The Battle of the Social Networks
Social networking would appear to be the internet craze of the last few years, there are currently hundreds of them (yes, really, hundreds!) and they rise and fall like virtual fashion. It seems that unlike any other type of web property, we like to flock to the next big thing, leaving our previous virtual homes like nomads.
Currently, Facebook and Twitter are the major players, with Google Buzz making an impressive start out of the blocks (mainly due to Buzz being integrated into Gmail so starting with an established user base from day 1).
It would be crazy to try to review and compare every single site out there, so I have picked the big guns and put them up against each other.
Friendster
Widely considered the first major social networking site, was popular at the start but lost a lot of users to Myspace.
- Target audience: People wanting to be in touch with friends, family and networking with new people
- Typical quote: “Where is everyone?”
- Pros: Not as bloated as Facebook, much more in-depth than Twitter
- Cons: It is like a ghost town, nobody uses it anymore
Bebo
The social networking site for teens, well, full of hormones and acne even if that wasn’t the original intention of the service. A look around the site and profiles, it is clear this is just another Myspace, there really isn’t much to choose between them.
- Target audience: Teenagers
- Typical quote: ”aint sin u in ages/spoke to youu missing you liike”
- Pros: A lot of fellow angst if you’re 15 years old
- Cons: If you are not a teenager, you will detest this site and its inhabitants.
Myspace
The social network that made everyone take notice, this was once the mother of all networks, until Facebook came along. Still going strong but a shadow of its former self, Myspace has become more of a site for music artists and has the potential to specialise in this field if enough development time is spent on improvements.
- Target audience: Music lovers
- Typical quote: ”Hey looking forward to seeing you guys at rainys tomorrow, all the other bands there have been pretty much shit so far lol”
- Pros: Good way of discovering new bands and hearing tunes
- Cons: Because of the profile customisations, the site can be a nightmare to navigate.
Orkut
Googles original social network. Only poplular in Brazil and India, this strange product was never really pushed by Google (it isn’t even obvious it is a Google service when you visit). Because it reallytook off in Brazil, Google decided to move its entire operation to Google Brazil.
- Target audience: Brazilians / Indians
- Typical quote: ”Ho.. Kal mi vashila gelelo..eka maitrinila bhetayla.”
- Pros: Very lightweight, a lot of potential friends if you’re Brazilian or Indian
- Cons: Not a lot for anyone else
Friends Reunited
A simple site with one purpose, to connect you with all your old school friends. An interesting concept marred by a bad business model. When Friends Reunited first started, you could connect with people for free but had to pay for basic operations like actually being able to send messages to them (they even barred you from putting your email address in your profile so people couldn’t contact you outside of the site). They have now made everything free but it was too late and this over everything else was their down fall, Facebook came along, was totally free, game over.
- Target audience: People wanting to connect with old class mates
- Typical quote: ”Since leaving school, I have worked as a brick layer, a DJ and a brain surgeon”
- Pros: Good for finding people by events (like school, work etc)
- Cons: Very clunky and slow to use, way too much ads and dwindling user base. Only any good if you actually liked the people you went to school with.
Digg
Created by Kevin Rose and his team, this site is different from all of the others listed here in that its main purpose is for people to post up news from around the net in the form of linking. People put links up and everyone else Digg it or bury it depending on whether they like it or not. What usually follows is a tirade of comments, usually turning into flaming arguments on the chosen subject.
- Target audience: Geeks battling for the 1st to link interesting tech news from around the net.
- Typical quote: ”but but but Steve Jobs …. (fill in the MAC fanboy quote you love here)”
- Pros: Great for finding out what is currently hot out there on the internet
- Cons: Very elitist in a geeky way.
Youtube
The video site to end all video sites. Now owned by Google, it is the premier site for videos on the internet, but always used for social networking, people sign up to add videos and make comments on others. Has even created some viral superstars.
