Creating a successful social network

Yesterday, I discussed some reasons why I thought we would not see another bust on the internet comparable to that of the dot-com bust (at least in this Web 2.0 era). Via the blog of my first commenter, I discovered two interesting articles on why social networks can succeed and why others do not. A quick summary:

Why social networks can succeed

1. Viral Nature. People want to expand their networks, so they invite their friends.
2. Online Identity. People want a place to call home on the web. Ever see people link to their MySpace profile on forums? Additionally, people want to be able to customize their profile.
3. Enhanced Knowledge.
4. Basic human need to share. People like to share their thoughts, opinions, and experiences. Obviously why many networks allow users to have blogs.
5. Basic human need to connect. People need to connect, and people love to expand their “network” of connections.

Why social networks fail

1. Privacy concerns. Turn on CNN. I am sure if you watch it for an hour you will see something about websites online collecting your data, selling it, and sending you truckloads of spam. But then again, remember that many social networks ask for data much more personal than just your email!
2. No real reward or penalty system. Not all “connections” are created equal. I may have 500 friends, but really, how good of a friend to me are the Red Hot Chili Peppers? A social network should reward people for quality connections.
3. Not granular enough. As noted in #2, all relationships are not equal. But there are also different types of relationships. Jim is my friend, Sally is my co-worker, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are my idol.
4. Not integrated with other apps. Well gee, knowing that I have 500 “friends” is pretty darn cool, but now what? The author of this article suggests that social networks should take their integration a step further to make them more useful. LinkedIn is a good example. You don’t create a network for the fun of it, you do it to create a network of people which ultimately could lead to your next job.
5. Walled gardens. Share information with other social network sites, don’t keep it all for yourself. If the larger social networks shared information with the smaller ones, people could easily go to their niche-specific social networks for their unique fix, and yet still have access to all of their friends and contacts.