Social Network Fatigue!

Sparked by a recent episode of HR Happy Hour and @thelance (I actually stole his phrasing), comes this rant on social media.

Here's the context. There's this major online job board company. In order to "get with the times", they created a micro social network of sorts, where members have there own profiles and can connect with recruiters. @thelance  astutely points out this concept of Social Network Fatigue, paraphrasing, "Don't we have enough online networks already?" Got it? Good.

Here's my point. It's time to stop thinking about being the next Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. That train has past. And while there may be opportunities to create niche networks, unless it is your core competency and primary focus, I think resources are better spent elsewhere. Rather than creating the next "YouTwitFace," emphasis should be placed on using the current social network infrastructure as mediums for providing value.

Here's why. Estimates of the current social networks are as follows; LinkedIn with 75 million users, Twitter with 105 million users, and Facebook with 500 million users. Now, you can attempt to mimic one of these business models. But, even Google with all there Google Geniuses and magic web powers hasn't made a big splash with Buzz. Have you even heard of Buzz? Plus, you will not only be competing with the networks themselves, but also with the thousands of app developers, who are continuously making the major networks better. I'm just not convinced that this is the best route.

I'm a believer of using the infrastructure in place and building from there. I am not suggesting a "resistance is futile" approach, but rather a "use and abuse" approach. The beauty of the current social network infrastructure is that it is pliable. Create a widget or app that works with the network to suit your needs, rather than creating an empty network to fill. There's nothing social about that. In the job board example, wouldn't it be better to create a mechanism that syncs the resumes and recommendations of a LinkedIn profile to the database of jobs, not requiring a visitor to create another username and password, which he will forget, and then never update.  Don't get me wrong. I don't want to oversimplify. These things will take tremendous ingenuity, creativity, and entrepreneurship, but the way we think of social networks must change.

Social Networks are mediums, just as a telecommunications is a medium. And, if you are not in the business of creating new telephones or new social networks, you should be thinking how to utilize mediums, not how to develop new ones.

'Til next time,

GenY_Mike