What is a social network? I often hear answers like, “it’s like Facebook or MySpace”. Sometime’s the response is “Second Life”. What I’ve been noticing however, is that over the past year (due to the successes of several online communities), social networks are morphing. Increasingly, they are no longer simply – Friends, Chat, Direct Messaging, Blogs, etc. Many companies are now creating what I will call “Hybrid” Social Networks.
What are these “hybrid” social networks? Generally, they include many of the functions in Facebook or MySpace, but are also tied to or integrated with Virtual Worlds, MMOGs, Television Programs, and even that “old media”, Books 
. At Donat Group, we have several projects that are doing just that…just check out MTV’s Virtual Lower East Side project. But that’s just the technology side of things…what about the business drivers?
Today’s Furrier.org post – Finding the Next Google nicely summarizes one of the key business drivers behind these “hybrid” network activities. Microcontent will be a viable business model. Knowing this, many large media companies are already creating the necessary online communities/networks to monetize a variety of microcontent. These projects are not merely initiatives to merge (or play with) social technologies, they are new ways to expand and connect with an audience, and hence, more advertising opportunities. However, one major challenge for these media empires will be ensuring that the advertising is appropriate for the community. A very fine line, indeed! All of this makes for some interesting times ahead!
So, I started my Twitterati experiment a few days ago and realized quite quickly that I am having a hard time keeping up with tweets and all the respective responses. And, I’m only following 72 people! I don’t know how those of you following thousands do it!
Instead of giving up, I decided to create a solution. Something that would allow me to organize the fire hose of tweets and responses. This morning, I launched Twemes.com (with the technical assistance of my husband, Geoff ). Using “#” I can tag and begin a tweet conversation (or meme) and follow the responses on the Twemes.com website.
For example, given that there are so many posts about CES currently, wouldn’t it be nice to aggregate some of these tweets and see what the Twitterati all have to say in one place! I’ve started an initial CES tweme using #CES. Include this in your tweets and your thoughts/responses will be added to the list. I also started another tweme called #best-of-ces. I know this is coming…why not capture people’s suggestions while it’s still fresh?! So, using Twemes.com, I say, “Let the conference season begin!”
I’ll be playing around with twemes over the next couple of days. So, if you see some odd tweets from me, feel free to either respond and try out the system or simply ignore . If you are also playing around with Twemes.com, let me know what you think!
Just checking out Mixx Maker, which is a Facebook application that lets you make ‘Mixxs’ (digital mixtapes) with your Facebook friends using any combination of songs from your and their music libraries.
Here’s how it works… you create a Mixx by setting a theme, like ‘Music that reminds me of high school’. Once you’ve set your theme, invite your friends to upload songs and discuss the Mixx. And voila, you have a tailor-made online digital Mixx made by you and your friends.
So, now I need to come up with some ‘witty’ theme(s)…any thoughts? Let me know!
I just returned from my 4-year old nephew’s birthday party…exhausted! It was a great party and I made quite a few new friends with the 3-5 year old crowd (don’t know what that says about me !
In any case, on the way home, I started to wonder what his Social Graph might look like based on his party playmates 
. What would a Social Network Analysis look like for a 4-year old? Who were the influencers, mavens, trendsetters, cool hunters, etc.? Which application would be most important to his network – the Train, Car or Balloon App? Perhaps, the Dora App (that one seemed to appeal to both boys and girls). Is 4 too young to think about such things? The simple answer is yes! I’ve clearly been focusing on Social Media too much lately!
I sincerely hope that I am not the only one with such outrageous thoughts! If you’ve had similar experiences, I’d love to hear them!
Yesterday, I decided to give Twitter another try. I tried several months ago and never got into it, but I have “heard” that the conversations (aka “tweets”) are no longer just about “What are you doing?”, but have evolved for some Twitterati to conversations more about “What are you thinking?” or “What do you finding interesting?”. In fact, I think Hugh MacLeod’s tweet (aka gapingvoid) yesterday captured it best :
Just told a friend: “Don’t phone me, e-mail me or IM me. Just Twitter me. It’s the only media that I respond to now.”
As a result, I’ve decided to go back and see what nuggets of wisdom I can both share and glean from the Twitterati’s tweets. I’ll blog my thoughts periodically; but if you want to follow me on Twitter (it probably won’t be that interesting ), my ID is RochelleGrayson.
Many thanks to Kris Krug and the Raincity Studios crew for including me in their list of Vancouver Tech Women to Watch in 2008! I’m truly honored and flattered to be in such amazing company!
Now the pressure’s really on…people are watching!
Hi and thanks for coming by to check out my web site! You got here, so clearly you know my name already – Rochelle Grayson And, here’s what I look like…yes, even online, it’s nice to put a face to a name!
Who am I? Well, for starters check out my About page…but, beyond what’s there, I’m a curious and dynamic lover of all things technology, entertainment, and business. Interesting mix, huh? What really turns my crank are tools and experiences that let people play with one another in the here and now. Still not sure what I mean? Think about the crazy collision course of mobile, web, social communities and entertainment and I’m at the heart of that impact and it feels really good!
I’m also a huge fan of bold (some might say loud) colors…just like this website
Want to start a conversation or do you have something really interesting to share? Drop me line! I look forward to hearing what you have to say…believe me, I certainly can’t keep up with everything that’s going on!
I’m looking forward to 2008 and all of the amazing experiences that will pop up in the “social media” space! (I hear that’s what they’re calling it now !)
Happy New Year!
