Social Networks 3.0

I have received a lot of calls recently from reporters interested in discussing social networks. It reminds me of the set of calls I got way way back in 2004. The reporters today want to know what I think of social networking companies and if the venture capital community remains excited about social networks. I certainly don't claim to speak for the venture capital community. But I am happy to share with them my thinking about social network. And, while a well tread topic here at VentureBlog, it may be worth revisiting social networks given the ongoing activity in the space.

For those of you who have long commutes, or are joggers, or simply prefer the sonorous tones of my voice, you can check out my podcast on the topic at VentureCast. For the rest of you (and those of you who have complained that you think I'm being lazy by recording my thoughts rather than writing them) let me take a second to share my thinking on the evolution of social networks.

Let me simply start with this. I am a huge fan of the fabric of social networking. I believe that it makes up a crucial piece of the online communication that is driving the consumer web experience. But I do think that social networks have undergone an significant and important evolution, even since 2004, which will continue to pay dividends for end users.

For what it is worth, to my mind we are now experiencing Social Networks 3.0.

Social Networks 1.0 were built during the late 1990s to enable the initial set of consumer services that created such excitement about the promise of the web. Services like eGroups/OneList, ICQ, Evite and many many more relied upon groups of users organizing and communicating on the web through coordinated networks. Those networks were not explicitly described as such but they were the underpinnings of these communications platforms.

Social Networks 2.0 began in the early 2000s when entrepreneurs got to thinking about the nature of their online networks and the power that could come of making those networks explicit. Services like Friendster, Tribe, Orkut, LinkedIn, Spoke emerged to allow users to organize their recreational and business networks. The focus of those services as they were first built was to enable the creation, growth and management of an explicit social network. In other words, the consumer experience of Social Networks 2.0 was around the creation and discovery of the network itself, rather than a particular use of that network.

I believe that we are now in Social Networks 3.0. After a fair bit of excitement and energy around pure play social networks, it became clear that the building and management of a social network was not, in and of itself, a compelling consumer experience. In a nod back to the earliest instantiations of social networking, entrepreneurs have come to realize that social networks are enablers of other compelling consumer experiences. Thus, social networks are becoming an important ingredient of all sorts of consumer experiences. Social networks inform the conversations that take place among friends on LiveJournal. Social networks enable the discovery of new music on MySpace. Social networks enhance the multi-player gaming experience at Xfire. Social networks now empower recruiting on LinkedIn. And dozens of new social networks are emerging to enable specific, valuable consumer experiences that are enhanced by the underpinnings of the network.

I am more than a little excited about Social Networks 3.0 because I believe that social networking will be a crucial element of virtually all online consumer experiences going forward. And truly compelling online consumer experiences will always make successful companies. Thus, I look forward to seeing how social networking continues to evolve. I see great things in the future for Social Networking 4.0, whatever that ends up being.

Comments

[Zoli Erdos]

There is a new "Social Network 3.0" for college students. Yes, they are all on the Facebook ... but in the little time they have left for their Academic life, Coursecafe helps them. link: http://www.zoliblog.com/blog/_archives/2005/11/28/1424320.html

[Dave]

that's very lucid commentary.

(sure you didn't plagiarize someone smarter/taller thsn u?)

smells a lot like e-commerce in '95/'99/'03, and i'm guessin search in '98/'02/'07

seems like it takes 3 waves / 5-8 years to generalize.

- dave mcclure
www.simplyhired.com

[ndintenfass]

Perhaps 4.0 will be when we realize the dream of federated networks, with some as-yet-to-be-fully-baked system that allows us to leverage various aspects of our networks (in context, of course) across various services without needing to recreate it each time?

[hooman]

The fundamental problem with social networks is that their is nothing "social" about them. In their current incarnation, social networks deliver closed and isolated experiences. Contact information is trapped within the bounds of each service, forcing users to subscribe to a number of services such as LinkedIn, Plaxo, Friendster, and AOL instant messenger. This approach is at odds with our cognitive and use case models. More importantly, it does not scale. Everyone has contacts that they leverage in multiple contexts as a function of our relationship and situation. You may have a friend that watch sporting events with, that is a potential customer of your business, and also a member of your band. Which network will you add them to? LinkedIn, or MySpace? Maybe Friendster? Are we going to have a different social network for every context taht we can view a person in? I don't think so. There is one social network. Their may be different views of this network, but society is a single, cohesive entity. There should not be a LinkedIn network, Plaxo network, or Tribe Network. Instead, the social network should be viewed as a single logical service upon which we can build more effective social services that improve our ability to communicate and exchange knowledge. Until there is a mechanism to create an integrated and interoperable social network that cuts across all services, the true power of the collective will remain dormant.

[hypermark]

Interesting points, and a great book that speaks to the trend timelines that Dave McClure alludes to is Waves of Power. A key conclusion in that book is that at the 3.0 stage, the technology is embedded, invisible, it just works.

My personal takeaway is that a lot of this stuff boils down to social networks morphing from a horizontal capability to a more vertical focus on "job specific" outcomes and constraints of the target customer.

My bias two fold. One is that relative to the "lookup and hookup" aspect of social networks, the context traversal capabilities of a profile model like Facebook is the right way to think about the problem.

