Archive for the ‘Social Networking’ Category

• Girls In US And UK Command Remarkable Web Usage Numbers
  (girls and young women are now the most prolific web users)
  “Found in Sunday’s edition of The Times of London, an article by Kate Spicer and Abul Tahrreport documents a trend of increasing Web adoption among girls and young women in both the US and UK. This finding does not only pertain to blogging. It includes most all common and habitual tasks: shopping, social networking, referencing educational material, etc.”…”According to a recent Pew Internet Project targeted at teens, 35% of American girls have registered blogs, and 32% have multifaceted websites. (For boys, it is 20% and 22%, respectively.) Though those two segments can presently be taken as one and the same, the fact that a full third of all girls in the youth and young-adult demographics are chronicling their lives and maintaining online profiles is something that really does calls for celebration - especially celebration of Web designers and engineers, whose work has, after all, now been guaranteed fit for true mass consumption. Which is good news for, well, everyone. Men, women, boys, girls, geeks, non-geeks, etc.”…”Here are a few more figures to consider. 70% of girls in the US operate one or more social networking account. 57% of boys presently vouch for doing so themselves. In the UK, the figures are more equalized, but still 55% of the social networking market is comprised of female users.”…”Though females remain a puzzling minority in the computer sciences sector of college-level educational institutions, they are effectively no longer a niche market. They stand on equal footing to males in the world of Web 2.0. And they’re only going to get more connected and more invested still.”
• Interview w/Kent Lindstrom, CEO of Friendster
  
• Just An Online Minute… Zuckerberg: More Beacon Apologies
  “Facebook’s ill-fated Beacon program continues to dog CEO Mark Zuckerberg”…”“We probably got a little bit ahead of ourselves,” Zuckerberg said, according to press accounts. “We came across as knowing more than we really knew.””…”Still, for all the criticism, it sounds like Zuckerberg opened up somewhat on stage. For instance, he confirmed that Yahoo attempted to buy Facebook for $1 billion a few years ago and said there was disagreement within the company about whether to accept the offer, He also briefly addressed the company’s finances, saying the business is “around breakeven” — which is probably as much information as we’re going to get, absent a public offering.”
• Ten Tactics That Could Save Your Online Reputation
  “1. Know your achilles heel
  2. Assume everything will make it’s way to the web
  3. Create a great online impression; dress to impress!
  4. Choose your blog voice carefully
  5. Hang out at the right social network
  6. Send bloggers love letters, not PR pitches
  7. Build your Google reputation now, not later
  8. Monitor your online reputation as often as your e-mail
  9. Ostriches are not great role models
  10. Three words to remember”
  My advice: Get your own domain name (preferably your name, if possible), setup a blog, build a profile on Facebook, build a profile on LinkedIn, and build a page on Squidwho that links them all up. If you have a portfolio, upload it to Flickr and import the photos on your Squidwho page. Make sure each of these components link to each other and this is a great, manageable approach to building a solid reputation online without having a management nightmare on your hands. Once you’ve set everything up, set a reminder to update your profiles and information at least once a month, to keep things as fresh and relevant as possible. For an example, check out my Squidwho at www.robbyberthume.com and notice how it teases my Facebook profile as well as my LinkedIn profile, while showcasing my Flickr portfolio pieces and being plugged into my blog’s RSS feed.
• AOL buys social network Bebo for $850 million
  Ironically, AOL stands for America Online and yet this move is “geared towards international growth” as AOL reportedly launched “17 international web sites over the last year and has plans to expand to 30 countries outside the U.S. by the end of 2008.” All of this while, ironically yet again, “AOL itself has been talked about as an acquisition target.”

A key point often forgot (or simply ignored) by marketers and individuals looking to make a splash in the social media realm is the idea that you need to add value to receive value in the world of web 2.0.   Countless stories can be cited of companies and marketers entering the social media and social networking fray trying to tap into the social sphere, but ignoring the very core reason why the social realm exists.  This reason is so that users can help users.  Collaboration is the cornerstone of community and an analogy for successful open source and collaborative initiatives can be summed down to “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

It’s this principle, though, that’s often overlooked by many.  It goes back to my recent blog post entitled 99% in which I quoted Seth Godin from his new book, Meatball Sundae, in which he wrote: “1 percent of the people are givers. In Wikipedia, for example, about 1 percent of the users create and edit articles.”  Using this logic, there is a huge chunk of social media users who are content to be social media browsers and not contributers.  This is all fine and dandy, but my point in this post is that if you’re striving to market and actually market effectively using the social media realm as your stomping grounds, you simply have to fall in the category of a contributer, otherwise your efforts won’t be nearly as effective, if it all.

