Danah Boyd who is one of the pioneering researchers in the field writes about why Friendster failed and MySpace succeeded. Based on my time at Tribe.net I agree with much of what she has to say.
Here's a section that I agree with wholeheartedly and which I don't think many people in the Social Networking space understand:
It is not about technological perfection.
Portability of identity doesn't matter. Easy-to-use interfaces don't
matter. Visual coherence doesn't matter. Simple navigation doesn't
matter. Bugs don't matter. Fancy new technologies don't matter. Simple
personalization doesn't matter.
Before you scream "but it does to me!" let me acknowledge that you're right. It does matter to you. The question is whether it matters to the masses. And it doesn't. Especially for teens.
Anyone doing a social network must realize that they are in the media business and NOT the technology business. Think of yourself as a magazine. What's important in a magazine? Is it a really easy to use table of contents? Is it color coded pages that let you find content more easily? No - it's all about really great content.
Why don't more people in the social networking business realize that?
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