Posts Tagged ‘social networks’

I’ve thought about this quite a bit lately. I’ve actually come to wonder if they do help build community at all. I seem to experience less community now than I did before I had a Myspace, Facebook, or Virb membership. I think part of this is because of the isolation that telecommunications seems to foster. Talk is cheap, we can talk with anyone we want to any time we want. Since supply is so high, we value people’s words and opinions very little.

Community, real community that matters, that has the power to change who you are for the better (or worse), requires something that technology seems to make difficult. Community requires communication. For all the advances in ‘telecommunication’, worthwhile communication seems to happen less and less. I might make several phone calls a day, talk with someone on instant messenger, send a couple quick emails, or post a note on someone’s Facebook wall. At the end of the day I haven’t really said anything that matters, I haven’t left any impact on anyone, and no-one’s left an impact on me.

I spent a year playing World of Warcraft, the quintessential digital community. I was an active member of a guild raiding through end-game content. I had a great time for about 10 months, then started to get bored with the game. I cut back my play time, and found out how little I knew the people I played the game with. We had a good time together, but I didn’t know any of my guildmates. Two members of the guild actually used to be my co-workers, I hadn’t spent any time with them in real life since I started playing the game. I started spending more time with people in real life, and regained something I’d lost: meaningful community.

“Hey this is Marshall! Just returning that voicemail, where you were returning that voicemail. Uh, yeah, so call me back when you get this!”

I’ve really left voicemails similar to that. Reflecting on it, I sicken myself a little.

How does beer build community?

Try going out for a drink (or to lunch) with someone: a co-worker, family member, a bum off the street. Then have a conversation. Skip the small talk, find out what’s going on in their life. Ask about what makes them afraid, what gives them hope. Leave some of who you are with them, take something of them through the rest of your day. I guarantee that you’ll discover new ways of looking at the world, make closer friends, and have a deeper appreciation for people if you try this often enough. You may even get your toes stepped on by someone’s opinion, a more valuable experience than we like to admit.

Telephones can be great for setting up dates. E-mail is great to communicate with friends who live somewhere else in the world, or to convey business ideas. Instant messenger tends to be good for little in my experience. I abhor the Facebook wall, or Myspace friend comment features: what exactly are you going to put into a completely public bulletin on someone’s profile page? Nothing that matters. (I hope.)

Websites like meetup or eventful are pretty cool to me. It’s technology actually encouraging community, rather than limiting it. I’d like to see more of it.

Is there anything else out there that encourages meaningful interaction between individuals? How can we make technology friendlier for community? How do you minimize the isolation that tends to occur from living in a digital world? These are the things I want to know.

“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.