Facebook introduces New Technology
The social networking site Facebook recently announced that they were providing support for external developers to create and add functionality to the Facebook website.
This appears to be a technological advance, because now Facebook will be able to organically change as new functionality is added, without Facebook really being involved. This sounds like a very interesting advance and something to look forward to. As the demand for certain functionality arises, then developers will see the opportunity and jump in.
However, as usually there might be some real downsides!
During some recent research, we spoke to over 100 people about social and business networking and asked them what they thought of the platforms that they had visited. I have also spoken with a number of people who joined Ecademy, stayed for a week or so then never came back.
One of the main responses I received was that these platforms are not easy to use or understand. Ecademy for example, was said to be confusing and complex! To us, who use Ecademy every day, it is not difficult, but to others who could become potential paid members are they being put off and leaving?
Does the innovations at Facebook, no doubt followed by all the others social networking platforms as well, not lead to more and more complex and ‘geeky’ functionality? Will this not put people off even more?
Of course you cannot always make everything easy for everyone, and perhaps those who can’t be bothered to explore and learn how a site works should leave and not come back! But maybe that is a short sighted answer!
Do you think that in general these platforms are difficult to use?
Which ones are better than others?
What do you think?
Meet Jim on Ecademy (http://www.join-ecademy.com)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Is it right to have someone else network online for you?
Recently it has been suggested that is quite acceptable to have someone network online on behalf of another person.
Now whilst I think it is one thing to have someone else make introductions, or even to use a automatic messaging system, to get some initial response I’m not sure about the ethical issue of answering someone in the name of somebody else.
I know that politicians have press officers and private secretaries etc that carry out a similar task, which is one reason why the political system in this country is so bad …. those elected are not in touch with the those who elected them, maybe that is why voter turnout is dropping! ;)
If you visit a members profile and decide to message that person to ask for their advice on something that they are apparently knowledgeable about, how would you feel if your message was being answered by someone completely different!
Perhaps even someone that you did not like! What about the issues of confidentiality between two people? We will need to think twice before saying anything to someone we trust, just in case they have someone acting on their behalf.
OK so politicians do that, but that is what we expect.
Personal online networking is about building a trusted relationship between two people! How can you do that if they are not involved in the process?
If this become an acceptable practise, then online networking will become dead overnight.
I have a friend in Russia who speaks amazing English, I’m sure she would love to earn $8 per hour to answer my messages.
What do you think?
Now whilst I think it is one thing to have someone else make introductions, or even to use a automatic messaging system, to get some initial response I’m not sure about the ethical issue of answering someone in the name of somebody else.
I know that politicians have press officers and private secretaries etc that carry out a similar task, which is one reason why the political system in this country is so bad …. those elected are not in touch with the those who elected them, maybe that is why voter turnout is dropping! ;)
If you visit a members profile and decide to message that person to ask for their advice on something that they are apparently knowledgeable about, how would you feel if your message was being answered by someone completely different!
Perhaps even someone that you did not like! What about the issues of confidentiality between two people? We will need to think twice before saying anything to someone we trust, just in case they have someone acting on their behalf.
OK so politicians do that, but that is what we expect.
Personal online networking is about building a trusted relationship between two people! How can you do that if they are not involved in the process?
If this become an acceptable practise, then online networking will become dead overnight.
I have a friend in Russia who speaks amazing English, I’m sure she would love to earn $8 per hour to answer my messages.
What do you think?
Monday, July 16, 2007
Is ‘Paid for’ Social networking coming?
As many of you will already know, advertisers are finding it harder and harder to get sales via internet based social network advertising. This is mainly due to the generality of what is being sold, coupled with the ‘purple cow’ effect. This effect blinds us to advertising, because we see too much of it, and we are not really interested anyway!
For these social networks to survive how are they going to fund themselves? Will they rely on borrowing huge sums of money from investors? Will they borrow knowing hopefully that Google, Yahoo or Murdoch’s News Corporation will come along and put ‘big bucks’ in their pockets?
