related to carriers and device manufacturers and that's why we have teamed up with Telefonica, DoCoMo, and Nokia in this round," Mr. Graf said.

Kyte markets a multimedia service that allows mobile phone users to share video, pictures, music, or text that can be posted on web sites such as MySpace, blogs, or broadcast to other mobile phones.

The company is hoping to attract media companies and artists to create embedded interactive channels and produce multimedia shows from their mobile phones while on the road.

redherring.com

2008: Year of the Mini Social Networks

MySpace, Facebook, and the other large social networks need not worry. The small, niche social network sites that are popping up faster than poker rooms in the 90’s are not going to hurt the big boy’s bottom lines. They’re just going to draw more people by the end of the year because of one fact.

They’re just more useful than the big sites.

The appeal that brought millions to form profiles and make friends on MySpace and Facebook will have the opposite effect in 2008 an beyond. We built our MySpace page and started Facebooking because everyone else was doing it. As closed social sites begin to gain in popularity, they will appeal to people because NOT everyone else is doing it. Inclusion is easy on today’s internet. Being part of something exclusive is becoming the new IT thing to do.

Ning and other emerging websites offer places for people to “give everyone the opportunity to create your own social networks for anything.” Here are some of the more popular emerging themes for these closed social niche networks:

Age-Based Social Networks

There are social networks popping up for everyone from 8-year-olds to 80-year-olds. Websites like Boomj (social network for baby boomer), Whyville (”a virtual world where boys and girls from all over the real world come to chat, play, learn, and have fun together”), and Eons (”loving life on the flipside of 50″) are making it possible for people in particular age groups to interact with each other.

The appeal here is obvious. Age gives people an instant point of reference where they know that, no matter what else is different, they have something in common. Exploring these websites reveals that the members seem to be more open, willing to reveal more about themselves than they would on general social networking websites.

Local Social Networks

Quick story: a friend was at a party the other day and really hit it off with a girl he met there. They talked, laughed, drank… all was going well. As the night drew to a close, he asked for her phone number. She hesitated, saying that she didn’t really give her phone number out to people that she just met. Then, she took a card out and wrote something down.

It was her MySpace page.

She said they could get to know each other better that way first. He was disappointed, but it was better than nothing.

Social networks like Tribe and GoingOn to localize their networks and give the audience places to find local focus. While MySpace and Facebook have similar interfaces, it’s impossible to separate yourself into the closed networks, as the bulk of friends and members will still be crossing over to other general areas.

Social networks with local membership and flare are becoming more and more prominent, especially with dating. Being social with people you can never meet based upon proximity is one thing. Having them available within your city is something completely different. Local social networks act as that buffer zone where people can interact and get to know each other without having to meet for drinks or talk on the phone. In 2008, there will be multiple large social networks in every major city. Expect to start hearing radio ads and even a few television spots pop up.

Professional Social Networks

The car business, which is notoriously a year or two behind the times when it comes to the internet, has a few social networks for car dealers popping up. The presence of Automotive Social Networks is either a sign of the end of the world or an example of how any, ANY, profession can find itself with a social network specific to its profession.

Getting advice, networking, sharing experiences — we are professionally based individuals who revolve around our jobs. Few are willing to admit it, but it’s true. Having a place with like-minded people makes it easier to cope sometimes. That’s the appeal to social networks by profession.

Interest Social Networks

Forums fade. They pop back up, then they fade again. Slowly, they will be integrated into social networks that offer more interaction beyond the forums themselves.

Gaming, for example, has dozens of emerging social networks. Gaming Social Networks like Great Games Experiments offer networks within the networks to allow gamers to become even more specific about their wins and conquests.

Why Now?

What makes 2008 the year that Niche Social Networks will emerge? The answer has 2 parts: Money and simplicity.

With the Facebook Beacon debacle and other outcries for less user data being used for marketing, it makes sense to target networks where the advertisers already know they’ve got the right audience. Hyper-targeted marketing will continue to emerge, but for now, closed social networks make it much less controversial.

The simplicity aspect is even more important. It is simple from every angle - simple for members to find the answers and networking they need, and simple for developers to make the sites and promote them with very little investment. Google’s Open Social and several other applications will make it very easy for these types of networks to get started and grow.

socialnewswatch.com

Niche Social Networks to Take Off in 2008

Pringo Networks shares opinion for 2008 trends in social media

Interest and focus in social networks will move from behemoth sites to more personalized groups, according to Pringo, a leading provider of white-label social networking platforms. The company's president, Gary Hall, today published his opinions on the social-media trends for 2008, predicting record-breaking deployments of feature-rich, special-interest community sites.

2008 will see some specific trends, including:

1. In order to maintain stickiness in 2008, brands will need to employ social media tools and user-generated content (UGC). To keep their competitive edge, they will be proactive in understanding and identifying their users' specific interests, providing a more relevant and feature-rich community.

2. The greatest growth in social media will be in affinity groups and niches. The largest social media sites will become less relevant and attractive to those who want social media to be intimate and useful, rather than broadly distributed.

3. Social media sites will reap the benefits from an increase in advertising dollars being spent, but consumers will reject advertising that is not tailored for their specific needs. The growth in highly-targeted sites will attract advertisers looking for a quicker return on investment. This will further reinforce the ad-revenue sharing model between organizations and social-media platform providers. In addition, we will see emergence of advertising-based standards.

4. Customer-facing companies that do not employ social media tools in their external communications and customer relationship management strategies will lose to competitors who actively adopt these. Individuals will expect companies to leverage this type of technology so the consumer voice can more easily be heard.

5. People will continue to spend more time on the Internet; however, they will hop from one web site to another less frequently, only spending time on social media sites and networks that fully engage their interests and values.