Two is that increasingly the conversations will be around pictures, movies and sounds, and as such, tools that enable you to actually "do something" with such rich content items is where some of the greatest action is occurring in the space right now.

If interested in delving deeper, I wrote a post called, "Short attention, short conversations and video clips" that is worth a read:

http://thenetworkgarden.com/weblog/2005/10/vsocial_video_c.html

Cheers,

Mark Sigal
vSocial: www.vsocial.com

[Jeremy Pepper]

A very interesting read, but one thing seems to be missing: instant messaging networks. While networking sites come and go in popularity - does anyone refer to themselves as the new Friendster or is it as the new Facebook (just for now, before it gets dropped for MySpace again) - the instant messaging platforms (besides ICQ) have stayed quite popular.

Plus, Skype has pushed itself into the IM network quite well, and while we can ignore Google Talk for now - because it has yet to break into the market with any significance - with the interoperability issues being worked out with Yahoo, MSN and AIM, the IM networks are going to continue to grow.

Just one thing that you might not know. If you IM any college kids, they put everything on their IM away message: napping, at lunch, off to class, at Blank Hall ... it goes on and on; that's one of the reasons why the networking sites scrambled to include IM messaging into the systems, usually with AIM.

[Hans Gieskes]

Am glad too that social netorking 3.0 may be upon us, as most of the present type of social networking is kind of depressive / empty.

Head Hunters are among the most sophisticated and most active social networkers, so we can learn from them. They get paid handsomely for connecting people and opportunities, and are willing to "split" fees with each other, why not split fees with the Hidden Head Hunters in their networks, the people who give them great leads while socially networking, i.e. you and me?

Surely for us connectors there's got to be a purpose other than just "cool" or "social"? How about sharing some love for helping to connect people and opportunities?

Social Networking 3.0, isn't all about purpose, about tangible results, about ecosystems where people walk the walk rather than just talk the talk...?

[leonard boord]

So far we can find out about an individuals credit history (credit bureau), work history (linkedin), criminal history (search engines and people seeker systems) but not about the reputation of a person. We simply infer it. This is the biggest hole left. Search engines are inadequate because they only list the plumbers in my area. What I need to know is which is the honest and reliable one? Offline reputation systems (yellow pages) are inadequate, we can do much better, and we will.

[Danny Ayers]

I like the general thrust of your analysis, but I think one aspect lets it down - talking of "consumer experiences". Isn't the person that engages in online social networks an active participant, a producer, a peer? Where does the traditional unidirectional producer-consumer model fit here?

Individual companies may have provided the infrastructure for walled garden networks like Orkut, but isn't the trend towards Web as Platform?

[frumhere]

I think the assumption that you are making is that users/18-25 year olds do things because it has a purpose. I personally don't think that most of these people really care or think about what they do has a goal or purpose.

[Bob Aman]

Hooman Radfar pretty much hit the nail on the head. The closest thing to what he's describing is FOAF, but of course, FOAF is terribly difficult to deal with from the perspective of someone who wants to actually consume that information. FOAF represents the network quite handily, the problem is viewing it effectively without running into major scalability issues.

But count on this problem getting solved within the relatively near future.

[riksus]

WOW!!! Internet 2.0 is really here. New networks are redefining what an
internet user should now expect! Look at http://www.GorillaeXchange.com for
example.

GorillaeXchange.com has combined existing successful features such as blogs,
chat, forums, personal profiles, debates, videos, and much more and
continued where other networks have simply left off.

They seem to have stepped up to the plate by combining two empowering
features: 1. Giving everyone their own media port that allows them to choose
their own programming like, uploading their own videos, music, or creating
their own content and 2. Giving all users a personal store, allowing them
to sell anything you can imagine.

GorillaeXchange is essentially a one-stop shop.

It seems Yahoo, MSN, MySpace and Friendster have simply missed the boat!!!
The markets are taking notice and reports are trickling in: GorillaeXchange
may give them a run for their money as a new niche networks out there
gaining traction each day.

[Real Space]

I am all for Social Networking 3.0 but I'd like to point out that an essential component to successful social networking is lacking in David Hornik's vision of v. 3.0 and that is real connections in the real world.

Social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace are attracting millions of members but are these people finding what they are really looking for? Churches, schools, bars, and ball games are packed with people hungry to connect with others that share their same values, interests, and desires. The Social Network of the future must capitalize on the success of online networks while extending them to the real world so people can make connections with people, not just web avatars and friends of friends. Check out Enpresence at www.enpresence.com and learn how futuristic services will integrate with existing online networks to extend them to mobile services that will serendipitously foster connections for business, romance, and friendship. I'd love to know what this audiance thinks of the idea

[jmbooher]

Indiana University School of Informatics (HCI/D) Students research the integration of public transit options into facebook to create sustainable impact on congestion and the environment. Ride Connect integrated into facebook takes social networking to shift perception of public transit into a social activity.

This was presented during the student design competition at CHI 2007 Conference. Read more about this on www.booherdesign.com
.

[devmaniac.myopenid.com]

I think the surge in social networks will reside given the fact that most depend on click through ads for funding. This will be a major issue for them as users are becoming more and more "blind" to PPC ads. The only way they can survive long term is to charge for their services. Or develop top-notch ad campaigns with major businesses as apposed to low-key click client ads.

DevManiac,
Social Network Graphics Management

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