MySpace gets a face[book] lift

[ image courtesy of Robotson / Flickr ]

It is about bloody time that MySpace gets a face lift. The Internets are abuzz about what this will actually mean for the almighty 'Space. This comes less than a month after the announcement that Facebook was about to have a freshening.

I know many people that have accounts in more than one place; the MySpace/Facebook dichotomy seems to be one of the most common. They have different uses for them, different contacts on each service. The one thing that these 2+ members say is this: MySpace sucks.

Even on a professional level, colleagues have noted that it is:
1. a wasteland
2. for teenagers and pedophiles
3. a lost cause

MySpace read the writing on the SuperWall and put into place their version of the wildly successful Applications, and are now set to refine their navigation and layout to make things easier to deal with and less dissonant.

These sites seem to be going in a common direction, but Facebook appears to be leading the way. Being the underdog in terms of page views is not necessarily a bad thing when you actually have an operational strategy in place.

That is not to say that MySpace doesn't do anything well -- they are still one of the best places to keep up on your favorite bands. FB has tried to emulate some of this; they have the tools in place. However, there is no replacement for that instant cognition that people of a certain age have when in comes to seeking more info on a musical act: look at their MySpace page. No amount of clean interface will get you that.
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Since we are on a theme of sorts this month, what say we keep this whole social network thing rolling? Two more niche social networking sites have popped onto the SuperFly radar in the last week. One, focused on the 40-60 age demo, and the other on "creative people."

TeeBeeDee is going after the older age demo in a way that other social networking sites have not. A criticism that other boomer+ sites have dealt with is the "AARP factor." This has been leveled at Eons, which endured some hard times earlier this month due to staff cuts. Basically stated, it is hard to keep the conversations that occur on these sites out of the cane-and-pill chatter and focus more on the business of living a vibrant life. TeeBeeDee states this explicitly on their site: "Learn from others, share what you know, and connect with people who want to keep on growing."

Quarterlife has an even more difficult assignment: launch & maintain a social networking site AND internet television series without becoming mired in over-hipness. It will be tough, given that their self-selected demo is that of "creative people." From their site:

quarterlife.com is a social networking site for creative people. Whatever your interest - photography, writing, music, filmmaking, dance, design - quarterlife.com will help you go to the next level. Connect with like-minded people, gather information about schools, grants, and internships. It's a place to explore the issues in your life, where changing the world is as real as the friends you meet.

There is a connection with MySpace, as their series makes its premiere there one day before the launch on the Quarterlife site. [The series, BTW, is produced by the minds behind "My So-Called Life," a show that did its own battles with over-hip-itude, IMO.]

These services are launching into a world not-yet-completely saturated with niche social network providers. Will the participants [possibly already users of MySpace, Facebook, etc.] take time from their identities elsewhere online to go into these spaces? Is the value proposition strong enough?

Facebook in the Flesh

[ image courtesy of laffy4k / Flickr ]

Forgive me for yet another post about Facebook. The rest of the media / blogosphere has not given me a respite on the 'Book, so I must continue to comment upon it.

The media that sparks this entry was the old-school format of teh magazine. The New Yorker from September 17th, to be specific. I read it on my electronics-free commute today. [Normally, I am tethered to my iPod for the duration.]

I don't mean to be the nay-sayer, but I think the overwhelming waves of praise of the 'Book could use a small bit of tempering. Not because of what is can do, but rather, what it cannot. The article spoke specifically about NYU students and a seminar offered as a part of orientation titled, "Facebook in the Flesh." Author Michael Schulman begins with the observation that many students now arrive at campus with many "friends" in place. Friends in the I-have-added-you-to-my-Facebook sense of the word. These Freshmen may have some familiarity with each other in the pixelated sense, but the face-to-face interactions and the resulting awkwardness must still be overcome. Oh, how well I remember it...

The fact that this interaction comes at a time when people are first making a go of it alone for the first time makes this seminar all the more relevant, and maybe even representative of the population at large.

Social media in its still-evolving form serves to enhance communication & relationships, not to obsolesce. It simplifies and enriches, connects and enlivens these connections to others. As with other social media, it does not fuel itself, regardless of the sophistication of the application.