What does this mean?  It means that before you start a Facebook advertising campaign, Facebook company profile, and spam a bunch of Facebook users with your marketing message, take a step back (and a deep breath while you’re at it).  Just like with organic search engine optimization, success in social media marketing isn’t usually something that happens overnight.  The efforts that lead up to a particularly viral blog post, a following on Digg, success on YouTube, or getting your Squidoo lens to bring traffic to your website are typically overlooked, but for the sake of my argument, this is a huge mistake.  Using Facebook as an example, before you do what I’ve described above, it’s a better approach to first actually use Facebook for a while on a personal level.  Add friends, make connections, and focus on adding value to the community.  Post relevant and thoughtful notes, actually contribute to groups, and stay in touch regularly with friends.  Once you’ve built a presence and a following as a contributer, you can then begin to phase in your marketing goals.  This is true with nearly any social media marketing campaign.  Before you’re blog is going to work for your business, you need to first focus on writing good content, and a lot of it.  You need to first focus on reading OTHER blogs and posting thoughtful comments and responding to comments you receive.  You get my point: contribution is the effective stepping stone to marketing results.

I’ll pause now on the social media marketing discussion (don’t worry, I’ll be coming back to it regularly in the future). In the meantime, I’d like to highlight one website in particular that could be a valuable tool in your social media toolbox, if you follow my advice above: Squidoo.

Squidoo is a website that was pioneered by marketing guru Seth Godin as a social platform for easily creating pages on any topic imaginable and enjoying the benefits of a strong community and the inheritance of great PageRank.  Squidoo does a good job describing itself: “Squidoo is an incredibly easy platform that allows you to build a lens, all by yourself, in less than five minutes. Don’t build a lens instead of your website. Build a lens to help your website.”

Squidoo is great because it’s super quick to get a “lens” started and constructed with social media and search engines in mind.  If you’re a pet shop, you can easily create a comprehensive lens on, say, raising a lesser-known species of turtle or perhaps starting an aquarium.  With a multitude of widgets to choose from, you can add content, plug-in RSS feeds, showcase photos via Flickr, highlight products via Amazon, or present videos via YouTube.  What’s more, you can easily categorize and tag your lens before subsequently submitting to social bookmarking sites and joining Squidoo groups.

All of this means you can drive traffic to your website, earn money on ads (or donate the money to charity), build credibility, build online brand/name presence, and provide individuals, including your prospects, with valuable information at a time when they’re looking for it, a time when your help can make an impression.

Before you think it’s too good to be true, remind yourself that your initial goal is narrow: to focus on contributing and adding value.  Squidoo is merely a platform for adding worthy content and fresh (or different, or witty, or more useful) information to the web.  The web may be cluttered and crowded, but one thing is true: value has a way of floating to the top.

So head on over to Squidoo and let this lens help you get started.  Need an example of an informative lens? We recently build this lens on finding and choosing a web design company.  Still need more assistance?  Check out their FAQ and forum!

“Social networks are good for PR but not for advertising”
“WPP found that more of their clients were interested in keeping consumers updated on company changes, events and specials and that social networking sites were a good way to do this. However, advertising on social networks was not as popular, leading the company to deduce that social networks are helping businesses but in a different way than originally thought. From the beginning, many businesses have been interested in creating branded micro-sites within social networks. What this trend report indicates is that this is a good way to connect with a user-base, to introduce new products or to keep consumers updated on sales or company events.”

“International Social Networking: Facebook in German, LinkedIn in France”
“Two interesting developments in social networking localization: Facebook today released a German-language version of the site, and LinkedIn has entered the French market in a bigger way by signing a deal with popular job listing site Apec. And speaking of translations, and French, and social network globalization, this very interesting map (in French) shows popularity of social networks in different parts of the world. Facebook is fourth in Europe, so perhaps a German translation will bump it up soon. LinkedIn does not appear on this map.”

