Social Networking Problem Solved
The problem with social networking sites like Friendster or Facebook has always been: okay, so I'm online and have linked up with all my friends. Now what?
I personally think Friendster went under because of this factor. MySpace has a few options: you can continue whoring out for random friends, you can visit and read about your favorite bands, and you can post to a MySpace blog. Facebook has built in some ideas this year - photo sharing and event organization are two "continuing uses" for the site that seem to be pretty popular. LinkedIn lets you hunt for jobs and send your resume to people.
So far my personal favorite has been OkCupid. Though it's primarily a dating site (and one of the only totally free ones, I might add), it has the "see their friends" / commenting features that define a social networking site. It's "continuing uses," even if you've found someone, are the amusing user-generated quizzes. Anybody remember Quizilla (which apparently now has tagclouds and other Web 2.0ishness)? It has a lot of that kind of thing. The "Cowboy / Ninja / Pirate / Knight" test kept me occupied for a few minutes, as did the Zombie Scenario Survivor test.
As time progresses, I think "social networking" sites will become more specialized in functionality, to the point where the 'continuing uses' features will define them, rather than merely the network-building capabilities.
Oh, and BTW - if any of you are on OkCupid, friendlist me!
Technorati Tags: Social Networking, Dating
I personally think Friendster went under because of this factor. MySpace has a few options: you can continue whoring out for random friends, you can visit and read about your favorite bands, and you can post to a MySpace blog. Facebook has built in some ideas this year - photo sharing and event organization are two "continuing uses" for the site that seem to be pretty popular. LinkedIn lets you hunt for jobs and send your resume to people.
So far my personal favorite has been OkCupid. Though it's primarily a dating site (and one of the only totally free ones, I might add), it has the "see their friends" / commenting features that define a social networking site. It's "continuing uses," even if you've found someone, are the amusing user-generated quizzes. Anybody remember Quizilla (which apparently now has tagclouds and other Web 2.0ishness)? It has a lot of that kind of thing. The "Cowboy / Ninja / Pirate / Knight" test kept me occupied for a few minutes, as did the Zombie Scenario Survivor test.
As time progresses, I think "social networking" sites will become more specialized in functionality, to the point where the 'continuing uses' features will define them, rather than merely the network-building capabilities.
Oh, and BTW - if any of you are on OkCupid, friendlist me!
Technorati Tags: Social Networking, Dating
posted by Agius at 4:22 AM
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