Facebook and other social media bring the relationship back to the fore; now replete with widgets, tweets and sundry.

Facebook: just another outlet for the 'chattering class?'

[ image courtesy of ireallylikecake / Flickr ]

The fab BBC news podcast NewsPod from September 12th featured a report that first aired on the BBC Radio 4 service. This report asks the question, "Is Facebook the playground for the chattering class?"

Some weeks ago NPR launched an application within Facebook that allows members to play their favorite NPR podcasts on their Facebook page. As of the writing of this post, just 59 people have started using it.

Are we at the usual small & slow start of a revolution, or is this just another flavor-of-the-moment enjoying its 15 mB of fame?

[Listen to the BBC report below; the segment about Facebook starts about 17:30]


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To Facebook or not?

Social Network giant Facebook is having the best year ever.

(Except perhaps for that unfortunate name that those frequent users have for it: Facecrack.)

Much glowing press was heaped upon the resurgent provider on social networking tools after their big announcement earlier this month. They will be opening up their platform to the world of widgets. [Widgets in this case meaning little, embeddable applications that users can build to bring content automatically from one place to another.]

Blogger Rick Skrenta ponders in the context of that; specifically about the fickle demeanor and MTV attention spans of users of Facebook and other social networking sites. He notes a "flash mob" mentality of web users which can help some social media tools whilst harming others. These users go to the site with the most people in exodus from the other. That is so five minutes ago, yeah?

Skrenta goes on to note that Facebook had an early lead on MySpace. The open-sourcing of some of Facebook's functionality has likely served to bolster this resurgence in their popularity.

Are widgets enough? MySpace is busy hinting at possible deals with more established companies like eBay in hopes of offering another layer of service & function to the hummingbird users, perhaps luring them to stay a while longer. We have noted in the past here that the world of social media is growing more and more fragmented; a trend that may give these more generically-focused providers reason for alarm.

See this vid for a fine explanation, and an example of a Facebook widget:

When the big guys Tweet

[ image courtesy of gisarah / Flickr ]

The PRPD blog [Public Radio Program Directors, for those unfamiliar] features a post about the phenomenon of Twitter. As you may know, Twitter is the latest efficiency for posting content to the web. Users sign up, and they are offered a space of 140 characters to explain what they are doing right then and there. These little entries are archived in a linear manner, and are out there for all to see. The social media aspect comes into play here when users get friends to join the site to "tweet" along with them [they have made a verb of it, already].

I learned about this over the shoulder of a fellow attendee of the Beyond Broadcast meetings at MIT this past February. I jotted down the url and signed up. Much like MySpace, this concept doesn't have much excitement without a few friends to make it more than just a sub-140 character chronicle of existence. It gives users a chance to be quirky and off-the-wall and ironic, and it could possibly yield one second's worth of fame via mashups like twittervision. Widgets allow your twitterings to be fed onto your blog, and you can tweet from your mobile--they are 100% web 2.0 compatible.

The PRPD post points out the fact that NPR is now set to tweet. They are tweeting as I type, likely. NPR has set it to tweet their new blog posts. Something that their RSS feeds seem to do just fine already. The NY Times is guilty of the same.

Barak Obama tweets, but John Edwards does more frequently. So do the folks at the fun internet newscast Rocketboom. Even I do it. Look over on the left-hand side for that widget on this blog!

The appeal to the tweeters is in the instant posting of your own life and seeing what others are up to, for fun. When major communication companies do so just to thrust out in front of users with little other sensitivity or effort, I must say the end result falls flat.

Here is a mashup with R&B star Tweet and the Black Crowes...

Are you a digital immigrant?

The ever-intriguing Media Post published an article about the divisions within the digital world. This is not the usual "digital divide" we hear of, the "haves and have-nots" issue that gets press. Instead, this addresses the division between the "Digital Natives" [DNs] and "Digital Immigrants" [DIs].

The article states that the two groups are divided by experience and sophistication. Age usually plays the biggest role, as it does here. [The kids get it.] The people in high school and college are the focus; they are using email the least of all of the digital technologies. In a world of SMS text, Twitter, and IM, it is no wonder--communications are simple, near instant, and convenient. Especially convenient as all three of these are available on most mobile phones. Rarely are the next generation more than a few moments from e-communication.

