Social Networking - What’s in it for me?
Posted on January 15, 2006
So it was Christmas night (I know it was almost three weeks ago now), I fired up the PC after all the family had left for the evening, and yes, I checked my email. Like so many of us my IM client executed at startup as well. Before I knew it my buddy was IM’ing me about how much fun he was having on MySpace.com that day. I said to him, “Isn’t MySpace for 14 – 24 year olds, and isn’t social networking just a fad?”
His answer, flat out, “No.” He proceeded to tell me how he put up a profile and was connecting with people, etc… So he piqued my interest. The rest of the evening was dedicated to researching social networking for fun and business. Fun Christmas evening, right… My research got me thinking. Personal social networking is imitating what I used to do as a teenager in person. Back in the day when I was a teenager, I used to belong to the local YMCA’s gym, played sports, and hung out with friends cruising the strip in whatever towns we were in looking for people to meet and hang out with. It seems to me that personal social networking is augmenting a lot of those activities that I used to partake in.
Today I can look at a personal social networking profile with picture and decide whether I want to make an attempt to meet that person or not based on their likes, dislikes, or even looks.
Much like mine it would seem that today’s young adult’s life has a lot to do with sitting in front of a PC whether doing school work, IM’ing, downloading files, gaming, or chatting with friends. I might have been before my time. When I was their age I sat relentlessly with the TV volume turned down, my Sony “Walkman (Version one mind you)” blaring Metallica’s “Ride the Lightning” on 10, in front of my TRS 80 Model III banging out machine language or Basic programs, less the social networking. I still had to leave the house for that.
So social networking is now huge and continuing to grow. I even signed up for a free MySpace account just to get a feel for how they went through the process. Once signed up you can see a rolling odometer or members. There were 42+ million members then. I logged on this evening and there are 47+ million members. Not bad growth for three weeks of membership. Oh, and it’s all viral. I would venture to guess as WiFi and mobile technology get more popular so will social networking. Social networking will adapt and applications will get smaller, allowing wireless devices to act as the interface. The interfaces, as most do will start out simply, and become feature rich over time, with mobile IM, Web mail, and as hardware evolves Video conferencing, etc…
On a more professional note, there are professional networks like LinkedIn, Plaxo, and several others that are fighting for their share of the professional networking market. While I am part of several Professional Social Networks, the issue as I see it is once you are a member, what other activities are there to motivate you to use the service. LinkedIn is has several newer features, including Job Searching, and new search features to mine your network. But keeping the professional user sticky is a tough job, and they are doing everything they can.
Those people part of LinkedIn’s social network can search for jobs, apply for them right there, much like on Monster.com or Hotjobs.com. And as with HotJobs and Monster, you will also find the recruiters trolling around in there looking for candidates for positions that they have open. It also allows for trusted referrals from clients and colleagues. This is a nice feature to help you build credibility inside and outside your network. I’ve also read a report recently that they have about 1.5 million users too.
In all, I like LinkedIn. As a Business Development (fancy name for sales guy) person, it allows me to mine my network of peers in vertical markets and focus more on less sensitive areas of business that can utilize my products or services. And, research says that the site is growing in membership rapidly, so its memberships’ personal networks are growing virally as well.
So what does it all mean, or rather where does it all? Good question. My speculation to this end is only that social networks will continue to grow and expand, helping to forge new relationships, friendships, and courses of business and pleasure for their users. As for my use of Myspace.com, well, who knows? LinkedIn is another story. I use it more often now and will continue to grow my network of associates and peers with it.
Oh, and here’s a good article on MySpace.com for you to read as well.
