Posts Tagged ‘ social network ’

Jun 27

Between Facebook and its members, who to protect?

facebookFacebook, the most successful social network today, allows its adherents to create very different groups. However Facebook has to protect its system and that’s why some rules have to be respected.

It seems to be evident that a group like “Rogue Facebook Apps Early Warning Group” appears as a dangerous threat, even more when one knows that they spread unsafe information. But nevertheless, appearances could be misleading. Actually this group was created to warn its members about attacks happening on the social network and the risky information was divulged by mistake. But the Facebook team disabled the account of the group’s administrator. This decision appears like an unfair punishment.

The red line between knowing to attack and to protect isn’t often easy to determine.
In fact the real stake of “protecting Facebook” is not really to care for the application, but to protect the personal information and data of its numerous members who trust it and its security. We know that Facebook is not just a network of private life but also a job network. Therefore the dangers and stakes are greater.

So is it really a shame to form a group which can help adherents to be sure of their privacy and confidentiality? Having to opt between the network system’s survival and our own information, the choice should be quick!

Mar 13

The increase popularity of social networking sites

Everyday, we figure out newer, more creative ways to use social networking sites. While more and more such sites spring up everyday on the face of the massive internet, the most popular ones give us statistics, that we could make observations based on.

The number of people accessing the internet for anything at all is on a steady increase, and the number of people going onto social networking websites for some reason or the other is mind boggling. Nearly 70% of internet users use social networks of some kind, for some purpose or the other. We have already seen the information rush, where everybody wants to know about everything and the internet serves as a perennial storehouse. The trend is slowly moving towards information about everyone on your friend list. As the line between private and public information blurs quickly, people now want everyone to know what they are doing, what they are thinking, and almost everything else in their lives. Status messages on sites like Facebook, and constant updates on twitter, are not uncommon, letting people know exactly what you are doing, at every step in your life.

Although it started off as a phenomenon, that can almost be a termed a movement among youngsters, older people aren’t staying away from it anymore. Big social networks are having millions of 40+ aged users signing up. The idea of being able to connect with long lost BFFs and people that have been encountered at various stages in life, is simply irresistible.

What’s more, social networks seem to be replacing emails. A few years ago, email seemed like the greatest invention of mankind, doing away with traditional snail mail and making things so much faster. Today, social networks have almost substituted emails. People simply send messages over these sites, which provide options of both private and public messages. It’s easier, faster, and takes very little effort. Besides, you network with a whole bunch of friends together in one place. For the ones with the not so great memory, their presence that keeps popping up at you on the website reminds you that they exist and that you could drop in a word or two. Inviting people in large numbers for events/ parties/ concerts etc are also just so much simpler.

Sites like twitter are driving people strongly addicted to them. People find a compulsive necessity to tell people what they are doing, ever so often. The good thing is, that now people get to have an idea of how people in different parts of the world, living in different countries, following different cultures and speaking different languages think. It has added to the global village that we are turning into. The numbers and popularity of social networks is only going to go up, for a long time to come, and let’s see what new technology takes over next.

Mar 14

Here’s Your Cheque For $850m…

Imagine being given a cheque for $850m. Seriously, think about it for a second. The interest alone would net you a cool $29,750,000 every year in the US. Not sure about you, but I think that’s a serious chunk of change.

Let’s take another figure, say $225m. OK, given the choice between $850m and $225m it’s obvious which one you’d take, but forgive me if I bite the hand off the person who offers me $225m for my website.

So, what on Earth am I talking about here? Believe it or not, these are the latest figures for corporate take overs of Bebo and Digg respectively.

Bebo is a large social networking site that claims to have over 40m users worldwide. It is the 3rd largest social network after MySpace and Facebook (both of which were bought for $580m and $280m).

But large buyouts of this kind are not confined to the big players, in 2007 a facebook clone (literally down to the last detail!) called Studivz was bought out by a single investor for $132m. The unique thing about Studivz was that it was aimed at a niche (albeit a fairly broad niche). The niche was a social network for German speaking people.

So, like Studivz, how can you jump on this bandwagon of massive buyouts (and lets face it, I think we’d all be quite happy with a paltry $10m)? First off, target a niche – whether it be by country, region, language, interest, cause or whatever. The days of being able to start large generic social networks are over. It is the time of the niche social network.

Define your niche properly before you start, and you too could get a knock at your door with someone trying to offer you millions for your little piece of the web.

Interested in finding out how you can set up your own turnkey social networking software? Want to run a face like YouTube? Think you can make a better job of Facebook (let’s be honest, with the countless thousands of ‘apps’ now available, it’s becoming more like MySpace everyday)?

Come and check out Agriya’s Social Networking software, with turnkey prices starting at just $399.