Highly recommended reading.

Clear Channel tries social networking

Mark Ramsey at Hear 2.0 points out that media juggernaut Clear Channel is launching a social networking service on some of their large-market youth-oriented radio stations. They are doing this via a white-label social network provider.

As you can see in the photo above, there is now a user by the name of Superfly on the Clear Channel Top 40 Hits station KDWB in Minneapolis, one of the stations in the beta group. They are calling it KDWB V.I.P. You can ask me to be your friend, if you sign up...

This is a variation on the venerable MySpace concept in both thought and execution. It is all there, profiles, photos, friends, etc. OneSite.com, the provider, has given them a very basic setup with some templates and features. It looks passably effective, but is that enough to sustain a community?

There are fewer users [about 90 signed up so far, but it launched only yesterday], and those numbers are going to be limited primarily to local users. There is an advantage for the station inplacing the DJs and on-air personalities prominently. After all, this is taken on by Clear Channel not as a charity but as a promotional vehicle. That level of promotion would be a more labor-intensive project on one of the existing social networking sites; creating a universe of your own eliminates that. That's good for the station, but does it translate into a sustainable community?

If there were a way to connect these members with the members of users at other stations in other cities, this would have a greater chance of success. If there were a content base outside of the 3 minute pop songs they play, they might have a chance. Are the local talents and remote events enough to sustain a community?

Is Clear Channel over-estimating the brand loyalty of their Top 40 Hits stations?

Am I missing something?

I think even NBC's upcoming social networking venture has more of a chance. At least they have some content, be it produced or distributed.

Otherwise, this looks to duplicate the efforts of the existing communities out there.

Monetizing social networking & NBC coming soon

Advertisers are looking to get the most out of the social networking craze, as one might expect. The changes are addressed by eMarketer.com's article "Social Network Ad Scramble."

As the phenomenon expands and becomes more granulated, it may prove to be easier for ad providers to effectively target consumers.

We have referred to the splintering of social networking sites before, and I have a feeling it won't be the last time we visit it.

The latest example I discovered was at NBC.com. They have yet to launch their social networking component, but they are making an effort to inform visitors to the site that it is coming, as you can see in the snip to the right. Clicking on that link takes users to a page that details the upcoming wonderment that will come. Here we go:

"In June, we're launching the NBC.com social network, allowing all of our fans to connect with each other and interact with our shows in exciting new ways. Some of the features you can expect when you join the NBC.com social network include: personalized profiles, buddies, video galleries, photo galleries, blogs, groups, message boards, and widgets."

They have the content, so doing this makes some degree of sense.

If you build it, will they come?

[ image courtesy of prupert / Flickr ]

PaidContent.org reports that Eons, the social networking site for the 50+ set, just received second round of funding in the amount of $22 million. The Guardian reports that Reuters has announced their intent to create a MySpace-like social networking site for the financially inclined. USA Today released a major revamp of their site that takes advantage of several social media components.

Here is where the question lies, as asked by MediaPost in a superb article: Does the standard phrase "If you build it, they will come" apply here? Will these communities be able to sustain themselves?They posit that the best way to grow and maintain a living community is to provide consistent content that will keep folks coming back. User generated content is a part of this ecosystem, but not the only part. Making the experience rich and easily shared with other communities will prove to be make-or-break touchpoints.

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$10 million dollars vs. local relevance

[Citizenship in the Community merit badge, from Boy Scouts of America.]

Mark Ramsey writes that stations need to be alert, if they weren't already, to the intense need for effective websites that keep people coming back.

In almost-related news, Gather.com has gathered [sorry] $10 million in funding from an array of sources.

I see a disconnect between these two.

Gather wants to be involved in the community, but has yet to gain serious traction, and nets $10 million.

Yet many stations, often deeply involved in their communities, can't extend a web presence that would show that relationship or commitment. This can be a complicated issue with staffing, university politics, and legacy momnetum [or lack thereof] being the mitigating factors.

If there were some way to make the connection...
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