I think those are good points Alexandra. I'd add that as new networks or network-like tools like Twitter gain in popularity a new model of social context emerges. One of discovery through social connections, as opposed to being about social connections or employment and professional connections. Even the Twitter model has problems early on. It has become as much a channel for 140 character spam as it has for valuable messaging. Leveraging it for personal value takes the same kind of investment as any of the other online community models you've mentioned.
As well, anyone predicting the death of social networks altogether isn't considering the e.learning side of the equation. That sector is moving from closed Learning Management System models to open Personal Learning Environment models, where the open tools, open access and open content of the social software world is creating entirely new approaches to learning and teaching. James On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 2:15 PM, Alexandra O'Neal <[email protected]> wrote: > Great topic. It's unsettling to hear people like Valdis Krebs predict the > ultimate failure of Facebook, as not sufficiently replicating the IRL > social > experience, when an online social network is your bread and butter (I work > for a top-5 social network). > > Btw, if you don't know him, Krebs is an excellent source for understanding > social networking, online and off. http://www.thenetworkthinker.com/ > > >From what I can tell, the usefulness of an online social network is all > about context and control. So, here are some examples (no, I don't work for > any of them!). > > - LinkedIn is designed around the clear-cut context of professional > networking, and allows you control of your content, whom you accept in > your > network, etc. Anything that can get someone a job *and* help them develop > within it is clearly useful and will probably be around for a while. > > Sites using social media to address very specific topics are also useful. > For example, some medical self-help & awareness siteshave been well > established since the '90s. > - Facebook allows some control, but is a bit challenged re: context. > They seem to want to do everything. I was pulled into Facebook by > colleagues at my previous job who were communicating about work > accomplishments via status updates; old friends have found me on it and I > now follow their updates; and my new employer likewise has team members > on > it, who sometimes share about private things I should not "know" about in > the workplace. This, combined with the strong meme and gaming element > that > further confuses the context, make it harder and harder to know what is > appropriate to share in my feed, and to track who's going to see it. > > Yes, I know Facebook has Friend Lists, and they are using the Friends, > Family, Coworkers, and Public Profiles distinctions in the new pages - > but > what about coworkers from different companies? Friends who can't stand > each > other? Acquaintances I met through Facebook political groups who are > "friends" alongside people I've known 25 years? The level of effort to > differentiate between these is one of the primary challenges Facebook > must > address. Perhaps the subscription model will help. > > MySpace seems to be crumbling (3 top execs left this week), and I think > much of it's failure was due to the lack of focus (alongside a challenged > corporate environment and overly difficult business approach). > - LiveJournal has extremely easy privacy settings and customized friends > groups. The ability to control who sees what is stable and easy, which > means > I'm able to read public blogs from professionals writing about their > field > of expertise, chatty personal posts, and occasionally the deeply private > joys and woes of close friends whose friendship I developed online. A > couple of these have turned into IRL friendships. There's also an > extraordinary level of loyalty to the site among many members. > > The challenge is to be not only well-designed, but focused - and if you're > not inherently focused, make it easy for the users to sharpen focus on > their > own. IRL we can easily slip into the different kinds of communication we > use with everyone we know - online, this can be much more difficult. > > So that's my 2 cents. Enjoy! > > bests, > Alex O'Neal > UX manager > > -- > The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The next best time is > now. > > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
