Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

[pzarquon]

Do you have Friendsters (http://www.friendster.com)? Are you part of a Tribe (http://www.tribe.net)? Is business on the Ryze (http://www.ryze.com)? Hang out at a Global Pau Hana (http://www.globalpauhana.org)? Got a pass to Google's Orkut (http://www.orkut.com)? Have you built your own "MySpace (http://www.myspace.com)"?

One of the new obsessions of the tech and web addicted is social software. Sites that link you to friends, friends of friends, and - in theory, anyway - opportunities that range from business contacts to hiking partners to hot dates. It's a crowded space, and there are easily two dozen hopeful, energetic companies out there trying to make a business out of it. Of course, one has yet to see a profit... and real business deals and in-real-life marriages aren't exactly flowing after the big launch press releases.

That said, I'm hooked. The simple concept is intriguing. We all know how personal networks work in real life. But what if the usual limits of geography and scheduling were eliminated? Can we make friends that way? Have conversations with people we'll likely get along with (as we have friends in common), even if we've never met? Wouldn't I be more likely to accept a freelance job from a stranger, if they were "introduced" through a common contact?

As things stand, it's mostly a big goofy ego-surfing party, and "collecting friends" is the primary activity. Seeing who your friends know is a close second, and that's actually been cool -- I've rediscovered old friends (who lost touch with me, but not with someone we know in common), and learned time and time again just how small the world is (the "six degrees" theory is closer to "three degrees" when it comes to Hawaii).

A lot of these sites are trying to make their sites "sticky" by adding on additional features, from Tribe.net's classified listings ("You and I know Bob, sell me your boat!") to Ryze's topical discussion groups to MySpace's built in blogging tool. But none of those have been really compelling to me, beyond the original, and basic, premise - building and exploring your personal network in cyberspace.

Do you network online? Any services you like the best? Ever got anything out of 'em? And... would you be my friend, too? :)

[Albert]

I haven't gotten involved in these things at all. I guess I get my "social" kicks on the Internet from the MUDs I play, from interaction with people who read and write to me about my "Tales", and from sites like this.

I did do irq for a brief time, haven't participated in chat rooms at all. Too much like telephones, which I loathe.

[mel]

My question is this. If one joins so many of these online networks how can one keep up with them all? I spend way too much time here and at Hawaii People (http://www.hawaiipeople.net) to even consider joining one of the more high profile social networks. I was on one for a while last year called "Ringo" until it was sold to "Tickle". I did not like "Tickle" so I dropped out. I tried Global Pau Hana, but it does not work with Safari. No biggie, I'm already here, and still somewhat semi-active in Hawaii Stories (http://www.hawaiistories.com).

Anyone active on the more technical forums. I'm registered to use the discussion forums at MacObserver (http://www.macobserver.com) and DP Review (http://www.depreview.com). I haven't posted anything to dpreview, though I check in regularly with the forum on the Canon Digital Rebel camera. The Mac place, I occasionally post. Both forums are quite busy and are impossible to keep up with everything.

Forgot to mention that I like the BuzzNet (http://www.buzznet.com/) photoblog site where people from all over the world share various pictures. Not much social networking there, but it seems that a secondary activity to posting pictures is collecting links to other people's buzznet sites.

[pzarquon]

To clarify, "Social Software" generally refers to a specific space or model where the networking is at the core. So, HawaiiThreads.com isn't a "social networking" site per se, though yes, it isa site where people... er, network socially. More accurately, though, it's a message board, or a community site, where the interaction, rather than the assorted connections between people, is the focus.

Yes, you can save "buddies" in HawaiiThreads.com and add friends' photoblogs/moblogs to your account at Buzznet, but there those features are secondary to why you're there.

Global Pau Hana, Ryze, Friendster, Tribe.net, LinkedIn, Orkut, Ecademy, MySpace... they're more of what I'm asking about. While essentially you're talking about collecting mutual connections to friends, the basic idea is making contacts through FOAFs (Friend of a Friends), whether for business leads, romance, activity partners, or buying and selling goods and services.

