Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: Oct 10, 2007

I’m respecting your limited time by publishing this weekly summary.

I’ve created a new tag called Digest where you can start to track and access these going forward. The hope? To make it easy for a web strategist to quickly scan the activity in the last week. I strive to make headlines on items categorized and succinct.

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Thank you for the feedback and comments last week, (I asked if I should continue this series) In addition to comments, I received emails, and messages in Facebook telling me to continue the digest, which I will do. Here’s my attempt at listening to you, my customers!

Web Strategy Summary
This is the week of rumors as the speculation about who will be he next mover into the widget/social network (SoNet) space continue, contenders include Google’s Orkut, Hi5, Tagged, or LinkedIn. The buzz continues in person as the first Facebook conference “Social Graphing” is held in San Jose. Update: MySpace is rumored to announce it’s open platform next week at the Web 2.0 expo.

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Competition: Google to enter Social Networking Industry
The speculation increases as to what Google will be doing in the Social Networking indsutry. It appears that Google’s Orkut platform will be made available to developers, with less restrictions than Facebook. Why Orkut? Developers could have access to other Google services to develop on, not just the social network…more bang for your buck.

Conference: Social Graphing
I see some snippets from the recent Facebook conference in San Jose, people still don’t know how to make money on the SoNet, “Facebook marketing requires communication not advertising” declares colleague Charlene Li at this key session. Social Media, a company by Seth Goldstein is scrutinized at the conference, followed by some entertaining (yet snarky) panelists. I wish I could have made it.

Primer: Getting started with Facebook
Dave McClure demonstrates the 7 steps for any brand to get started in Facebook with this tactical “how to” guide. He’s a guest author at Techcrunch, amazing how immature the commenters are after getting some deep ‘how to’ analysis. Others are witnessing the growth of activity around applications.

Segmentation: SoNet for Real Estate Agents
We continue to see more and more social networks for just about every role imaginable, now, this one for real estate agents.

Procedure: Messy process for grant money
Facebook has offered funding for developers, however the messy submittal process by email has left a bad taste in mouths of many entrepreneurs. Developers are having to re-submit their applications –despite frustration– they’ll go through the motions again. Goes to show, make sure your system is ready to handle requests before offering them.

Innovation: Faith or Foresight on Facebooks platform?
Many web developers are shifting their strategy over to Facebook, hoping to ride the swell that the masses will continue to swoon on the hotest website, although a healthy amount of skepticism is encouraged. The growth numbers I’ve seen clearly indicate there is an opportunity, so for those who want to reach North American, college educated, white collar should go. For some early adopters, they’ve already started to anticipate some cashout, for others, it’ll require more work.

Rumors: Facebook to launch music service
Facebook to launch a music service, there’s plenty of rumors circulating it to be an iTunes killer, but without the hardware offering, it seems unlikely.

Rumors: Tagged rumored to open platform
We all predicted that Facebook would be the first, there will be many more platforms to open up and allow developers to build widgets on their network. LinkedIn, Hi5 have promised to release theirs, and now Tagged, an SF based SoNet have rumors circulating the street. The word is, Tagged will also open their network up for applications (widgets) to be built on it.

Web Usage: Original College Facebook users have growing pains
Article by Alice of NYTs who used Facebook in college questions how the original college user base is adjusting to the changes that this business tool is having over their usage. I like how LinkedIn’s evangelist, my friend, Mario Sundar compares the strain of the work/personal life of Facebook, of course, LinkedIn can offer just one business view, and for some, that’s what they need.

I hope this digest was helpful, I’ve outlined how you can write your own digest. Sharing is great, as the more I give, the more I get back!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 2:21 am and is filed under Digest, Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.