“A Facebook For The Seven-Figure Set”
“A private social networking site for top-flight corporate candidates? Executive search giant Heidrick & Struggles is developing one, in an effort to streamline its recruitment of elite managers.”…”Heidrick, which has a global practice, is betting the site will become a destination for candidates wanting to view presentations by employers—and for clients, especially those who need to assess résumés and references quickly. ‘With all the time zones around the world,’ says Heidrick partner Jeffrey Hunter, ‘it makes for a very effective gathering point.’ The key, say Hunter and other Heidrick partners, is to offer greater privacy and security than the public Internet provides. The idea, says CEO Kevin Kelly, is to reduce the usual three- to four-month search time for high-level hires. ‘We’re an old firm with an old business model,’ Kelly says. ‘I’m thinking about how we help redefine the industry to respond faster.’

Take This Poll On Mashable!
“This week featured two more major platform announcements: the iPhone SDK, which allows developers to build applications for Apple’s mobile device, and Open AIM 2.0, an expanded developer program for AOL’s leading instant messaging software. Next week we’ll see the consumer launch of the MySpace Developer Platform (and as such, a significant launch for Google’s OpenSocial). Meanwhile, it has has already been almost a year since Facebook kicked off the third-party apps craze with its platform.” Which platform do you think is the best opportunity for developers? Click here to vote and view results.

“Russian YouTube Clone RuTube Valued At $15 Million”
“With about 400,000 daily users and consumption of over 40 million videos per month, the monthly revenues reportedly reach about $400,000. We actually mentioned RuTube in two blatant rip-off posts, so perhaps you’ve noticed that a lot of clones occur overseas, which also seem to be the most successful. Quintura mentioned this by noting that US-based clones don’t seem to catch the same kind of breaks we’ve witnessed in Germany and Russia, among other countries that are across the ocean. A $15 million valuation isn’t bad for the boot-strapped RuTube, which was started shortly after YouTube was acquired by Google. Well, that’s a dream come true, now isn’t it? The Russian market is heating up in the online space, with LiveJournal recently having been acquired by Russian company SUP as well.”

Robby Berthume: IMO, this last headline regarding RuTube shouldn’t be taken lightly. There are so many sites and start-ups that need to take notice of the opportunities in being the first-to-market in other countries besides the US. Much opportunity awaits in the globalization of social networking and web 2.0.

What’s new and notable in the social networking realm?

• David Kirkpatrick, Senior Editor of Fortune, did an interesting write-up entitled “Geography, social media and breakfast“: “Combining social networks with geographic information was one of the big ideas at a gathering this week of uber-techies and media digirati in New York.”…”The next big thing is the integration of location-based information with social networking applications. At least that’s one conclusion I took from a high-energy “social media” breakfast for 100 techies in New York this week.”…”Not only will you see what someone is doing online, but you will know where they are doing it. That might significantly change how you relate to people in the real world.”…”Not merely entertainment, it is supposed to let you use Google maps to get things done with other people, as well as play games. Aktihanoglu says it will allow you to, among other things, in effect combine Craigslist with Google Earth. His motto: “Never be lonely again!” (It’s pretty hard to use so far, though.)”…”Geography is likely to get more important on the Net.”My Response: A very interesting and relevant article about the state of social networking and the integration of geography into the fray. I agree with Mr. Kirkpatrick and this is evidenced by several of our current social networking projects utilizing Google Mapping technology and geo-based functionalities. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: the next phase in social networking will be a “shakeout” of the social networks that aren’t relevant, aren’t adding value, and aren’t fulfilling a need or want in a simple, innovative way. People don’t want “just another social network.” No one wants to have to join and maintain presences on 10 social networks, especially if none are adding value and all are focused simply on trivial conversations and “pokes.” My belief is that in the future, one “broad” social networking is certainly needed (e.g. Facebook, or when a social platform succesfully connects ALL networks and gets broad appeal, so if you have a presence out there on one site, you have a presence on this main site). Several career (or student based, for younger people) based social networks would be valuable and additional sites will have to fulfill a want or need so well, and be so focused on adding direct value to their audience, that interested users will have no choice. Geo-based functionalities is simply an example of this new breed of valuable features that combine function with form in an innovative way.
• Esther Dyson of the Wall Street Journal wrote “The Coming Ad Revolution“: “The current online-advertising model will become less effective, even as it gets increasingly sophisticated. New players are emerging to devalue the spaces that the ad giants are currently fighting over. Companies you’ve never heard of called NebuAd, Project Rialto, Phorm, Frontporch and Adzilla are pitching tools to Internet service providers that will enable them to track users and show them relevant ads. This approach (called behavioral targeting and already in service by ad networks that track users through so-called tracking cookies) undercuts traditional online publishers, who employ content to lure users and to sell adjacent ads. Now, the ISPs can sell advertisers direct access to the same users.”…”This market will get more competitive, and users will be barraged by ads to which they will pay less and less attention. Call that public space, a world of billboards and cacophony. Even though the ads will be more “relevant” than ever, users will increasingly tune them out.”…”This does not mean that traditional online advertising will go away, just that it will become less effective. Value is being created in users’ own walled gardens, which they will cultivate for themselves in real estate owned by the social networks. The new value creators are companies — like Facebook and Dopplr — that know how to build and support online communities.”My Response: Key point here: when you’re serving a visitor with a relevant product, link, or company (note my omission of the word “ad”) at a time when they need or want this information, it’s not annoying. It’s helpful, valuable, and liked. Examples: Google’s Sponsored Search Results and Amazon’s Recommends. Except, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. So even more relevant ads isn’t necessarily wanted, either. On the other hand, any other method of approach in this day and age simply will not work that well anymore. With more and more clutter comes more and more selective vision and hearing. It’s exciting indeed to see the new technology on the horizon continue to evolve into more and more useful as mass advertising winds down.

