Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: March 12, 2008

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I’m respecting your limited time by publishing this weekly digest on the Social Networking space, which I cover as an analyst.

I’ve created a new category called Digest (view archives). Start with the Web Strategy Summary, then quickly scan the succinct and categorized headlines, read text for my analysis, and click link to dive in for more.

You can subscribe to this digest tag only, which filters only these posts tagged digest.

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Web Strategy Summary
The possible intent for Yahoo to Join OpenSocial (Google’s alliance to allow widgets to freely travel between social networks) is expected. This is an industry shift, and we should be watching –and adapting– to this. Compete shares top visited social networks, where MySpace and Facebook continue to dominate, and growth spurts from smaller players like Myyearbook are good to watch.


OpenSocial: Yahoo could Join
I’m confident this would be a smart move for Yahoo, this is something they should take seriously. Yahoo to join OpenSocial. The only player that’s not going to be part of OpenSocial out of the large organic networks will be Facebook. But since they’re sharing a seamless transition with Bebo (who’s part of OpenSocial) it could now be a forced hand for them.

Usage: Social Network Visits, Feb 2007 vs 2008
Compete graphs the top visited websites, MySpace and Facebook continue to dominate, although Myyearbook makes quick gains.

Evolution: REM sells next album on iLike
The Might Be Giants was the first to sell their albums on MP3 in the 98 or 99, Pearly Jam in 2007, Radiohead in 2007, and now REM sells their album on iLike.

Whitepaper: Increasing the Density of Connections to Power Business Performance
SelectMinds, who has made some recent announcements of funding and new products is offering a white paper on how businesses can improve by enabling employees to connect.

Deployment: Awareness power travel social network
Awareness, announced that its Enterprise Social Media platform is powering GlobalTravelBlog.com, a community where travelers can share their experiences and connect with each other.

Analysis: Performance of Widgets
Interesting graphs and analysis on how many applications are growing –then ‘epic’ failing– through loss of usage and user interaction.

Interview: Zuckerberg on the future of Facebook
This short interview, which starts with the recruitment of the newest COO sheds light on the direction –and lack of– that Facebook is headed. One thing is clear, cocktail parties are serious social networking events here in Silicon Valley.

Acquisition: Pluck acquired for $75m by Demand Media
Demand Media has purchase Pluck, the “social media platform provider to high profile clients including USA Today, The Washington Post, and Fox News.” reports MashableChris in last week’s digest)

Features: Newsgator powers Sharepoint to go ‘social’
Newsgator, with strength in embeds now is going to empower Microsoft’s sharepoint to have social networking features, enabling it’s strong CMS and collaboartion tools to let members connect and share.

Schools: Don’t get Facebook/Real World
The education system appears (at least in this case) appears to be completely withdrawn from the fact the real world is about collaboration, and it often happens online. This student, who lead group collaboration has charges brought against him, as he created a virtual study group. On the other hand, maybe this was an individual assignment, and he didn’t follow orders.

Drama: Zuckerburg Interview takes a very wrong turn
Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg experiences a very awkward interview, too many opinions to point to, just see techememe.

Expansion: YouTube extends, Kickapps hosts
YouTube announced that it would let it’s player be more of an embedded application. Kickapps is the first to let the experience be available from it’s own social networking platform.

If I’ve missed anything, leave a comment or send me an email for the next digest.

3 Replies to “Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: March 12, 2008”

  1. Jeremiah –

    Thanks for putting this together. Even for those of us that are working hard each day to stay on top of the trends, it can be easy to miss something, so this will definitely come in handy.

    Thanks again –

    Ryan

  2. I appreciate your condensed format here, as it really helps me focus on the important highlights of the week.

    Also, I saw you speak this week at SXSW and enjoyed your discussion on community. I agree that best practices for communities don’t really exist at this point, but your advice about sitting back and letting the customers “own” the brand was great!

  3. Jeremiah,

    Here is some useful information that I have found from research. In the last 120 days social networking sites have seen steady decrease in traffic where polls have shown that its mainly because of harassing advertisements. The numbers are staggering where there is an average traffic decrease over 30% between all social networking sites.

    Now I need some information. I have spent four years and over a million dollars of personal funds and in sweat equity developing a site that I plan to launch this year. I am raising venture capital to launch and have raised another $1.5m out of the $6m goal I plan to reach prior to launching.

    The site is a massive “Interactive Entertainmant & Information Search Portal With Social & Commercial Networking Integration”. The process to raise capital in Tampa has been rough and long and I am looking for any resources that can help speed the process up.

    My prototype has been strong enough to recieve endorsements from Mike Alstott AKA A-Train (retired Bucs FB), George Wendt (my 3rd cousin, Norm from Cheers)and several political figures, which have all contributed to current Angel Equity.

    I am redoing my corporate site as we speak and that will be posted by the end of March, which is located at eeihq.com.

    The new search portal domain is YourNight.com

    Any information and/or guidance is appreciated.

    Regards,

    RJ Garbowicz
    President/CEO
    Extreme Enterprises, Inc.

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