If I trust {x} and {x} trusts {y}, I'm more likely to trust {y} than I am a random person off the street.

It can get muddled at the higher level, as all sorts of other things - from forums to classified listings to whatever - are often thrown in to make these places more "sticky." With Okrut running forums, and MySpace letting people publish blogs, it's understandable when people ask, "So what's the difference between these sites and other sites?" I think by virtue of them adding these bells and whistles, they're conceding that networking alone does not a compelling experience make.

[Linkmeister]

networking alone does not a compelling experience make

To which I'd add, you probably get out of them what you put in. As Ryan knows, I'm in Ryze and Global Pau Hana, but I have to say they haven't done me a lick of good as far as business connections/leads go. I haven't tried very hard to alter that, though, so it's as much my fault as the group's.

[pzarquon]

Another one: Multiply.com (http://www.multiply.com). Not surprisingly, it seems to take elements from those that have come before, but the interface isn't bad. Very MSN-esque.

There's the whole FOAF (friend-of-a-friend) thing, but there's also photo sharing, a "marketplace" (like Tribe.net's goods and services listings), journal writing (bonus points for not calling them blogs), recipe trading, calendaring, even review publishing.

I created a profile (http://ryanozawa.multiply.com/), but ended up just filling it with links to other social networking sites. I'm starting to get dizzy...

[Quark]

I am interested in how `ohana in Hawai`i has influenced our relationship building online. In Hawai`i it is much less than 6 degrees of separation. It is more like three. This connection extends beyond the immediate family. It embraces school, business, sports, clubs, church, etc. Does this sociability translate to the online world. Is social networking applications just another way of building an `ohana of sorts? There are so many Hawaiian references in web culture, surfing, wiki, akamai, why not `ohana.

[Quark]

This social networking stuff is evolving. I think to a certain extent the field is overcrowded with players but this will thin out over time. Whether it's Orkut, Ryze, Friendster, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc, etc, etc, it boils down to which one brings value. In my opinion it is still early judge the usefulness of SNS. I've never gotten any jobs from my involvement and I have gotten several inquiries from people looking for jobs in Hawaii. What I have done is strengthen connections and maintained something of a database of connections which may come in handy down the road. Is that valuable? I think so.

With that in mind I was asked to put a panel together for the annual HTCA (http://www.htca.org) conference is coming up on Sept. 30, 2004. I will be moderating a discussion on social networking and digital communities. Here is what the line up looks like:

Ryan Ozawa: www.hawaiistories.com, www.hawaiithreads.com, www.hawaiianswers.com
Ian Lind: www.ilind.net
Kevin Hughes: www.kevcom.com/kevsnews/
Kevin Takamori: UH Alumni Network (launching on Sept. 15)

This panel speaks for themselves. Each has a unique perspective on social networking and building digital communities. The session is only an hour long so we will need to cram a lot of information into a very short amount of time. There's an entrance fee to the conference but I hope you will try to check it out anyway. If you have a question for the panelists, let me know and perhaps we can get an online dialog going.

[pzarquon]

In Hawai`i it is much less than 6 degrees of separation. It is more like three.You got that right. Seeing "Hawaii" groups pop up on the various networks has been interesting. I'd wager to say that any two directly linked members have more average connections in common than other regional and professional groups. "Ho, you know dat buggah too? And dat guy? And him? Shee, small world, yeah?"

This panel speaks for themselves. Each has a unique perspective on social networking and building digital communities. Gee, Quark, like there's not enough pressure already! Of all things, my boss got the HTCA conference invite. "Is this you?" he asked. He's threatening to bring coworkers to heckle me...

I've never gotten any jobs from my involvement and I have gotten several inquiries from people looking for jobs in Hawaii. What I have done is strengthen connections and maintained something of a database of connections which may come in handy down the road. Is that valuable? I think so.The very least that social networking systems have done for me is put me back in touch with people I hadn't heard from, let alone thought of, for years. I would've never remembered Random Person on my own, but since it turns out he runs in circles that overlap some of mine, ping! There he is. Lots and lots of catching up follows. This alone has made setting up a million different SNS profiles worth it. Well, almost.

