Why Are Social Networks Popular?

As a disclaimer I’d like to state that I’m not an expert on the habits of people. I have not studied psychology or sociology to back up my assertions with scientific data but I believe I can speak intelligently on the subject of social networks. About a month ago I was at a dinner at The National Club in downtown Toronto with a few MBA’s from the Richard Ivey School of Business as well as some big venture capital/private equity experts. I’d asked what some of their best and worst investments were and they went on to explain some high tech deals, some software development projects, and even some old-fashioned manufacturing projects. They posses an intimate knowledge of how people work, how they click and the importance of networking in business development, but when the conversation steered toward Facebook, they were turned off. They saw value in sites like linkedin.com, classmates.com, but did not understand Facebook. They saw it as a way for potential employers to do behind the scenes research on job applicants, and simply a way to “kill time.” Interesting. I think the misconception about the popularity of sites such as Facebook is the “social just means people” fallacy. There is an understanding that an online social network is simply a listing of names that randomly interact for fun or because they’ve got nothing more to do, wheras sites like Linkedin have more of a professional objective. I think the effectiveness of any social networking site relies on rallying the network or group around any one object. Facebook is so popular because it unites university students together in the “university lifestyle”, someone can connect with a friend, view his/her pictures and there is a good chance that he/she will see their new friend the next day on campus or at the pub. It’s so effective because there is an online and an offline presence. With these sites its not necessarily about the people themselves, its what they have in common, its about a network of hundreds of thousands of people who are all living (more or less) the same lifestyle. So what’s not to get about Facebook? The value of the relationships. It’s interesting to see people on facebook with 2000+ friends. It makes me wonder how many of these “friends” are actually friends in the traditional sense. How many of these people could you see on campus and say hello to? What is the actual value of these 2000+ relationships? I truly believe that if someone proposes a friendly relationship based on the knowledge of one’s existence then there is no meaning or value in the relationship. I see a progressive habit of university graduates deleting their facebook accounts, so what can be done to attract these users? What works best now, and will work best in the future is object-centered sociality. If a social network of people is focused around one goal, united on common ground working towards a similar objective then there will be a true value in these relationships. It’s not about the people, it’s about what they have in common, its about an online and offline presence, its about forming a significant relationship and actually doing something with the relationships that are formed. Here is my idea of the logical flow of how a social network should work, and how to create meaningful relationships: Significance creates passion. Significant relationships are meaningful. People are connecting because of a common purpose and can meaningfully discuss ideas, plans and aspirations. They can form a meaningful network of people focused around a common goal and passionately discuss their interests. Passion attracts attention. These passionate discussions/friendships attract the attention of like-minded people. Others involved in the greater network can see these niche groups forming and uniting around common goals, and discussing similar topics. They see the value in the relationships being formed around them and want to be a part of it. They feel the sense of urgency as these passionate people are facilitating relationships beyond the online sphere and are beginning to create an offline presence as well. Attention leads to action. These unique networks of like-minded, passionate individuals are acting on their discussions. They have united under a common goal, come together because of one purpose, and are now doing something about it. The relationship began as an online “friendship” but has blossomed into something much more; it is now an offline relationship and is being utilized for the good of each individual. In the end it’s not about the number of friends you have in a network, it’s about the value of the friendships, the passion of individuals involved and the ability to act. 2008-07-29T11:07:16Z

2008-07-30T01:38:44Z