Afterweb

Ever since OpenSocial platform was announced by Google I wondered who will benefit the most from cross-social-network applications? Probably not Google - it was forced late into the game by Facebook and realized that market will not accept another closed platform for the social apps. Could it be MySpace? Surely it will be a nice addition to the kaleidoscope of widgets crowded on user's pages. And only today I realized the major benefactor - Ning.com with its own ecosystem of small social networks. One-time effort of creating a hosting container for the OpenSocial by Ning will be realized by all of the hosted networks. Simply brilliant combination of open standard and Ning's business model!

Stanford successfully created a unique mix of: Open social network platform (thanks to Facebook) Exceptionally talented students Focus on success (as defined in social network world by number of app users, stickiness, time per visit) Ways to measure success (thanks to Google analytics) Sponsors with their push for app monetization (Social Media) Technical leadership (thanks to Dr. BJ Fogg, and Dave McClure) From this mix number of Facebook applications emerged. No all of them were equally successful but each one teaching their own lesson on success in a new world of social media. Common theme that I managed to pick up: Survival of the dumbest . Successful applications do not expect anything from the user a beyond couple (or even better - one) click. What application do should be obvious within 3 seconds. This seems to be the attention span for an average FB app user (my dear readers – you are not typical J ) Focus on invitations. With the number of viral grow...

Here is the dynamics of the socical network use based on the Alexa's data: http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/bestbuy.com?site0=myspace.com&site1=orkut.com&site2=facebook.com&site3=hi5.com&site4=tagged.com&y=r&z=3&h=300&w=610&range=3m&size=Medium Is there a dip in Facebook use? And OpenSocial is not on the Myspace or Hi5 yet. What would be really interesting is to see how this dynamic will change when social apps based on OpenSocial platform will be rolled out. P.S. http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2007/07/23/top-social-networks-for-engagement-some-suprises/