Social networks

There are more social networks than one can shake a stick at. That’s not a bad thing, since it means that at some point the memberships will approach zero-sum (though will never get there) and people will naturally gravitate toward the networks that make the most sense for them. MySpace is almost entirely useless, as much because of size and the devaluation of profile links as poor interface design. Small, beautiful and relevant are the things that help social networks become sustainable and effective.

For someone who is about to devote the bulk of the next several years to community building, I never was much of an early adopter for sites like Friendster, MySpace and Facebook. I joined the latter ones only because colleagues at the IU School of Informatics sent an invitation, and—other than filling in the initial profile—my Facebook interactions have been almost entirely responding to emails I get from people I know telling me to click on things. When photos started showing up in my profile automatically, the result of others taking the time to tag their own images with my name, I contemplated just letting the profile build itself through uninitiated responses only. Sadly/Happily, that experiment has to end since I need to leverage Facebook to meet some new potential users for internship projects.

I look forward to talking the appropriate amount of trash in the Driveway Hockey group in the near future. In the meantime, here are some other social network sites that may have been buried in the Digg.

MyColts.net
Pat Coyle has been helping spearhead an effort by the Indianapolis Colts to create a social network site for fans of the team. His marketing background tells him that a more focused context is going to be more attractive to commercial partners looking to increase their chances of turning ads into sales. The beta version, which is currently looking for testers, shows some promise by offering a combination of familiar with some interesting ways of building e-street cred. The more you participate, the more points you accumulate.


Change.com
Zack Exley, one of the forces behind RootsCamp last year, invited me to join this social (change) network this week. Although I haven’t had much time to configure the site to match my politics, I have figured out enough to be excited about the potential for connecting people to tangible actions. Although it has been interesting to see the number of local-driven activities show up for Bloomington in my in box, the MoveOn.org kinds of political sites are about massive numbers and passive activism (click to protest). Change.org is issue-centric, allowing members to mix and match their own personal political platforms rather than be forced to subscribe to a top-down agenda. There is a big element, too, that connects these groups to non-profit organizations with relevant missions.


Couchsurfing
The problems of the world will go away if everyone learned to embrace couchsurfing, the travel practice of dozing on the free couches offered up by friends and strangers. It is the Gen X and later version of Refrigerator Rights.

We strive to make a better world by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world!

There is a system of vouching that creates a trust circle and, hopefully, helps insure against problems. (I wonder if Chris knows about this site.)


Dodgeball.com
Now affiliated with Google, this is a truly social network that uses cell phones and text messaging to help people find each other in different locations. While there is definitely a partial focus on dating—one of the key features is Crush alerts, which notify you if someone you have a crush on or who has a crush on you is in the area—there is a potential benefit for travelers looking to find local connections while on the road. There are searches for people and places, with member reviews of hot spots in the 22 major U.S. cities covered by this service. The downside is that the site has a few bugs, and it is useless if you are, say, in Bloomington with no friends in the system. Ahem.


GoPets
GoPets is a global online social network that attempts to generate and support friendships across borders and language barriers. This is done through virtual pets, which have distinctive personalities, travel around the world frequently, and learn from their interactions with users and other pets. There are blogging tools both for the community member and the virtual pets. The big downside for me is the lack of Mac support, making the desktop application needed to generate your pet irrelevant.


Threadless
This is only very loosely a social network, but it does count even if it revolves around e-business goals. People get points for wearing Threadless t-shirts in public, snapping a picture and posting it on the site. People can design and sell the clothing online, and can eventually do so in person when a new brick-and-mortar store opens in Chicago in a few months. Threadless was created by Chicago designers Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart after Jake won a UK t-shirt competition. Like MyColts.net, this is commerce driven and revolves around a niche market. Not everyone will want to join a t-shirt designing community, but there are great opportunities to bond if you do.


Joost
Joost is a new way of watching TV on the internet. The quality of image in full-screen picture is good and there are a number of pre-set channels with episodes of sample shows. The selection isn’t great at the moment, but the concept is excellent. The reason TV watching qualifies as a social network is the presence of RSS feeds, blog integration (although limited; I couldn’t connect from Joost to BlogSchmog, for example), and a chat tool. It is to be seen if this last feature enables online social events around the video content. Right now, Joost is in beta and only accessible with an invite. Thanks to Brian at Kosmix, I got one.