Other notable articles:

• Presidential Hopefuls Spending Little On Web Ads. Why? Social Networking.
  “…We can all recognize collectively that modern social frameworks on the Web are remarkably efficient platforms and means with/by which messages can be relayed. And if we are to take into account the reality that many millions of Americans are connected in one way or another to online networks - if one should look at the growth of social networks over the last few years, one can see quite clearly that a very significant percentage of Internet users in the U.S. are connected to a social framework of some sort - it then must come as little surprise that advertisement spending by the present set of presidential campaigns has been, well, exceedingly small. Especially given the very momentous circumstances we find ourselves in.”
  
• Facebook on top of social networking tree, but you won’t find new friends or a job.
  “Facebook is still the most popular social networking site among students and graduates, and clearly ahead of Bebo and MySpace when put head-to-head according to Milkround.com’s student and graduate database. But users claim none of the major three offer enough help finding new friends or a job.”

P.S. Facebook, if you’re reading this, I’m SO tired of Facebook Application-originated SPAM! I understand things spread virally and that the current methods ensure the Facebook Platform grows and that Facebook app developers have an easy, viral method of transmitting their work and spreading their tools. It’s simply that when it becomes a nuisance/annoyance every time I log in to my account to have to clear tons of invitations and junk from my account, something is wrong. Am I not supposed to enjoy my logged-in time on Facebook? Because it’s starting to feel more like taking out the trash every week. To me, it’s the social networking version of e-mail forwards. Yes, the e-mail forward is originating from my friend, but with too many non-relevant forwards, pretty soon you block them all out and eventually set your spam filter to “kill mode.” To add insult to injury, it appears the mySpace is following the same path. Go figure. That is, go figure out how your social network can add value and spread ideas without becoming annoying, intrusive, and cluttered.

-RB

The latest headlines from the social networking realm:

• More Firms Create High-end, Custom Social Networks
  “A highly customized social network can run between six and seven figures. But those are ones with lots of bells and whistles. Even with the cost, social networks have become the Web site of this decade. Back in the ’90s if you didn’t have a Web site you were irrelevant; the same was true with having an e-commerce site in 2001. That is where social networks are right now.”
  I couldn’t agree more with Jerry Sheer in this candid interview with the Wall Street Journal
• stickK Introduces the Self-Contract
  “stickK is designed to promote a healthier lifestyle by allowing users to create “Commitment Contracts” that oblige them to follow through with commitments such as exercise and quitting smoking.”
  An innovative spin on offering value to users while encouraging repeat visits and follow-through. This is a feature that will be interesting for other social networking websites as well to examine and incorporate with the right audience/niche.
• Social Network Marketing Campaign Strategies for Success
  “Many brands are considering it, some have done it. Done what? Marketed on social networks (Facebook, Myspace, or private label social networks). Why? Social Networks are attractive because consumers are connecting with other consumers and the trust tends to be higher. Secondly, there’s a tremendous amount of buzz from the media for this newest form of marketing. Lastly, there’s lots of folks using social networks (about 2/3rds of all North American youth use it daily, and about 1/3rd of NA adults use it as least once a month –data From Forrester Research, Q4, 2007)”
  A well-written breakdown of key areas to consider in terms of running marketing campaigns on social networks.
• Fake Facebook Profiles
  “Make a spoof celebrity profile on a major social network lately? Well, don’t. Not if you live in Morocco, at least. 26 year-old Fouad Mourtada, an IT engineer, has been arrested for making a fake Facebook profile for Prince Moulay Rachid, the younger brother of King Mohammed VI, according to FaceReviews.”
  5 years in prison? Are you serious? Facebook & mySpace scammers beware!
• The Web 2.0 Marketplace
  “Buy, sell, and trade anything Web 2.0″
  Excellent resource. This marketplace has categories including: websites for sale, websites wanted, jobs available, jobs wanted, consulting, blogger jobs, bloggers for hire, platform/software providers, Facebook developers, events, domains for sale, seeking funding, etc…