I know SNS engineers want this to be a way for their users to make money, and thereby make them money, but the "stupid fun" draw is the strongest part so far, I think.

[Quark]

I know SNS engineers want this to be a way for their users to make money, and thereby make them money, but the "stupid fun" draw is the strongest part so far, I think.
Yes, I will admit there is the compelling "stupid fun" part that keeps me coming back. In one of those rare connections something lasting might occur. Imagine how many people you've met, perhaps in passing, whom you might never interact with again had it not been for an SNS. In a way it is a social organizer.

In the case of Global Pau Hana (http://www.globalpauhana.org), the State of Hawai`i, especially Dept. of Business & Economic Development & Tourism found immediate value in the database of local people who recently moved to the Mainland. Back when Gov. Cayetano wanted to show how the tech sector in Hawaii was attracting ex-pats in returning home, DBEDT would go to Silicon Valley, meet with ex-pats and present Hawai`i's high-tech dream/opportunity. GPH was a way to market directly to the audience most desired by DBEDT. The Lingle administration has seen the value and is also using the GPH database to communicate with ex-pats. GPH the web application has quieted down quite a bit, but my guess is the database of people on the GPH system is actively being worked.

[pzarquon]

Not surprisingly, John Dvorak has concluded that social networking sites are non-starters (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1648185,00.asp).
What makes matters worse is that because the networks are growing for no good reason except ego, most of the people on them never check in. They are just listed and become ghosts. They never pull the mail out of the network in-box. They never read the memos. They are bogus names in every way.

[pzarquon]

Never one to pass up a good idea that hasn't quite been ground entirely into a pulp by everyone else, Yahoo! is developing its own social networking system, Yahoo! 360.

Thing is, since Yahoo's various existing services already cover a lot of territory (photo galleries, discussion groups, instant messaging, profiles, ad nauseum) - Yahoo! 360 is really just a different way of connecting them all in a more coherent way. Think... a hyperextended cross between your neglected Yahoo! Profile page and your own My Yahoo! start page, on steroids.

Still, trying to take on Blogger, Friendster, and Flickr all at once? (Oh, wait, they own Flickr anyway.)

I know a lot of folks dislike Yahoo!, but they're the 300-lb. gorilla in many respects, and a lot of communities and mailing lists I use are based there, meaning I have to interact with their services anyway. It's all about the people and not the technology, right?

And, well, as useless as these things are, I like playing with them. I'm on all of 'em, too. Even the ones like Friendster that I really can't stand.

Anyway, Yahoo! 360 is in beta testing now, and they have opened it up to people in batches. They're not trying to be ubercool and elite (a la Gmail last year), insofar as everyone gets 100 invites that seem to be replenished immediately. I'm kind of lonely in my little corner there, so if you'd like to play with it, drop me an e-mail (ryanozawa@gmail.com) or PM with a working e-mail address - preferably the one linked to your Yahoo! account, if you've got one.

Here's my public Y!360 page (http://360.yahoo.com/ryanozawa), and some general Y!360 information (http://360.yahoo.com/).

[pzarquon]

Now the tech pundits are abuzz about Tagworld.com (http://www.tagworld.com). Take some parts of Flickr, some parts of del.icio.us, and some parts of MySpace, and I guess that's what you get. Some have said it's the "next" MySpace. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'll say this for MySpace -- they've got their market good. Most folks I know don't give these sites a moment's thought, but it seems like everyone between the ages of 14 and 22 is over there.

Tagworld is definitely less cluttered and annoying than MySpace, but they sure don't make it easy to find folks you might know who are already members. I'm not a fan of using their system to spam everyone in my address book!

(If you're into these sites or are on Tagworld.com, and want to connect, my profile is here (http://www.tagworld.com/ryanozawa).)

[adrian]

I'll just stick to blogs and personal forums thank you very much.

[Leo Lakio]

I joined Global Pau Hana, but it's gone mighty quiet for me.

