There is a difference between sites that are Social Media Sites, and those that are Social Networking sites, although some do both. To the degree that a site encourages basic user generated content, but little else (ratings, comments, discussions, blog posts, images, video) as opposed to a Social Networking (connecting, friending, messaging) -- Some sites do some mix of networking and user generated content - some more than others - some blogs are really neither. If you can't comment on a post, rate a post, etc - than although it is user generated content - it's not social, for instance Seth Godin's personal blog is neither networking nor media because their are no mechanisms for connection of communication.
On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 11:15 AM, David Malouf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think we are defining social networks different. Not everything that is > social is a social network, IMHO. > I don't see really any networking going on in Amazon, or in no way that is > really connected. I don't create friends, I can't even say I want to buy > everything this review buys. I can't make that reviewer a favorite or > anything like that. Sure PEOPLE are engaged, but the network is not, IMHO. > > I don't use eBay enough to really know what is going on there, but it does > seem again, that it is social, but not networked, IMHO. > > As for the "experiment" I was wondering, what features are valuable to the > END USER, not the business. Often there can be a conflict between the 2. > Adding monetization could be detrimental to the end-user experience, but > then again, w/o it the service won't live long, now will it. But just as > people pretty easily have moved from one IM client to another, and from AOL > to MySpace to Facebook and so on and so forth, the end user is a lot more > flexible than the business. > > Your focus on the business is GREAT and as designers interested in > "stakeholder centered design" it has to be considered. > > -- dave > > > > > On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 9:09 AM, Jared Spool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > On Sep 22, 2008, at 5:34 AM, David Malouf wrote: > > > > But Jared, those are businesses that have ADDED social networking > >> (especially the Amazon case) as a means of adding value to their core > >> commerce business. > >> > > > > I don't know what "added" means. eBay, from day 1, had their community > and > > reputation management system. Amazon, from day 1, had their reviews and > > ratings. Both of these are core social networking features, albeit > different > > than the Can-I-Facebook-You? pickup-line approach. > > > > So, your complaint about my bringing up eBay and Amazon is that they > > started with a viable business model instead of praying one appears to > them > > in a burning bush before the investor money runs out? I guess I'm just > > lacking the faith that FB's mgmt has. > > > > But to be honest, as an end user, if FB can last 10 years w/o a > >> viable business model. I could care less. In 10 years something else > >> will get my attention and so long as I can keep using FB the way I > >> have for free, it serves my needs quite well. > >> > > > > So, is that it? FB is just a decade-long experiment to disprove the > Dunbar > > number theory? Once it's outlived its usefulness, we just let it plummet > > back into the atmosphere and burn? > > > > I wonder if anyone has let the investors in on the nature of this > > experiment. > > > > :) > > > > Jared > > > > > > > -- > David Malouf > http://synapticburn.com/ > http://ixda.org/ > http://motorola.com/ > ________________________________________________________________ > 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 > -- ~ will "Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel: +1.617.281.128 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] aim: semanticwill | gtalk: wkevans4 twitter: semanticwill | skype: semanticwill --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________ 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