- Target audience: Everyone, let’s face it, everybody on the net uses Youtube
- Typical quote: ”Great video, thanks for sharing” or “F**k you ********, you have no idea”
- Pros: THE home on the internet for videos, it is better than traditional TV
- Cons: I honestly cannot think of any
Currently, the worlds largest social network. Popular with what appears to be everyone with an internet connection. Nearly everyone you know, from work, family or friends will be on there. It seems to have hit the sweet spot of being able to add apps etc but not so bloated as Myspace. The site is pretty easy to navigate and you can add media to your posts, like links, pictures and videos.
- Target audience: Anyone over the age of 16 (although that does not seem to stop the under agers from joining)
- Typical quote: ”Peter Smith has found a sheep on his farmville”
- Pros: You will find nearly everyone you have ever met on there
- Cons: Farmville, being pestered by people you don’t really like from work to add them as a friend.
When I joined Twitter, it was only fellow tech heads on there, it was pretty exclusive. Then suddenly, celebs started using the service and then came the masses. Very sleek service, only allowing 140 character posts keeps things to the point and no bloat to slow it down.
- Target audience: People who want there feeds bite sized
- Typical quote: ”I am in Starbucks having a Vente and a muffin”
- Pros: Short and to the point, plenty of interesting people to follow
- Cons: Site collapses under the weight of traffic a lot. No business model in place so uncertain future.
Friendfeed
Friend feed is a clone of Twitter but with ability to write more in your posts and include different media. It pitched itself up against Twitter but so far has not made any serious inroads. Still only really used by techy geeks (and podcast hosts)
- Target audience: People that use Twitter
- Typical quote: ”Linux Detecting / Checking Rootkits with Chkrootkit and rkhunter Software”
- Pros: Twitter with added stuff
- Cons: Not really taken up by the masses so pretty niche
Google Buzz
The new kid on the block and Googles new hope to get in on the Social act. Google have pulled a stroke to make sure it had an instant large data base which annoyed a lot of people. Google integrated Buzz into their Gmail service, meaning everyone who has a Gmail account, is automatically a Buzz user. The biggest problem with this is that a lot of people prefer to keep their social network presence away from their email contacts, more so if they use Gmail for business use.
- Target audience: Gmail users who currently use Twitter
- Typical quote: ”So who out there thinks that Buzz will kill off Twitter?”
- Pros: Integrates with Gmail, allows adding media and comments thread for each post
- Cons: Integrates with Gmail, fiddly to follow posts.
As I have stated, this is not a complete list of all social networking sites, but I have covered the bigger players. A few of the services overlap and some look doomed to fail, either way, there is still plenty of choice out there. What makes a successful network though is the amount of users, and this is where Facebook and Twitter hold the cards.
Search giants Google have launched a new social network service called Buzz, designed to compete against Facebook and Twitter. For most, this would be a hard task to build up a large user base quickly but as it has been integrated with their Gmail service, they instantly have a massive amount of people on the service from roll-out.
First impressions are mixed, it has more to offer than Twitter but without all the application bloat of Facebook but feels unfinished. I have been using the service since launch day and have a few followers (and a few following) and already, it is hard to keep track on conversation threads but hopefully things will improve with Google rolling out changes and developments. You can add links, pictures and video to your posts and can choose if a post is private (followers only) or public (will even show up in Google search).
Although there are many other social networks available, I will try and compare Buzz against the 2 biggest players.
- Not restricted to 140 characters
- Can in-bed photos and video into posts
- Direct comment thread for posts
- No 3rd party applications
- More basic in design
- Less focus on groups / friends / family
It really does have the potential to be up there with the established giants, for me, the lack of Farmville etc is already a major plus point. Historically, people have drifted from established social network sites to the “next big thing”, look at Friendster, Myspace etc, the once leaders in the field are now shadows of their former selves, so Google does have a chance.
The strange thing for me is this, Google already owns a social network site, Orkut, but instead of developing and pushing this, they have created something new. It is popular in India and Brazil but most people in the UK or USA have not heard of Orkut, let alone signed up and used the service that doesn’t even look like it was designed by Google (it is now run by Google Brazil as that is where the majority of its users live).
We will see how Buzz progresses but so far, it looks to be more competition for Twitter than Google.
If you want to learn more, buzz over to http://www.google.com/buzz
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