Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Rise and Fall of Friendster
On Nov 26, 2007 5:38 PM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There was a great article about this on Bokardo a little while ago... > Joshua Porter wrote that the success of any social networking site > depends on the usefulness of that site in the absence of other users. > > In other words, "what does this site do for -me-," is the primary > concern, the social aspects are secondary. > > http://bokardo.com/archives/the-delicious-lesson/ > Matthew, I wouldn't go that far, saying that the success of **any** social networking site depends on the usefulness of that site in the **absence** of other users. That may make sense in the article you've mentioned, because it discuss del.icio.us tagging feature, in comparison to flickr and other "social networking" (sic) sites which use tags as well. But there are some sites that doesn't have any valeu in absence of other users. Orkut is a HUGE success here in Brazil, and it's success is directly related to the presence of other users. In fact, brazilian orkut users have been using some features of that site in a very interesting way, that many times has nothing to do with it's original intention. But it is all about the social networking, about staying in touch with friends, other people, whoever... Joshua Porter article is really interest, but there's no way to generalize it to other social networking sites. Flickr and del.icio.us have other primary functions, I would say they help you organize your stuff (photos, bookmarks, whatsoever). Orkut, Facebook and Friendster are totally different. For those who say that social networking sites fall down when a fresh new one emerges, I wouldn't be sure about that...Orkut continues to increase it's presence here, although there are many other sites just like it, for a long time. Here in Brazil Facebook users are just a few, (Friendster never happened), in comparison with Orkut. And nobody can say why. Particular contexts have different users, and we should be cautions with generalizations. -- prof. mauro pinheiro universidade federal do espírito santo centro de artes depto. de desenho industrial *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Rise and Fall of Friendster
There was a great article about this on Bokardo a little while ago... Joshua Porter wrote that the success of any social networking site depends on the usefulness of that site in the absence of other users. In other words, "what does this site do for -me-," is the primary concern, the social aspects are secondary. http://bokardo.com/archives/the-delicious-lesson/ On Nov 26, 2007 1:41 PM, Anne Hjortshoj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have two problems with this article. > > 1) The VC thing happens all the time, and is not unique to Friendster. > It's an old story. I think they're missing the point ... > > 2) ... Which is: social networking is a tool, not a product. > Friendster, Myspace, Orkut, whatever -- they all fall down when > another, hipper, newer social networking site emerges (and I believe > that even Facebook with its applications will meet the same fate, > eventually). After the novelty of adding friends has worn off, there's > nothing to keep people wedded to a particular site, even if that site > -doesn't- have server issues. > > These sites simply don't solve any problems, from a business > perspective. They're toys, and toys fall out of favor. > -- Matt Nish-Lapidus email/gtalk: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ++ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattnl Home: http://www.nishlapidus.com *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Rise and Fall of Friendster
Weixi - another thing to point out is that he ASSUMED this feature was important to people, but never actually did any research to find out if that was the case! On Nov 26, 2007 11:51 AM, Weixi Yen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is an interesting story with an intricate analysis about the failure of > Friendster, but I think it's analyzing a bit too much. > > Frienster failed because they couldn't make a good business decision to cut > a feature - the one that shows the degree of separation between friends. > Anyone remember this? > > [ Me > Friend 1 > Friend 2 > Friend I'm currently viewing. ] > > I've personally worked on an algorithm for this feature as a prototype demo > for a client when Friendster was still in its first year and realized that > even on a small sample size (50 users), this algorithm would slow down the > servers considerably. > > Everyone I talked to quit specifically due to those load times as well. > It's not a problem that can be fixed with more servers. To say that this is > a structural failure of the VC system is a bit out of line. > > My guess is that Abrams is blaming the VC system when it was probably due to > his own inability to make a good business decision and cut a tumorous > feature that no one needed. This should have been done early on and it > shouldn't have even made it into public beta. > > > > > > On Nov 25, 2007 7:33 PM, Mike Scarpiello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > > This is a little long, but a really great analysis of the first social > > networking site - > > > > http://tinyurl.com/2k86l9 > > > > > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > > > > 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 > > > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Rise and Fall of Friendster
I have two problems with this article. 1) The VC thing happens all the time, and is not unique to Friendster. It's an old story. I think they're missing the point ... 2) ... Which is: social networking is a tool, not a product. Friendster, Myspace, Orkut, whatever -- they all fall down when another, hipper, newer social networking site emerges (and I believe that even Facebook with its applications will meet the same fate, eventually). After the novelty of adding friends has worn off, there's nothing to keep people wedded to a particular site, even if that site -doesn't- have server issues. These sites simply don't solve any problems, from a business perspective. They're toys, and toys fall out of favor. -Anne On 11/26/07, Weixi Yen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is an interesting story with an intricate analysis about the failure of > Friendster, but I think it's analyzing a bit too much. > > Frienster failed because they couldn't make a good business decision to cut > a feature - the one that shows the degree of separation between friends. > Anyone remember this? > > [ Me > Friend 1 > Friend 2 > Friend I'm currently viewing. ] > > I've personally worked on an algorithm for this feature as a prototype demo > for a client when Friendster was still in its first year and realized that > even on a small