The dawn of the Internet gave rise
to social networks that have changed the landscape of digital interaction. From
Myspace, to Facebook and Twitter, these social networking services have
provided its users with access to massive online communities where ideas,
pictures, posts and activities can be shared all over the world. Although most
of the world is accustom to the largely popular Facebook and Twitter, the
history of social networking websites begins with CompuServe. CompuServe's
members were allowed to share files, access important news and, more
importantly, interact with each other. E-mail and discussion forums offered thousands
of CompuServe's members a digital environment to virtually discuss any topic
they pleased. Tremendously popular during its time, CompuServe's virtual
discussions laid the foundation for future social networking sites such as
Friendster.com that would come to flourish during the Internet Boom.
Friendster's
Lack of Innovating Virtual Social Experiences Caused a Serious Decline In User
Activity
 |
| Friendster, now geared towards online gaming, has redefined its website after losing ground to social networking competitors. |
Born a little over a decade ago,
Friendster allowed its users to create personal profiles and share online
content with members all over the world. Considered the "granddaddy"
of social networks, Friendster's innovative virtual environment made it the first
social networking site to attain over 1 million users and at the time was
poised for success. With large capital financing and millions of users,
Friendster had the tools to evolve into the modern day version of Facebook, but
unfortunately faltered through poor management and an unwillingness to embrace
product flexibility. With competitive sites such as Facebook and Myspace
innovating their social networking features, Friendster focused more on themedia and less on the social.
Based heavily around polishing
one's profile, Friendster users were unable to experience the interaction of real
time information provided by Facebook's news feed or entertainment filled environment
of MySpace. Remaining stagnant upon the social network's original model,
Friendster's lack of innovative features and scattered goals of becoming the
next Google or Yahoo caused a steep decline in users. Friendster was simply
unable to evolve during a boom of online users desperate for the Internet's
next innovative creation.
Heavy
Focus on Building Social Value Allows Facebook to Dominate Social Networking
Services
 |
| The news feed feature offered a stream of information allowing users to comment and 'like" various activities of their connections |
Although Facebook began 2 years
after Friendster, it's growth rate has shown an immense increase in active membership. Expanding from a million users
in 2004 to 1.11 billion on March 2013 stems from the innovative features geared
towards its constantly interacting users. Facebook's focus on building social value
crowned it king of social networking services, as it took notice to how its
users were utilizing the online environment. Under a "hacker way" method, which is described by
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as continuous improvement and iteration, Facebook
was able to implement many features heavily utilized by Facebook users today.
For example, Facebook noticed the accounts users set up for their pets and celebrities, and
explored the idea leading to the creation of Facebook Pages. Event
functionality was also implemented after observing the increased use of groups
for meeting up at specific times and locations. In stark contrast to
Friendster, who severely undervalued the personalized misuse of their social
networking services, Facebook's motivation to innovate upon these interactions
among users and expand its platform led to continued growth in membership and
activity. Coupling its constantly implemented features with an open source
application programming interface (API), Facebook is able to provide its users
with an environment heavily based upon how you would like to interact with your
friends, family and connections.
Present
day social networking services seek heavy potential in commercial advertising
The growth of popularized social networking
services such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have led to a large growth in commercial advertising and potential for profit. With billions
of users, boasting an even bigger number of total connections, the lure of
social media advertising has increased dramatically as companies attempt to reach out to these extensive networks. As websites innovative their features more so around commercial advertising, it is easy to question the
future of social networks as an environment based solely around virtual
interaction. Just recently, Twitter released a direct messaging feature
that would allow businesses to target potential customers, raising concerns of
spam filled inboxes. Further instances of commercialization include Facebook'splan to utilize video advertisements on their mobile applications and
Instagram's inclusion of ad space on its
once strictly picture and video filled news feed. As social networks continue
to find ways to immerse its millions (or even billions) of users with brands
and products, it is important to consider how this may affect the social media
experience that made these online platforms so popular. If our news feeds
become cluttered with commercials and advertisements that provide us with no
increased user interaction, social networking sites like Facebook may become
the next Friendster as innovation is reconfigured for profits over enhanced social
experience.
First of all, the headline is informative and explanatory enough that I can understand the main point before reading the whole article. Moreover, it is obvious that Kris did a lot of research so that most of the embedding links are helpful. However, I think the link of “Facebook” is a little bit meaningless because everyone knows Facebook. And also, I would add a link for “API” from the third paragraph to explain the source better. (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/43487/Application_Programming_Interface) Furthermore, the graphics are helpful. For example, I can easily see the new online gaming gear of Friendster from the graphic, which is related to the content of article. Overall, the design of the article is good.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, Kris used subtitles to separate each paragraph: an introduction with three examples, which made the article significantly well organized and persuasive.
Thirdly, the main point of this article is about social experience, social value and commercial news feed of today’s social networks. The first example about Friendster tells us it is important to add social experience while it is also important to embrace product flexibility. The second one introduces the reason why Facebook is successful due to the social value it creates. The last example talks about a controversial topic nowadays: the commercials on social networks. Kris analyzed both strong points and weak points of the commercials and provided his own opinion. As a result, I think this article is perfect!
The title does not seem to feel explanatory in the sense of gaining new information, however its interesting enough that I would be intrigued to read more about the post. Structurally the content could have been arranged in a way so there are not too many “blocks of text.” The subheads used provided a break between paragraphs but there was another lengthy paragraph to follow. I would suggest breaking up the text to cater to different consumers. I honestly feel this is the only area that could have been improved.
ReplyDeleteKris content, comparing Friendster to Facebook, was organized and detailed. Kris provides background information as well as articles to support his statements. In particular Kris mentioned “Friendster focused more on the media and less on the social.” Facebook on the other hand is geared towards social interaction. Facebook capitalizes on the social interaction between users, which ironically allows for profits through commercial advertising.
Will commercial advertising affect the social interaction, which Facebook is known for? There can be mixed responses for this question, I believe it ultimately can. The reason for this is advertisers can yield substantial profits however if there is not an detailed contract regarding involvement advertisers can start to demand more space on a users interface. The other perspective could be beneficial because it can serve as more exposure to a larger crowd.
I thought Kris’s explanatory headline was very informative and a good length to get the point across but not too long to bore the reader. He also used explanatory subheadings quite effectively. Each one did a nice job summarizing the information to follow and helped me as a reader follow what he was getting at. He also included a number of relevant embedded links and helpful graphics to further reinforce his ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe main point he focused on was the development and change of social networks over time. He mixed a good amount of relevant general information with real world examples to help me understand his point. For example he talked about what Friendster was, what it has become, and why this happened. He also did a good job looking at the future by mentioning the huge potential for future advertising on social networks and how that plays into our current idea of social media.
One thing that I thought may have been helpful for Kris to include would be a picture depicting what Friendster was in the past (http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/friendster_now_available_in_malay.jpg). His explanation was interesting and I liked the picture he used of the current site but since I am not familiar with it I was unaware what it was before this.
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