Here are just a few of the latest headlines in the social networking realm. Both positive and negative, the social networking space is shifting and evolving with every day that passes as the expanding force of social networks adjust and re-adjust their approaches and strategies in light of changing statistics, problems, and breakthroughs.

It’s interesting to note that it seems more and more people are realizing that turnkey social networking platforms (e.g. “launch your social network in minutes!”) may not always be the best route to take. A custom, scalable social networking website built with innovative spins on “same-old-same-old” features combined with a new level of usability and integration with other non-networking based features may be the way of the future. It’s still very possible to create a hit as exciting news in mobile social networking, continued interest, and a shake-out of the clutter leaves room for the remarkable sites to rise to the top.

• Mobile Social Networking Revenues Could Reach $52 Billion Within 4 Years
  “Mobile Social Networking is already an established service in some regions, but in 2008 and beyond new features are attracting larger numbers of users and permitting new business opportunities. Mobile Social Networking is now a global phenomenon with expansion in all directions.”
  Couldn’t agree more and that’s why our entire team is focused on mobile social networking as the next level of our custom social networking services…
• Facebook’s Membership “Stickiness”
  “Are you a member of Facebook.com? You may have a lifetime contract.”
  They’re at it again!
• The Many Challenges of Social Network Sites
  “From white label social networks to existing social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and on, there’s been much hoopa raised. Yet, we should always remember the challenges that are facing these tools, as there are many difficulties to overcome.”
  Excellent points of contention; each obstacle can be overcome, but the overall lesson is that it isn’t easy to build a vibrant community and a great deal of strategy, planning, and innovation should exist in order to spawn success.
• Social Networks Still Going Strong, Engagement Leveling Off
  “Stats to be released tomorrow by comScore show that traffic to most of the top social networking sites is continuing to increase in the US, although the amount of time users spend on such sites is leveling off. For example, while MySpace is showing 11.6% year-to-year growth in unique visitors and Facebook is up 78.6%, the amount of time the average user spends on each site is down 10.4% and up just 1.1%, respectively.”
  Time spent and repetition of visits will be the name of the game as social networking evolves.

99% of your social network’s current and/or future users are what I call “reactive users.” This group is content to read and accept, but isn’t the group that is going to customize their profile to an extreme, contribute blog posts, upload videos, spread the word virally, etc… I’m not saying that this group won’t do these activities, just that they will approach these activities with a limited amount of energy and commitment as well as a different paradigm.

The 1% left are the “proactive users.” Seth Godin in his new book Meatball Sundae (highly recommended) contributes the following:

“Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba’s book Citizen Marketer proves that in just about every community, 1 percent of the people are givers. In Wikipedia, for example, about 1 percent of the users create and edit articles. Same goes for Microsoft’s Channel 9 Web site. They get four and a half million visitors a month, and almost exactly 1 percent of them contribute comments. The same math works for Digg, Reddit, and YouTube. One percent of blog readers are blog writers. One percent of talk-radio listeners are callers. The thing is, you don’t know who they are. You don’t know which 1 percent of your customers and prospects are the ones who need to, love to, and want to post about their experience. It’s like Russian Roulette. You have to assume that every chamber is loaded, that every interaction is an interaction with a critic.”

