Social networking vs. social media

[therealjae]

If you haven't already read it, get thee over to synecdochic's fascinating series on "Why Monetizing Social Media Through Advertising Is Doomed To Failure." Part one is here, part two is here, and part three is here. Great stuff, from one who would knowTo lift one tiny bit out of a set of posts that makes a much larger point, though, I have to say that I'm

Comments

[dafnagreer]

I've been really liking those posts too. I may do a locked post later where I talk about how this interacts w/ my work these days (or knowing me, maybe not). It's also startling to me to realize how much of this is probably new to most people I know -- particularly the parts about the real way advertising works.

[therealjae]

Most of it was new to me, though a lot of it seemed like common sense once I thought about it.

-J

[buhrger]

thanks for the linky! very interesting! among other things, now i have a better understanding of why so many folk i know will happily and readily join facebook, but won't touch LJ with a 10' poll.
if the analysis is correct, many social media sites have a gloomy future... i wonder how this will affect my interaction with the web in the next five years.

what're your current thoughts about Dreamwidth Studios? do you think it's likely that you'll jump ship from LJ?

[therealjae]

what're your current thoughts about Dreamwidth Studios? do you think it's likely that you'll jump ship from LJ?

That's an excellent question! Really, it depends on you people. I'll keep my account here because I have a permanent account, so, hell, why not? But if most of the people I actually interact with here migrate over there, I probably will, too. I'm a sheep that way.

I will almost certainly get an account there and give them some money, though, regardless of how often I end up using the service. They're smart and sensible people, and they deserve my support.

-J

[buhrger]

Really, it depends on you people.
you know that i got an LJ account mostly cuz i wanted to read your journal, right? therefore,
I will almost certainly get an account there and give them some money, though, regardless of how often I end up using the service.
suggests that i may well do so too...

[locketportrait]

Yet, I think she considered Facebook to be social media, because she* says:

The thing is, every social media site's userbase-created social economy works differently. Every site's culture has built a differing set of social expectations and reward expectations. What works for one site won't work for another; the social economy that's been created on Facebook, for instance, is drastically different from the economy that's been created on LiveJournal. Every site's userbase creates its own definitions of reward.Actually, I think Facebook is kind of both, though. LinkedIn.com would be pure social network. I go there only every few months. This is probably also because I've viewed LinkedIn as a purely business networking site, too - I use my real name, the information is somewhere between a resume and business card and people I add as contacts don't require I high level of trust. They're someone I know, but I don't have to trust them with details like my political opinion or photos of parties. And Livejournal would be purely social media

[therealjae]

In the part of her post I quoted in mine, she said:

Let's try for an example, in the hopes it might help anyone who's confused: MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn are social networks with social media features grafted onto them. LiveJournal, YouTube, and DeviantArt are social media sites with social networking features grafted onto them.

-J

[locketportrait]

Huh, then I guess there are no pure examples.... or that the post series itself is inconsistent in classification. Edit: but I stand by my assertion that user experience in Facebook will be a result - more or less - of the level of user input.

Also, I can't think of any social media features grafted onto LinkedIn. There's no content creation beyond mere identification.

[dafnagreer]

I think LinkedIn tilts more toward pure network than Facebook does, but I wouldn't say there's *no* media. The recommendations people write, the groups people create and join, even the more narrative parts of profiles that some people write -- all are essentially media features.

One of the reasons there aren't more pure examples, incidentally, is because people see what works and try to mimic it. So even if you start in one direction, when social media becomes the hot thing, you start adding those features to your product. Which is why Twitter clones are popping up everywhere now.

[lcohen]

i'll have to read those articles later ... like in a few days, maybe. but i wanted to note that to me, some features of facebook and linked in and things like that (i'm not on myspace) feel to me almost like stalking. i don't like the updates--i don't want to know everyone someone friended and i don't really want them to all know when i friend someone. on linked-in it makes a little more sense in that you can see if a colleague linked up with a colleague, i guess but even there it tests my tolerance. i don't know why this bugs me so much but it really does.

[therealjae]

Yeah, minnaleigh said the same thing. It doesn't bother me (possibly because I would never do anything on facebook that I wouldn't mind everyone seeing), but I can see it.

-J