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A talk for Snow Forum 2008 on the real history of social networks on the internet and how to make best use of it.
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The History of Social NetworkingTom Hughes-Croucher
Yahoo! Inc
The Snowboarding jokeIn the year 2000...
Snow Boarder + Ninja + Apple Mac = Web Developer
A wise man was once said “Give a man a snowboard...... and you've distracted him for a day.”
The Snowboarding joke
“Teach a man to snowboard, and you can't get him to work.”
http://www.frostyrider.com/jokes/
*Obviously this is joke true, since none of my other conferences have a “riding day”
What is a social network?
• What are the first web sites people think of a “social networks”?• The big hitters
– MySpace– Facebook– Bebo– Orkut
• Maybe some interest specific sites– Boardpassions.com– Drop19
Direct Networks
• The party you organise
The universal law of parties states:There is always one dude wearing a lampshade,trying to sing Elvis
Direct Networks
• The party you organise– Invite a known list– Pick the people you interact with– Maybe let them bring their friends
Direct Networks
• The party you organise– Invite a known list– Pick the people you interact with– Maybe let them bring their friends
• The bar you go to
Direct Networks
• The party you organise– Invite a known list– Pick the people you interact with– Maybe let them bring their friends
• The bar you go to– Expect a common interest
• Football• Taste in music• Wine
– Have an expectation of other clients– Expect to see the same people/friends
Indirect Networks
• Those people you see every day on the tube
Indirect Networks
• Those people you see every day on the tube– They always get the same train, right?– And the same seat– You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello
Indirect Networks
• Those people you see every day on the tube– They always get the same train, right?– And the same seat– You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello
• Ad boards in supermarkets
Cécile, I love you!Pierre
Indirect Networks
• Those people you see every day on the tube– They always get the same train, right?– And the same seat– You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello
• Ad boards in supermarkets– ‘Shotgun’ approach– Impersonal
Indirect Networks
• Those people you see every day on the tube– They always get the same train, right?– And the same seat– You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello
• Ad boards in supermarkets– ‘Shotgun’ approach– Impersonal
• Choosing where to eat
Indirect Networks
• Those people you see every day on the tube– They always get the same train, right?– And the same seat– You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello
• Ad boards in supermarkets– ‘Shotgun’ approach– Impersonal
• Choosing where to eat– We use other people’s behaviour as a measure of success– Willing to make choices based on the action of strangers
Direct social networks are older than MySpace
• Email lists– News letters– Discussion groups
• Usenet– Back before the web– When modems were bigger than my laptop
This thing is approximately 10,000 times slower than my current internet connection
Direct social networks are older than MySpace
• Email lists– News letters– Discussion groups
• Usenet– Back before the web– When modems were bigger than my laptop
• Yahoo groups– Actually one of the biggest social networks on the Web– 100s of millions of users
Direct social networks are older than MySpace
• Email lists– News letters– Discussion groups
• Usenet– Back before the web– When modems were bigger than my laptop
• Yahoo groups– Actually one of the biggest social networks on the Web– 100s of millions of users
• Forums– There are forum communities on virtually every topic
Indirect social networks
• Amazon.com
Indirect social networks
• Amazon.com– Millions (probably billions) of reviews– Reviews of reviews
• “5 people found this review helpful”
Indirect social networks
• Amazon.com– Millions (probably billions) of reviews– Reviews of reviews
• “5 people found this review helpful”
• Flickr– Millions of photos– Millions (again probably billions) of comments– Groups of shared interest
Indirect Social Networks
• Amazon.com– Millions (probably billions) of reviews– Reviews of reviews
• “5 people found this review helpful”
• Flickr– Millions of photos– Millions (again probably billions) of comments– Groups of shared interest
• Last.fm– Based on something passive (just listening)– Suggestions based on the patterns of other users– Possible friends with similar taste suggested to users
The value of User Generate Content (UGC)
• Adds ‘free’ content to your site– Flickr has ZERO non UGC content
• Makes users feel like other people are using the site– Everything on Amazon is connected to customer votes
• Sales rank• Ratings
• Creates a sense of interaction– No one wants to eat at the empty restaurant– UGC lets people be one of the ‘in kids’
• Connects the users to the site– Users take ownership of UGC (the clue is in the name, duh!)– Users are connected to each through the site and therefore to
themselves become connected to the site
Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits
• The power of reviews– Easy to implement– Visible– Rely on direct products and sales model
Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits
• The power of reviews– Easy to implement– Visible– Rely on direct products and sales model
• Easy to plug in partners
Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits
• The power of reviews– Easy to implement– Visible– Rely on direct products and sales model
• Easy to plug in partners– Badges– Open Social– Yahoo! Open / Yahoo! Application Platform
Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits
• The power of reviews– Easy to implement– Visible– Rely on direct products and sales model
• Easy to plug in partners– Badges– Open Social– Yahoo! Open / Yahoo! Application Platform
• Feedback– Everyone loves to be heard– Viva la revolution! Give users a voice– The best ideas are from the people who use your products
Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits
Difficulties of building a direct social network
• Orkut– Dropped to a small market share – However, most popular social networking site in Brazil
• You can build a platform but that isn’t building a community– Platform building is software
• Build once (or buy software)• Add more stuff
– Community building requires constant dedicated people• Buying communities is dangerous• Often loyal to people/regime
• Yahoo answers
Cécile, I love you!Pierre
Difficulties of building a direct social network
• Orkut– Dropped to a small market share – However, most popular social networking site in Brazil
• You can build a platform but that isn’t building a community– Platform building is software
• Build once (or buy software)• Add more stuff
– Community building requires constant dedicated people• Buying communities is dangerous• Often loyal to people/regime
• Yahoo answers– Users created a direct social network with an indirect one
• Platform not the most important thing• Freely available interaction pushes growth
Conclusions
• The snowboarding industry has the best conferences• People have been social with the Internet from day 1• Adding some social value to your site make your customers
happier with the site and want to use it more• Social value doesn’t have to be from direct interaction
– Trying to ‘build’ a community is a full-time commitment– Adding small social features can create better ROI
• “Open” is the next trend– Use the power of everyone else’s work– Let your users pick their own features and love you for letting them
http://developer.yahoo.comThanks to the following Flickr users for the use of their photos:fstorr, timtom, sportcommunities, _rom_, sparktography, whatdavesees, travelingfoolsofamerica, pakitt, nicoledawn, debagel