I'm much more active here on HT, as well as TaroPatch.net, and we have a Yahoo group here in the PacNW that is focused primarily on Hawaiian community activities and events.

[AbsolutChaos]

Well, let’s see…I’ve already mentioned on another thread that all my “off-line” friends here in Hawaii were a direct result of various online groups/sites, so I’m a big proponent for these types of groups.

1. Friendster: Never joined it. At the time it didn’t make sense to me, and I didn’t see how I could get anything out of it. For me the main goal of an online group is to facilitate meeting “off line,“ and I couldn’t understand the lure of just adding random people to your friends list just to have a big collection. I still don’t get it.

2. Global Pau Hana: Went to their first official gathering, which took place at Palomino’s, and I’ve been actively attending their events ever since, whether it’s the monthly happy hours or the monthly moonwalks. Many members of this group are also members of…

3. …the Yahoo group that I started almost three years ago, The Newcomer’s Ohana. Originally meant to help other newcomers in their 20s/30s make friends and know what was going on around the island, it now includes lots of life-time and long-time Hawaii residents. I still post weekly events and invites, but while I encourage others to post their own invites and attend events, my group never seems to have much active participation, other than a loyal core group of less than ten members (out of over 200 members who are supposedly using this site). It probably doesn’t belong here, as it isn’t about collecting friends, only facilitating ‘offline” interaction between members who share similar interests.

4. My Space: Initially resisted this too, but eventually my curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It seemed like all my friends had “my space” pages, and more interestingly, they seemed to be privy to exclusive info on deals at clubs/private parties. I was tired of being left out, so I joined. I check my page occasionally and am occasionally contacted by people who used to go to high school with me or guys who try to add me to their collection of “girls” on Myspace.

5. Ryze: Joined this too in the hopes of meeting others on the island who were more “young professionals” who shared my interests and had a similar background. However, I never really got much out of this site, and while I AM a member still, I haven’t checked the site in ages. Business networking isn’t really something I can do with my job.

6. Elist Hawaii: Another group I joined but never really participated in. Noticed that their site appears to have expired and is up for renewal. Perhaps this group was absorbed into GPH? Their events always seemed interesting, but I would always have prior engagements by the time I learned of the Elist get-togethers.

7. Meetin Honolulu: Joined this group, but because there were perhaps other groups that already filled the niche that Meetin fills in other locations around the US, this site never really took off here in Hawaii. Nonetheless, I did meet a few members of this group at a gathering or two.

8. Meetup Honolulu: This group is rather new and has active participation. I’m curious to see how long the enthusiasm lasts. I’ve only made it to one of their events so far, and it turned out to not have a great turnout. However, it appears the previous events had better turnouts. This group I try to semi-actively participate in.

[Pomai]

For pun's sake, Im surprised this thread HERE hasn't mentioned THERE (http://www.there.com/whatIsThere.html) yet.

The good folks over at Ohana Lanai (http://ohanalanai.com/lanai/) seem to make it their regular "virtual hang-out".

THERE (http://www.there.com/whatIsThere.html) is a software-driven virtual world, based on a fantasy island. Literally. A fantasy island. Think of Grand Theft Auto (not in a bad way, but a virtual way), meets Instant Messaging, with a sprinkle of Ocean Nightclub (or any nightclub for that matter) - all in a virtual island landscape and you're THERE.

Currenty the software only supports PC, so Mac OSX users (like me) can't go THERE. Yet.

I was able to explore THERE on a dinosour PC a couple of times. But the software is demanding on video RAM and bandwith, and it eventually wouldn't let me log in, so I gave up. Never bothered to figure the problem. They need a Mac version in order for this cat to play.

If you're a PC user, check it out (http://www.there.com/whatIsThere.html). There's quite a few expats from Hawaii in THERE.

[jkpescador]

6. Elist Hawaii: Another group I joined but never really participated in. Noticed that their site appears to have expired and is up for renewal. Perhaps this group was absorbed into GPH? Their events always seemed interesting, but I would always have prior engagements by the time I learned of the Elist get-togethers.

