Interesting. Only a few days ago I wrote about possible competitors to facebook, and now I find two posts on techcrunch that relate to my post plus the discussion I had with Mr. White.
Until today Pageflakes users could create pages for their own use, and/or make public pages called Pagecasts. The content was and continues to be completely up to the user. Now, however, each user also gets a profile page and can add other Pageflakes users as friends. Effectively, Pageflakes is now a social network, and users can connect based on common interests.
The second one is about the walled gardens of social networks and how this might be overcome, citing the new Plaxo Pulse as an example.
Plaxo Pulse ties together disparate services from across the web unlike the news feed, which ties together only Facebook’s content. While Plaxo hasn’t launched a platform to a crowded hall of over-eager developers, they have quietly focused on linking to existing applications on the web. Currently the provide a single interface for syncing with the social feeds, email, contact, and calendaring applications business people care about. It’s no long stretch to see this developing into even deeper integration with more web applications.
This relates to this comment of Mr. White (plus his subsequent comment) about introducing a protocol layer. Something similar is already on its way by initiatives such as the OpenID Directory.
Watch this and think about the stats. We are living indeed in an exponential age. It’s fascinating to think about it, once you see all these figures (that you will probably all have seen before on their own somewhere else) sink in. Everything increases exponentially at the moment, especially in the digital age.
But he offers another interesting thought: the new competitors are start pages, such as pageflakes and netvibes. I like that thought! I am a heavy user of netvibes. The configuration possibilities are endless and it is very conveniently to use.
If I could combine something like that with the social component of facebook: Voila, there would be a winner! So if netvibes offers a widget through which I can manage my facebook stuff, I would only have few occasions for visiting the actual facebook site.
On the other hand, if netvibes tries to implement their own social network it will be increasingly difficult for them to lure away users from other platforms, especially the longer they wait.
Admittingly, users can move away like swarm or a flock of birds.
But: the more contacts users have within a single platform, the less likely they are to move away. That’s the inherent stickiness of social networks.
The longer netvibes waits, the more difficult it will become to attract any users from facebook or others. (Especially since facebook and myspace are not just going to wait for doomsday, they will optimise their platforms at the same time.)
Summarising: could startpages be the new competitors? They could be, but for now I doubt it. Prove me wrong, especially you, netvibes (please).
The title gives it away, I know. But I do agree with Steve Rubel. Curiosity is a very important career skill these days. At least in our industry, where things are changing so fast, that typical approaches of a few years ago might no longer work – or at least not be the best approaches out there.
You don’t have to try everything or follow every single new Web2.0 gadget, website, or whatever. But you need an inherent interest in the movements happening out there.
Most people still underestimate the dangers of net transparency. As one can read in this article of the Guardian, some students of the University of Oxford were caught by proctors who found the relevant evidence on facebook.
Students now face fines of up to £100 after proctors collected evidence of students celebrating the end of exams by „trashing“ their friends, covering them with champagne, confetti, flour, and even foodstuffs including raw meat and octopus. […] „Somehow the proctors have accessed my photos on Facebook and cited them as evidence of my misconduct, and I am being summoned to a disciplinary hearing.“ „I don’t know how this happened, especially as my privacy settings were such that only my friends and students in my networks could view my photos“.
I keep telling everyone to be really careful with what they put on the web. Don’t put up pictures or videos of friends who didn’t agree – and also don’t put up pictures of your kids – they might not like that in 20 years time.
You never know, whether things like the abovementioned might be possible. Or for how long your content will stay in the Google archive. Or whether or not a site will end up in the archives of archive.org and possibly stay there forever. Web content is more permanent than most people realize.
The Second Life Boom couldn’t have lasted forever. Everyone knew that. At least now you won’t find anyone who didn’t know it all along. Seems like everyone was right. Now there are the first signs of companies leaving Second Life. Some are trying new worlds, some just leave it at that.
„There’s not a compelling reason to stay,“ said Brian McGuinness, vice president of Aloft, a brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. that is closing its Second Life shop and donating its virtual land to the nonprofit social-networking group TakingITGlobal.
But the sites of many of the companies remaining in Second Life are empty. During a recent in-world visit, Best Buy Co.’s Geek Squad Island was devoid of visitors and the virtual staff that was supposed to be online.
The schedule of events on Sun Microsystems Inc.’s site was blank, and the green landscape of Dell Island was deserted. Signs posted on the window of the empty American Apparel store said it had closed up shop.
On the other hand, many companies had trouble finding something of added value to present in the virtual world:
For some advertisers, the problem is that Second Life is a fantasyland, and the representations of the people who play in it don’t have human needs. Food and drink aren’t necessary, teleporting is the easiest way to get around and clothing is optional. In fact, the human form itself is optional.
Which is especially frustrating, if you’re just in it because you wanted that publicity:
most firms were more interested in the publicity they received from their ties with Second Life than in the digital world itself. „It was a way to brand themselves as being leading-edge,“ he said.
I know exactly what they mean. I had quite a few clients asking us about Second Life. What it is, and what they could do in there. Some even asked, whether it actually makes sense to move in there. For some companies there is a lot they can provide in this digital world that is of added value. Some might not have the right product, but had a good idea. And some might better not move in-world in the first place.
Now some US companies that did move in with whatever approach, are reversing their strategy.
„Momentan bestehen keine Pläne, sich aus Second Life zurückzuziehen“, so Oliver Brüggen, Sprecher von Adidas […] Seit der Inseleröffnung im September 2006 verkaufte Adidas monatlich 2700 Schuhpaare im Second-Life-Shop und verzeichnete im Schnitt 9000 Besucher.
(„There are currently no plans to move out of Second Life, says Oliver Brüggen of Adidas. Since opening their shop in 2006, Adidas has sold 2700 pairs of shoes per month and had around 9.000 visitors per month“)
Auch DaimlerChrysler will weiterhin mit seiner Marke Mercedes Benz in Second Life vertreten bleiben. „Wir sind sehr zufrieden mit den Besucherzahlen. Das Ziel unseres Auftritts in Second Life ist, in direkten Dialog mit der Zielgruppe zu treten“, betont Susanne Klauser
DaimlerChrysler will also stay within Second Life with their brand Mercedes Benz. „We are very satisfied with the number of visitors. The objective of our presence is to engage in a dialogue with our target audience“, emphasizes Susanne Klauser
(Translation is mine, please let me know if something is incorrect.)
I wonder just for how long they’ll stay. Because in general, the first indicators of a slowdown in user growth and activity rate are appearing:
Between May and June, the population of active avatars declined 2.5%, and the volume of U.S. money exchanged within the world fell from a high of $7.3 million in March to $6.8 million in June.
What’s should be even more concerning: users seem to be flocking on to other platforms, testing them. Since Second Life is not really the best in terms of graphics and performance, there might soon be a better offer around the corner. And users might act in a swarm like behaviour and move on to the next tree. Worlds such as Entropia Universe and There.
I just wonder, with all that hype around facebook, if it isn’t time for a facebook application that offers you the social components of facebook (especially enabling to keep you current contact list) in a 3D virtual world? Wouldn’t that be neat? And for my sake, please also include netvibes in that offer!
Wo ich sonst so bin...