A private/niche/customized/specialized social network that I can create. Cool! Is this the next wave of “new” online?
Both this week and last, Social Media Insider writer Catharine P. Taylor talked about personal social networks. Last week’s post and following comments provided names of two free platforms where you can set up your own social network: Big Tent and Ning. While Big Tent uses the words “group” and “community” to describe itself, Ning says it “is the only online service where you can create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds.” Here are three very different examples: Brooklyn Art Project, Takkle and IM Saturn.
Thinking in terms of my group project on small/independent business marketing in a local area…could this be one of the solutions? Possibly. Create a private social network for the business, or finding the niche social network for the business to advertise on.
Questions about how businesses and marketers can leverage this technology to reach out to consumers is the topic of this week’s discussion. One commentor even wondered if such fragmentation of networks and conversations will actually make it more difficult. With the technology we have today for finding users via keywords and tags, I don’t think so. And if the ad model continues to be the revenue source for these platforms, I think that as long as they are not disruptive to the conversation, contextually relevant or targeted by demographics or behavior they can be impactful.
-Corey
I think the platform could be used by any business as a tool for modeling of an actual network without investing tons of money for its development.
This is really interesting. Who would have thought someone would introduce DIY social networks.
Beyond the business implications, it seems like this might be a nice place for families who are spreadout across the country or the world to stay connected. It could be a virtual family reunion every day. Instead of catching up with each other once a year recapping only the major happenings of your life, families could keep up to date on a regular basis with the small details of their lives.
I guess this is only a good idea if you like your family and want to stay more connected.
Sarah L.
This is a interesting news, Corey. In this society, most users are eager to show their speciality and keep in touch with their friends and family through online. Therefore, it’s good to see that users can create, customize, and share their own Social Network for free in seconds and I believe it will become a fad in the digital world. I also found a similar and very new function, Friend Connect, provided by Google on May 12th.(http://www.google.com/friendconnect/)
Google Friend Connect lets you grow traffic by easily adding social features(widget)to your website. With just a few snippets of code, you get more people engaging more deeply with your site.
I know almost every online development is helpful for improving our lives. However, sometimes I feel overwhelming about the amount of social media. You finally understand the function of one new social media website today, but there are more new websites you don’t know tomorrow.
Sounds like a good communication tool, if my friends back home were tech savy enough this would be pretty fun.