As someone that helped to start e-List I'd have to say it had its peaks and valleys. Most of the people listed on greatergoodradio.com attended e-List at one time or another in order to give you an idea who attended (including Evan). Linda Lingle came out to e-List during her election year; 2002. We used to have VCs attend thanks to Ed Young formerly of City Bank. Some deals did get made at these events. Some people made contacts that exist till today.

I still keep in touch with some people I met.

I don't think I've gone to an event since 2003. e-List has joined globalpauhana because it's hard putting on events especially when you don't know how many people will show up; from as many as 150 to as little as 30. Often times people needed to be prodded into talking to others. As time went on many of us that were in charge got married, had kids, etc.

Some of the old crew have been talking that there may be a need for such events again. I don't know what will happen with this.

[Cameron]

hey i hate to sound like i'm spamming but this pertains to my latest project check out my post about it here http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=7670

[bitachu]

What I have done is strengthen connections and maintained something of a database of connections which may come in handy down the road. Is that valuable? I think so.

Well i've used these social internet sites/groups as a means to meet all kinds of new friends and people. Wether it be new activity friends, maybe possible business connections, or even just people visiting i'm always looking for new contacts.

What I especially like about these internet sites is that i'm meeting totally new contacts whom I would probably never meet in real life. I'm really focused in on meeting friends and contact outside of my current social circle.

I've recently kinda took the lead role in MeetinHonolulu (http://www.meetin.org/city/MEETinHONOLULU) and i've met a bunch of cool new friends. I've kinda encouraged various members of different internet social groups to join meetin and i've told my members to join other groups as well.

What i've recently been doing is focusing in on Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/meetinhonolulu) members and encouraging them to join my group. It seems like your typical hawaii myspace person is local and they aren't involved in any other social internet site. I just think its weird that someone who has a online description of their life and friends for all the world to see, is only part of myspace...those are the types of users I would like to see in my group.

[craigwatanabe]

"...people talking with speaking..." the prophetic words from Simon and Garfunkle's Sounds of Silence. :(

[pzarquon]

Interesting. Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) has decided to open its doors (http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/002841.html) to everyone. Official blog post here (http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=2210227130).

Part of the appeal of Facebook was stricter than usual access control. You needed an .edu academic address to join, and you were linked largely through schools. But the downside to the exclusivity was the generally smaller populace, which isn't as attractive to marketers.

There was recently talk of a Facebook acquisition by Yahoo! (since it's Yahoo 360 (http://360.yahoo.com) experiment seems to have fizzled), and news that Facebook would allow politicians to set up profiles to reach out to an increasingly hard to reach demographic. So this latest "all comers" move isn't too surprising. Facebook seems to have decided that the hit it would take in its exclusive cachet will be worth a bigger membership base.

I kind of liked wandering around in there 'cause the links and networks seemed tighter. Now, who knows what's going to happen.

Still, if anyone wants to take Facebook for a spin, send me an e-mail at ryanozawa@gmail.com. I can invite you in and give you a tiny head start in building a network.

[Hellbent]

There was an article in todays paper about another MS project, www.mywallop.com. Its in closed beta test but if you google for it, you can read some of the project notes (http://research.microsoft.com/scg/), which sounds kind of interesting. If youre into social network software that is =p

[manoasurfer123]

There was an article in todays paper about another MS project, www.mywallop.com. Its in closed beta test but if you google for it, you can read some of the project notes (http://research.microsoft.com/scg/), which sounds kind of interesting. If youre into social network software that is =p
I read that article too... however... to pay for something as simple as HTML coding embedded onto a page sounds like there really trying to make a quick dollar off the less computer savvy type...

I'll stick with the free myspace account.