sample size (50 users), this algorithm would slow down the > servers considerably. > > Everyone I talked to quit specifically due to those load times as well. > It's not a problem that can be fixed with more servers. To say that this is > a structural failure of the VC system is a bit out of line. > > My guess is that Abrams is blaming the VC system when it was probably due to > his own inability to make a good business decision and cut a tumorous > feature that no one needed. This should have been done early on and it > shouldn't have even made it into public beta. > > > > On Nov 25, 2007 7:33 PM, Mike Scarpiello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > This is a little long, but a really great analysis of the first social > > networking site - > > > > http://tinyurl.com/2k86l9 > > > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > > > > 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 > > > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > 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 > -- Anne Hjortshoj | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | www.annehj.com *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Rise and Fall of Friendster
This is an interesting story with an intricate analysis about the failure of Friendster, but I think it's analyzing a bit too much. Frienster failed because they couldn't make a good business decision to cut a feature - the one that shows the degree of separation between friends. Anyone remember this? [ Me > Friend 1 > Friend 2 > Friend I'm currently viewing. ] I've personally worked on an algorithm for this feature as a prototype demo for a client when Friendster was still in its first year and realized that even on a small sample size (50 users), this algorithm would slow down the servers considerably. Everyone I talked to quit specifically due to those load times as well. It's not a problem that can be fixed with more servers. To say that this is a structural failure of the VC system is a bit out of line. My guess is that Abrams is blaming the VC system when it was probably due to his own inability to make a good business decision and cut a tumorous feature that no one needed. This should have been done early on and it shouldn't have even made it into public beta. On Nov 25, 2007 7:33 PM, Mike Scarpiello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is a little long, but a really great analysis of the first social > networking site - > > http://tinyurl.com/2k86l9 > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > 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 > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Rise and Fall of Friendster
Another great revelation is that they were trying to do all these partnership deals with AOL, etc, and then one night one of the fellas looked at the web logs and saw that traffic was peaking at 2am, and they found out the majority of site users were in the Philippines! On Nov 26, 2007 9:33 AM, Murli Nagasundaram <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Interesting story. I noted a couple of telling passages (from a > design/prototype/deployment perspective): > > "I did what you're always told to do as a young entrepreneur," Abrams says. > "I brought on experienced investors to help Friendster fulfill its > potential. But the all-star team was the curse of death." > > "The growth presented immediate engineering headaches. ... By late 2003, > load times regularly clocked in at over a minute and users were beginning to > complain in blogs and forums. ... The problem might have been solved if > someone had reworked the software to ignore distant connections--for > example, by calculating only connections between friends. But Friendster's > engineers were so preoccupied with day-to-day slowdowns that they neglected > to step back and ask what was causing them. > > "This time, he plans to favor quick and dirty engineering solutions over the > elegant but not necessarily practical ideas that were imposed by > Friendster's management." > > The most critical issues appear to have involved paying attention to the > social context of the technical solution plus the need to rapidly prototype > and test, learning and modifying the design as you go, rather than waste an > undue amount of time building grand initial plans divorced from reality. > > -mn. > > > On 11/26/07, Mike Scarpiello <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: > > > > This is a little long, but a really great analysis of the first social > > networking site - > > > > http://tinyurl.com/2k86l9 > > > > > > > -- > Murli Nagasundaram, Ph.D. > http://www.murli.com > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > +91 99 02 69 69 20 > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > 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 > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Rise and Fall of Friendster
Interesting story. I noted a couple of telling passages (from a design/prototype/deployment perspective): "I did what you're always told to do as a young entrepreneur," Abrams says. "I brought on experienced investors to help Friendster fulfill its potential. But the all-star team was the curse of death." "The growth presented immediate engineering headaches. ... By late 2003, load times regularly clocked in at over a minute and users were beginning to complain in blogs and forums. ... The problem might have been solved if someone had reworked the software to ignore distant connections--for example, by calculating only connections between friends. But Friendster's engineers were so preoccupied with day-to-day slowdowns that they neglected to step back and ask what was causing them. "This time, he plans to favor quick and dirty engineering solutions over the elegant but not necessarily practical ideas that were imposed by Friendster's management." The most critical issues appear to have involved paying attention to the social context of the technical solution plus the need to rapidly prototype and test, learning and modifying the design as you go, rather than waste an undue amount of time building grand initial plans divorced from reality. -mn. On 11/26/07, Mike Scarpiello <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: > > This is a little long, but a really great analysis of the first social > networking site - > > http://tinyurl.com/2k86l9 > > -- Murli Nagasundaram, Ph.D. http://www.murli.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] +91 99 02 69 69 20 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ 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
[IxDA Discuss] The Rise and Fall of Friendster
This is a little long, but a really great analysis of the first social networking site - http://tinyurl.com/2k86l9 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ 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