6. In 2008, a more mature audience will embrace online communities, even though the young early adopters acted as the initial catalyst for social media. Although growth in terms of quantity will still be largest among teens and 20-somethings, the highest percentage rise will come from parents of children who use social media, professionals and senior citizens, among others.

7. Major corporations will use social media tools for building better communication with employees, replacing outdated intranet systems. The increase in popularity of social networks and online communities in corporate environments will create a demand among businesses for customizable, scalable and feature-rich platforms.

8. Mobile social media will take off in 2008. Up until now mobile services have played a minor role in the development of social media. Consumers will want to take social media with them everywhere, driving the development of more mobile applications.

9. We will start to see market consolidation. Larger social media players will acquire smaller, common interest sites so that the established portals remain competitive, attractive and relevant.

lewiswire.com

Community Networks versus Social Networks

Google (GOOG) has just bought Jaiku, a Finland-based mobile IM and presence company.
In the recent period many articles has touched upon sites like Jaiku, FaceBook, and LinkedIn etc and labeled them "social networks". But in my opinion they can't be classified as social network, but more as "free end-user driven virtual community networks" as real contact between members are rare.

Real social networks are a description of a "professional real life and closed company specific social networks" where real contacts between members are what the software displays and analyse on.

lars-kirstein.blogspot.com

Open Web Awards Announced Final Winners

The voting in the first ever Open Web Awards is over and Vizu has validated the results. The awards ceremony will be held at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California on Thursday, January 10th from 7:00 – 10:00 PM.

Here are the winners:

Mainstream and Large Social Networks - Netlog.com

Applications and Widgets - WidgetBucks

Social News - Digg.com

Social Search - Facebook.com

Sports and Fitness - Sportme.org

Photo Sharing - Vois.com

Video Sharing - Kaltura

Start Pages - Cafemom.com

Places and Events - MySpace

Music - Pandora.com

Social Shopping - Zlio.com

Mobile - Google Maps for Mobile

Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks - Cafemom.com

Are You My Friend Friend?

Social networking has altered the way that some of the more connected among us look at the concept of “friendship.”

If you are someone like Robert Scoble and have a stable of thousands of friends to contend with, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to ask the question what does friendship of this sort really mean.

There seem to be three major tiers of Friendship using this model. They go something like this.

Friend Friend

These are people who you have some real connection to. Whether they are old acquaintances who you are staying in touch with online or people at the periphery of your social circle that you want to keep track of. Friend Friends are the type of people who it wouldn’t seem strange to call up on the phone, and for normal users, these make up the majority of the friends in their network.

Professional Contact

These are people you might not know personally, but you know of them. Web marketers make great use of this kind of Friendship. These are people who, for whatever reason, you want to keep tabs, or often times people who are inaccessible except through a social network. Usually, this sort of “friendship” is a strange combination of voyeurism and one-sided debate. That being said, it’s not a terrible way to get to know people you may not have a more logical means of getting into contact with.

Hangers On

These are not your friends in any traditional sense, however, you have no qualms with allowing them to “think” they are. Generally, the percentage of hangers on increase exponentially with the number of friends you have in a network beyond the low hundreds. These are friendships where you have no real personal contact, no intention of ever having a personal contact nor are you completely aware that these people are actually your friends. In a way, hangers on have just become RSS feed subscribers to your lifestream.

Web 2.0 Roundup

I don’t believe social networks have created these distinctions, instead they have made them a lot more apparent. Celebrities, sports stars and politicians have aggregated their relationships in similar ways for years. However, blogging has given otherwise “normal” people a platform to work these layers of relationships into their lives. What are your thoughts?

howtosplitanatom.com

3 Principles of Social Network Design

Social software designers are learning that designing for group behavior and interaction is more complex than designing for individual users. Especially in social network design, the unpredictability in user response and group activities can pose design difficulties. In order for a social network design to be successful, there are several basic principles that should be followed.

1. Engage the user quickly—seconds matter. First impressions matter when users have millions of websites they can click to. You will need to make the core features of your network absolutely clear before distracting the user with too many peripheral features. Make sure there is a very short learning curve for users to be able to add content or change settings so that they can see the results quickly.

Continuing to engage users requires dynamic applications. In order to provide an ongoing quality experience across multiple sessions, the application must generate new content on a steady basis. One way that social network design can accomplish this is by exposing friend or contact activity. This is how MySpace and FaceBook have leveraged their technologies. As users become aware of how other users are interacting and using the network, this creates ongoing change and interactivity.

2. Enable self expression. The user’s profile page should be customizable to the extreme and offer a large variety of options for self expression. The profile will ultimately reflect the individual’s identity, expressing their likes, dislikes, tastes—opening themselves up to every other user. The more self expression available on the profile page, the more interactions are possible with other users as they connect and networks grow.

Conversations or discussions among users are another necessary way for self expression. As discussions continue, the interaction has a tendency to spawn new topics and new content. The growth of a network can be exponentially related to the interaction and interplay of its users as they have increasing numbers of conversations throughout the network.

3. Community Building. By following the first two principles of engaging quickly and enabling self expression, the network creates an environment that fosters development of huge connecting interactions. These connections can quickly grow too numerous to be able to track so smaller communities within the whole are created. As in a real public setting, users will tend to gather together in groups of similar interests or tastes. As these communities grow, contributors become emotionally vested in the network.

By forming these smaller communities within the larger network, users are given a much fuller and richer experience. As they become more and more vested in the community, they are less likely to leave and more likely to invite others to join them in the experience. Communities are what keep users coming back, helping them form permanent, virtual ties.

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