[pzarquon]

A new entry in the "fruitless fad" column for social networks:

Social sites becoming too much of a good thing (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/02/MNGG3M4KB31.DTL)
Many young folks burning out on online sharing
If you believe the buzz, the latest incarnation of the Web is all about sharing, connecting and community. Social networking sites such as MySpace and Palo Alto's Facebook have exploded in popularity, drawing new users into the fold each day. Users create profiles about themselves, link to their friends and post photos, messages and updates about their daily lives. Like instant messaging and chat rooms before it, social networking has become a powerful way for people to communicate via the Web and another place for people to spend their time online.

But even as the phenomenon continues to swell, the effort to maintain an active social life on the Web is taking its toll. Some have grown tired of what once was novel. Some feel bombarded by unsolicited messages, friend requests and advertisements. And some are cutting back.Of course, another way to respond to the explosion of these sites is to create yet another site. Meet FindMeOn.com (http://www.findmeon.com), "a new way to assert and verify ownership over online elements, identities and personalities... [and] verifiably extend your true identity across social networks and blogs, essentially creating an ad-hoc social network out of everything you join." (And no, I haven't joined!) A social network to manage social networks? It was inevitable.

[pzarquon]

This doesn't exactly fit "social software," but since we talked about how online social networks only really stand out when they have a real-world component, and since we mentioned GPH, TheNewcomersOhana, Bytemarks, and the like...

The old "Dinner Girls and Boys" group is now "Connect Hawaii (http://www.connecthawaii.net)." Monthly mixers and dinners and special events with other professionals. Mostly young (20s-30), mostly single, mostly much better looking than me. The difference is, though, there's now a membership fee.

Is the value of a well-run, organized, active networking group worth a membership fee? I guess they'll find out. I, for one, am glad there are free alternatives for the tragically yet proudly unhip like me!

I wrote up my thoughts on Connect Hawaii, including a peek at the hard-to-find fee structure, on my blog (http://www.lightfantastic.org/imr/extras/weblog/archives/004544.html).

[pzarquon]

In the social networking space, a lot of the recent buzz (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_grows_up.php) has centered on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com). Once a closed network focused on students, it's now wide open... in more ways than one.

See, MySpace is a usability disaster. It looks awful, and doesn't work much better. So a lot of companies developed tools and "widgets" that you could add to your MySpace page. Photo slide shows. Music players. Videos. But it turns out that the more popular a "widget" became, the more likely MySpace would block it. They'd rather you use their limited, unstable, or non-existent equivalents than "plug in" outside services.

So, what did Facebook do? Exactly the opposite. They completely opened up (http://developers.facebook.com/) their system, allowing independent developers to come up with all manner of tools that Facebook users could use and add to their profiles. From Twitter (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=11078) to iLike (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?p=111119) to music players to movie reviews to horoscopes... if you can imagine it, you (or some talented coder) can create it. Indeed, a surprising number of the most popular "Facebook Applications" were developed by high school kids!

MySpace is still ten times the size of Facebook, but I think this open system is a genius move. I already prefer it simply because it's not ugly and unstable, but the unlimited plug-in applications make it a sure-fire winner (http://www.paulallen.net/2007/05/25/prediction-facebook-will-be-the-largest-social-network-in-the-world/). In the race to be the space where you can collect and track everything, Facebook has pulled into the lead.

Wanna be my Facebook friend (http://hawaii.facebook.com/profile.php?id=19506599)?

[1stwahine]

K-den. I joined ~ I need Friends too.heheheh
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=705021086

Auntie Lynn:D

[pzarquon]

One of the growing players in the social network space is Ning. Rather than being a social network site, like Facebook or Multiply, Ning is a service that allows you to create your own. So, if you ever wanted a nice community-type site -- with photos and videos and blogs and profiles -- for a specific group, you can set one up. For your judo team, your chess club, your condo complex...

So, of course, I've created a Hawaii network (http://hawaii.ning.com). Anyone and everyone is welcome. If you've never done the social network thing, here's a small playground to try it out. Post some pictures, set up your profile, make some friends. I'd love it if you'd help me kick the tires on this service!

HawaiiBase:
http://hawaii.ning.com

...and everyone, no forget to be Aunty Lynn's Facebook friend!

