Google Reader + Twitter + MyBlogLog + This Blog + Your Blog = Social Network Site?

April 23rd, 2007

Groggy Monday morning, and I come across this article asking the inevitable question: Is social networking dead? The answer is obviously no, but it seems any new Web 2.0 social networking site isn’t a sure thing anymore when there’s a new one popping up every day, plus it seems the big guys Facebook and MySpace are huge gorillas dominating the landscape.

I also read a good article over at Online Media Cultist speculating that although we have Web 2.0, the social networking space is still in 1.0.

So while there’s still some cool stuff happening in the social networking / news space, it seems because of the sheer number of sites out there competing for attention, I find myself yearning for some different approaches.

Personally, over the past few months I’ve noticed my ability to check out new social networking sites diminishing greatly. Many of these sites ask for regular participation, which may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but now that I’m signed up at ten or more sites (for my Interesting series), it becomes a challenge to check in even once a week (or sheepishly, once a month). I get emails from several on a regular basis, urging me to check back in and get social.

But it’s more than just a lack of time. The truth of the matter is, I’ve been spending most of my time on this blog, reading and commenting on others, and some “supplemental” technologies, which now that I think about it, rather emulate a social networking site. I’m sure this combination sounds familiar to many bloggers:

Google Reader: New articles constantly, like a social news site.
Twitter: IM, recommended links from other users (many good ones from engtech).
MyBlogLog: Keeping track of who’s visiting what site.
My Own Blog and Other People’s Blogs: Comments.

I remember when MyBlogLog first started out, it was recognized as a distributed social network which set it apart from other social networking sites. Of course, the above network mainly applies to bloggers (which obviously, I am one) – so it’s a niche. But it seems my “social” desire can be handled nicely by Twitter and comments on people’s blogs, saving me the effort of logging into separate sites.

Perhaps the key difference in thinking, is that instead of assuming a user will drop everything and convert over to a new social network site, it means figuring out a way to augment the network they may already have. I think this partly explains why there’s a renewed focus on “widgets” these days.

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