Thursday, June 19, 2008 Toral: Six trends in social networks By Janette Toral Digital Filipino
DURING the Social Networking and eBusiness Conference on May 20, Friendster vice president David Jones shared six trends that social networks are expected to evolve into.
I totally agree with him and here are some of my thoughts as well:
Social networks as media platform. Brands, companies and public figures can now create profiles and fan pages in sites like Friendster, MySpace and Facebook. This can be used as a means to distribute new developments, create a connection with followers and access audience of large sizes. If used effectively, fans can have access and exchange information with followers.
Developer program collaboration. To be able to grow, most social networks have to realize that they can’t do this alone. Partnering with third party developers allows the creation of multiple applications without cost to the social network, but this presents a unique challenge to ensure that they are secure.
Embracing standards like OpenSocial is where most social networks are heading these days. In the Philippines, this means that third party developers can choose to roll out applications in Friendster and even develop a business revenue model on top of it.
Social networks as portals. With increasing popularity of widgets, social networks have every opportunity to become portals and allow users to add content such as news, weather information and other interesting applications.
Therefore, instead of visiting your favorite news site today, it is possible, in the future, that we view our daily news on our Friendster desktop, among others.
Advertising. Users have reached the point that it doesn’t respond anymore to static and traditional banner or text ads.
Engagement is important and this is where social networks come into play. Companies must start becoming creative in providing further value on these platforms and encourage interaction from target prospects.
Monetization. In addition to advertising, social networks can generate direct revenue from users through direct placement of ads, sending of virtual and real-world gifts, and accessing the service from a mobile device. There are a lot of potential in this area that is largely untapped.
Mobile growth and revenue. With mobile Internet access becoming more affordable, growth in this area is inevitable.
For social networks, this includes extending access to the service that can be for a fee or supported by advertising. E-commerce component—by offering real-world or virtual products, directly or through third-party—can be creatively done, too.
A lot has been said about social networks in the past and most of them have been proved wrong—like that on social networks being just a fad that will eventually die.
Social networks are growing and empowering more Internet users than ever as they promote the concept of individuality. You can either stay tuned and watch or be part of the action. It is your choice.