[1stwahine]

Hui!! I wen join. I getting confused with all dis new stuff. Remember...I'm Bi-Polar!!!:p It's simple and easy. I like the layout. Some of the others were very hard for me to join where I needed assistance.:o This and Face were simple foa "challenged" like myself to do.

Mahalo Ryan!!

Also, On MyBlogLog, I'm still featured on the Posse!heheheh It changes, but my face still stays on representing Hawai'i. Yep! It still has the little red x there in the corner cause Ryan said my Blog was Xrated.:D

Auntie Lynn

[scrivener]

I like Ning, but I dislike the ads. The no-ads service is twenty bucks a month, which is cost-prohibitive. I'm looking for something exactly like Ning for use in the classroom, but with an ad-free option that won't cost $240 per year since I'll be paying for it myself. Grr.

[Quark]

I've been playing around with Ning and like the widgets feature. The blog and forum aren't as robust as a forum app like the one behind HawaiiThreads, or the blog software for blogger.com. But I bet companies like Yahoo or Google have their eyes on Ning as an augment to their product line. Yahoogroups is a social network but its features have stayed static for years. The same can be said about Google groups. If you add the customization features, widgets and profile building capabilities of Ning into Yahoogroups or Googlegroups that would be a winner.

One of the addictions for me in this social network space is familiarizing myself with the different platforms out there and seeing which one survives the machinations of the marketplace. It's such a dynamic environment.

[pzarquon]

Definitely there are a lot of players in the "social network" space. Seems I'm a member of about a hundred or so! Ning stands out because it's not trying to become yet another catch-all network, but rather enable folks to set up their own more focused groups. Of course, there are "group" functions on other services, but Ning is starting out with that model.

Ning gets some extra cred because it's backed by Marc Andreessen (of Netscape fame). And the platform, although limited, benefits from simplicity. I suppose you could deck it out with flashy bits and gizmos up the wazoo, but frankly that's what's overwhelming for a lot of folks when it comes to these web communities.

I've continued to tweak it, and I love that people are starting to upload photos, videos, and music. The blogging, as you mentioned, is pretty bare-bones, but if you really want to have extras on your profile it does support widgets -- embed codes that you can get from YouTube, Widgetbox, whatever.

The latest addition? A live chat room, added via just such an embed from Meebo. I've already bumped into some cool folks there. Check it out (http://hawaii.ning.com)!

[Linkmeister]

Who's on Linked In (http://www.linkedin.com/)? I got on Facebook a week or two ago, and got on Linked In about the same time. I'm on both under my real name, not Linkmeister.

[pzarquon]

I'm on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/hawaii). It's not so much a social network as it is a business networking channel. No funny videos or personality quizzes, just who worked with you where and various professional endorsements.

How are you liking Facebook? It's a little like MySpace but not annoying. All manner of silly things, sure, but a clean interface, and easy ways to keep up with and in touch with folks. It remains one of the hot properties this year, with buyout rumors including some astonishing numbers. I'm spending more time there (http://hawaii.facebook.com/profile.php?id=19506599), despite going months between MySpace logins (usually to clean out spam).

[Linkmeister]

I'm still getting my feet wet at each place, more quickly on Facebook. There are a bunch of bloggers there, so I have accumulated friends more quickly. LinkedIn is certainly more business-oriented, and I found (through a guy I know from blogging) someone I hadn't even thought of since we worked together 15 years ago. We've both moved on from that annoying place.

I'm not sure what to do at Facebook, though. Lots of discussions I could enter into, but I find those at individual blogs; do I need more places to leave random comments? :D

[pzarquon]

Keeping track of conversations at different social networks is indeed challenging, not including any other blogs, message boards, or online communities you may frequent. More and more folks sigh over "information overload." I gave up trying to "keep up" a long time ago. I just fail to keep up consistently across the board!

Speaking of Facebook, I've gone ahead and started a Facebook group for HawaiiThreads (http://hawaii.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10804675092). No reason to play with "The Wall" or post links or otherwise duplicate the interaction here... just show your HT pride (or insanity) by joining.