Social Networking Sites - Convergance Or Not?
August 5th, 2007 — VyomaLooking at the whole Web 2.0 phenomena, and how the different kinds of websites are adding features and integrating with other sites, it makes us wonder one thing. Are all the social networking sites leading to convergence?
Convergence is not in terms of only one website dominating the internet, but one kind of website dominating the internet. By convergence, I do not say that there will not be numerous sites having different contents - but if all of them would be technically doing the same thing in terms of features.
There are different kinds of websites - forums, blogs, directories, news sites, services, review sites. It is a list I dare not attempt to make it exhaustive. All these sites are evolving to be social networking sites.
For example, a forum that I frequent, that runs on IPB recently upgraded. Among the features that got added, one of the notable ones in this perspective was a set of inter-user interaction. All the members could connect to other members - tag them as friends, leave messages, rate them and more. Sending messages to each other had been a standard in all forum softwares.
One of the directories that I frequent, Pixel2Life, is basically a directory. It is a directory of tutorias on various subjects. But it has now grown to a point where the members interact with each other so much, that I dare call it a community. It has evolved to be a social site.
Blogs, seem to a bit behind on this front in spite of being a forerunner in the Web 2.0 phenomena. But as a blog grows and matures, more and more of them are having forums of their own, and it turns out to be a place for people to hang out.
All sites seem to include more and more features that has a basic theme to it - make visitors into members who hang out and spend more time at the site. The point that emerges now is, will this make it harder for the social networking sites to survive?
The question is hard to answer, because the social networking sites seem to approach this from the other end. They integrate several forum like features into their sites where a group or subset of the community can discuss. They are integrating blogging systems, that let their members to go on a ranting rampage. They are even opening up doors for other non-social networking sites to integrate with them.
The outcome of this developments, as seen now, is quite hazy. But it is going to be an interesting ride.
What are your thoughts?
August 5th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
And then there are sites that “pose for ultimate greatness” … or is it the liquor talking? Check this article:
“New Social Network is Far Out, Developers Say”
http://www.kyle-am.com/new-social-network-is-far-out-developers-say/
August 5th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Michael, it looks like the liquor is talking.
August 5th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
See, according to me web 2.0 is nothing but community. So, any site which can build a community around it will be called a web 2.0 site.
August 5th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Yes, Web 2.0 is nothing but community features.
And social networking sites were focused on providing these. Bluntly, the question is, when these same features are implemented in other sites, what purpose does social networking sites serve?
August 5th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
It all comes down to stickiness. The longer a site can keep a user hanging around and coming back, the more likely they are to click ads and buy things, thus greasing the wheels of commerce. It’s a win-win scenario. Social networking gives users the interactivity they want, and that in turn confers stickiness to the site. People who frequent a certain site will eventually get around to clicking ads and buying things, and that gives the admins the revenue needed to keep the site open.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Well, the blunt answer to that is
:
It depends on how you are going to use those social network sites. I use social network sites for personal connectivity. However, blogs which I maintain are not for personal connectivity. Orkut is one social network, which people use to find friends and like minded people however Linkedin is more focused on professional side of your life.
So, if these features are implemented in other sites, then it will actually have a purpose behind it…the purpose is nothing but to make sure that the community keeps on floating around that site. I hope this clears up things.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Yes Michael. It comes down to stickiness. And webmasters work to make their sites as sticky as possible. And that is one of the main reason, the other sites are turning into a social hub.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Mayank, :).
It is this Web 2.0 features that other sites are roping in. As I said, only the future can tell how much of the user they can rope and retain.