Social Networking Sites: The Good

From all my previous posts, you've probably concluded that I don't like currently available social-network sites. That's not entirely true. :-)

But, I'm not sure the MySpace and FaceBooks can reliably retain (0r even grow) their user base over time. Do married 40 year olds crave the same attention that young singles do? Will college students currently using FaceBook continue to frequent that community once they get a real job and begin supporting a family? The bottom line is that a social network that that offers a place to post, discuss, rate, and connect on issues that matter to a large number of people over a long period of time will make for the best social network sites. So in this regard, I believe MySpace and Facebook offer very little.

However, here's what I think MySpace has done right:

1) Open Community. Hear me out. Yes, this decision has allowed pedophiles to stalk children, which is inexcusable. However, social communities are most powerful when they give voice to everyone, or "democratizing information" as Chris Andersen calls it in The Long Tail. Opening up the community allows for the best content to emerge but simultaneously assumes you can also filter out all the crap and spam that dilutes great content. MySpace got this one right. The internet is all about openness and democratizing information.

2) Let the users tell you how to build the site. In the beginning, MySpace focused on the music vertical. Those who were interested in sharing music clips or promoting their own music were the early users. However, MySpace expanded in response to users wanting better tools for communicating with (and adding) other members, and other content and tools not directly related to music. Now, you can blog about anything you want, instant message other members, find a group about a topic of interest, set up an email domain, setup your personal website, etc, etc, etc. Some wonder how they all relate to one another. From everything I've read, it appears that MySpace simply offers something in response to an outcry from its users. This is a really important point in social networking because this is a concept in its nascency. Don't try to guess what might work, let the users tell you (and look closely at what they do when they're on your site).

Other things they do right?