Well if they believe that then we are on our way to another dot.com bubble! These piranha type organisations only buy for a reason. It may be so they can market to the membership, it may be to boost their share price … or it may be because they …. don’t actually know why yet!
There seems little doubt that social networks is here to stay, at least for a while. If we consider the real reasons why people like to talk online then we can start to see ways to cater for them.
Is it because they believe it is ‘cool’ to be on these sites? Well may be, but what is ‘cool’ about being like everyone else!
Are they searching for something, like a partner for example? Well if my experience is anything to go by, the best thing about these types of sites is that you can pretend to be something that you are not!
Perhaps they are looking for long lost friends? But just how long does that take?
No, I think the real reason that social networks will flourish is simply because they enable people to communicate. If we called them “Interest Networks” instead it starts to make more sense! People communicate with people who share their interests.
Social Networks have to become more ’niche’ or ‘interest’ focused if they are to survive! But that in itself causes a problem. Most small ‘niche’ groups do not have the resources to create social network platforms! Well not until someone comes along and provides them with that resource.
What do you think?
Meet Jim on Ecademy (http://www.join-ecademy.com)
For these social networks to survive how are they going to fund themselves? Will they rely on borrowing huge sums of money from investors? Will they borrow knowing hopefully that Google, Yahoo or Murdoch’s News Corporation will come along and put ‘big bucks’ in their pockets?
Well if they believe that then we are on our way to another dot.com bubble! These piranha type organisations only buy for a reason. It may be so they can market to the membership, it may be to boost their share price … or it may be because they …. don’t actually know why yet!
There seems little doubt that social networks is here to stay, at least for a while. If we consider the real reasons why people like to talk online then we can start to see ways to cater for them.
Is it because they believe it is ‘cool’ to be on these sites? Well may be, but what is ‘cool’ about being like everyone else!
Are they searching for something, like a partner for example? Well if my experience is anything to go by, the best thing about these types of sites is that you can pretend to be something that you are not!
Perhaps they are looking for long lost friends? But just how long does that take?
No, I think the real reason that social networks will flourish is simply because they enable people to communicate. If we called them “Interest Networks” instead it starts to make more sense! People communicate with people who share their interests.
Social Networks have to become more ’niche’ or ‘interest’ focused if they are to survive! But that in itself causes a problem. Most small ‘niche’ groups do not have the resources to create social network platforms! Well not until someone comes along and provides them with that resource.
What do you think?
Meet Jim on Ecademy (http://www.join-ecademy.com)
Is Social Networking about to change?
Over the last few weeks there have been a number of discussions and reports about the problem advertisers are having in getting a reasonable return from their advertising on the larger social networking platforms.
It appears that these huge sites with their millions of members are perhaps not as they might seem to be. Members are not clicking on the advertisements! Why might this be? Is it perhaps because they are not interested in what they are being offered?But will this affect these sites?
After all they have to earn an income from somewhere if they are to survive. Can they actually capture enough information about each of their members so that they can target advertising? Even then how many members go back to these sites on a regular basis? Some reports suggest that over 97% of people, who sign up, never return!
As a result, will social networking move towards the 'paid for' platforms? Will they become much more 'niche' interest focused? Will this open up opportunities for the smaller niche advertiser?
... but more importantly what is your opinion on this subject?
It appears that these huge sites with their millions of members are perhaps not as they might seem to be. Members are not clicking on the advertisements! Why might this be? Is it perhaps because they are not interested in what they are being offered?But will this affect these sites?
After all they have to earn an income from somewhere if they are to survive. Can they actually capture enough information about each of their members so that they can target advertising? Even then how many members go back to these sites on a regular basis? Some reports suggest that over 97% of people, who sign up, never return!
As a result, will social networking move towards the 'paid for' platforms? Will they become much more 'niche' interest focused? Will this open up opportunities for the smaller niche advertiser?
... but more importantly what is your opinion on this subject?
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