What does this mean to a fledgling social networking website or to the likes of even Facebook or Bebo? IMO, there are several take-aways:

• You can try to figure out a way to increase the 1% to 2% or maybe 5%, maybe even 10%. Possible? Maybe. How? Make it easier to contribute, quicker to spread the word, more rewarding to post content, etc… It’s like our national voting problem: many people don’t vote simply because they feel, at least internally, that their vote doesn’t count. The same rings true on the web; if users don’t feel like their vote (or post, or video, or profile, etc…) doesn’t count, they won’t bother to show up and they certainly won’t wear the “I Just Voted” sticker (or, in terms of the web, they won’t spread the message virally if they themselves don’t buy into it).
• You must treat every interaction with a user as if they are or can be part of that proactive 1%.
• Appealing to the 1% is more important than anything in terms of marketing, yet appealing to the 99% is crucial for obvious reasons. Without the 1%, you won’t have the 99% and reverse. And just as passionately as the 1% can involve themselves into your social networking website can the 99% devolve themselves if rubbed the wrong way.
• If you thought you needed 1,000 users or 50,000 users for your community to be considered a success, think again. A threshold in terms of users doesn’t mean anything if only 10 out of the 1,000 are the proactive users or if you’ve discovered a way to increase this percentage. A passionate group of 100 users can be much more beneficial than a laid-back group of 10,000.

-RB

Interesting recent article in BusinessWeek on how users are spending less time on social networks (despite a still strong 11.5% growth rate) and are getting frustrated with advertising.  All of this while more and more companies are spending more and more money on ads.

It will be interesting to watch the next breed of social networking websites that aren’t over-funded and over-valued do a better job at monetization then their gargantuan brothers in Palo Alto.  IMO, the recipe for monetizing a social networking website can’t simply be ads or another innovative way of reaching prospects with more clutter.  No, the new breed of social networking websites need to focus on offering truly valuable features/tools/capabilities, integrating commerce with community, and providing a higher level of user experience.   If you’re building community so that you can eventually pillage the community via ads, pause for a moment.  Is there another way of monetizing your site without undermining it?  You just might be two or three thoughts away from a breakthrough… so keep thinking!

-RB

In what’s becoming a crowded space (though don’t get me wrong, there is still much seating and standing room), social networking websites in mass have “officially” arrived. Sure, the industry powerhouses have been around for some time now, but over the last couple of years it’s feeling like “Star Wars — Attack of the Clones” with all of the social networking websites cropping up around this niche and that specialty and those demographics. It’s similar to the domain name explosion or the rise of e-commerce; more often than not if you can think it, chances are there’s a social network around it.

So what’s my point, you ask? The point is, if you’re going to build a successful social networking website and you want a vibrant community (as no matter what your goals are with the website, community will be critical), you must avoid the idea of simple cloning what’s already out there. Sure, the up-and-coming social networking platforms (like Ning and Pringo Networks) can put the power of deploying a social networking website in the hands of anyone. And, for many, this approach will work extremely well (we’ve launched 5 or 6 Ning networks ourselves!), but sometimes a mass-market solution is only a solution to a mass-market problem. And with the mass-markets being heavily drooled over by the likes of Facebook and mySpace, the smaller markets are becoming king. Small IS the new big when it comes to social networking, apparently, and therefore it matters what platform you use and how many others use the same.

But it’s not just about a more custom social networking site, though. This certainly won’t ensure growth… you can get a social network created free via Ning or you can spend $250k on developing a completely custom monster, but at the end of the day the money you spent doesn’t mean piddly if the rest of the recipe is out-of-wack. In fact, it can’t be narrowed down to your design, your innovative functionalities, or your clever branding either.

It’s: a passionate topic/niche + a vibrant community + an innovative spin on integrating social networking functionalities = a solid platform to build from. Disappointed? If you’re were hoping for the “make it big in social networking” winning formula, I’m sorry to let you down! It’s that same thinking, though, that you MUST fight. There is NO standard formula or method for social networking success. And the problem is, too many are trying to find or build sites using just that kind of thinking!

So… back to reality: how can you build on that solid social networking platform you have? To start:

• Write (or have written) better copy (or different or cooler or sexier or more entertaining)
• Ask different (or more intuitive or funny) profile questions
• Use innovative spins on traditional methods and technology (e.g. a new spin on user dashboards or a new way of searching profiles, etc…)
• Employ unique ways of showing boring data (can stats, rankings, points, stars, levels, thresholds be expanded into remarkable visuals?)
• Be proactive (just because you don’t have to do something doesn’t mean it won’t help in 6 months)
• Make it viral (viruses don’t spread without a method of transmission, neither will your social network)
• Pat them on the back (give your users incentives, rewards, titles, roles, or whatever it will take to pat them on the back and make them feel good about themselves… it’s simple, but it works every time!)

Want more ideas on how you can set apart your social networking website? Then check out the following:

• Social Networking Differentiation
• Ideas for Differentiating a Social Networking Application