From what I’ve seen, the main objectives of online social networks in companies are: to facilitate idea-sharing around a theme or topic (e.g. “Our Brand”); help users find out more about their peers; form useful insights to solve particular challenges; and for the network itself to become a useful repository of resources (ideas, inspiration, files, people) for participants.
However, the technology itself won’t guarantee these results – it needs to be managed or curated effectively. Here are 20 subjective criteria I’ve used to help evaluate contributions to these networks:
1. Relevance to the stated objectives of the network
2. Poses questions to the group
3. Sparks discussion and comments
4. Enhances a lecture, discussion, debate or theme related to the purpose of the network
5. Makes a relevant statement
6. Responds to criticisms as well as compliments.
7. Builds on the ideas and contributions of others on the network.
8. Acknowledges the contributions of others.
9. Shares unexpected insights
10. Stories – especially from personal experience.
11. Recommendations to peers
12. Empathy – readability; humour; use of formatting; respect for other perspectives
13. Lists e.g. “Top 10…”, “Best ways to…”, “Our favourite”
14. Thought is given to topic before posting
15. Creativity or originality of ideas or the way they’re expressed
16. Clarity of expression.
17. Well structured arguments.
18. Mixes opinion and data.
19. Uses graphics to illustrate ideas
20. Contributes to the learning experience of others on the network
What you want to ultimately see is that the group is co-creating a knowledge ecosystem – so that if you want to explore any idea that catches your fancy further, you could find out who the contributors to it are.
In his book, “The Wisdom of Crowds”, James Surowieki reveals that the smartest groups are those that allow space for people to individually form and express ideas, independent of the group, which can then be “aggregated” into more cohesive solutions. This is one of the key advantages of using the online network as opposed to discussing everything in person: it allows space for more ideas around a particular topic to be expressed simultaneously.
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I read recently about an ongoing study that looks at the influence of social networks on people’s lives. The startling results so far show that the people in our life – friends in particular – have more of an impact on us than we may have ever considered. If, for example, I have a friend that becomes happier, I’m more than 60% more likely to become happier – same with obesity, drinking and smoking habits, depression, ill-health, the inclination to turn out and vote in elections, a taste for certain music or food, and even a preference for online privacy.
It turns out that the best way to ensure that we have health, wealth and happiness is to ensure that the people around us are doing okay too.
Of course, taking this a step further, our friends are all influenced by a network of people that is beyond our direct reach – our third degree friendship circle. These people, people who we may never have met, have an impact on our life because they affect our friends, who in turn affect us. The only possibly way to turn what could be a vicious cycle – a social epidemic of whatever it is we don’t want in our life - is to ensure that our friends in turn know that they need to help all their friends achieve their goals.
This is the fundamental understanding of uBuntu, which, besides being a slick alternative to Microsoft’s Operating System, is an African Humanist Ideology that is perhaps best summed up in the phrase:
“Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu” or “People are only people because of other people”, or even more plainly stated: “You are a product of your social network”.
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I just received an interesting press release about a new mobile social-networking platform for South Africans, called UbYou:
Load shedding, congested highways and limited bandwidth will no longer thwart South Africa’s growing social networking community. The launch of wap.ubyou.co.za by wireless service provider, Glocell Wireless Service Provider, will give cell phone users access to an entertainment based social networking platform rich with local flavour.
The first phase of the portal will offer wap-enabled users a seamless social experience by creating user interaction around entertainment content be it music, games or information services. Mobile workers, or those with limited internet connectivity will now be able to download music, comment on a game or catch up on their astro predictions by simply visiting wap.ubyou.co.za.
“There are an estimated 18 million wap enabled mobile devices in the South African market, it just makes sense to move social networking to a realm for more people to access and enjoy” says Gloria Ruhrmund, Glocell Wireless Service Provider (GWSP).
“ubyou should not be confused with instant messaging portals,” continues Gloria Ruhrmund “we are not simply addressing the need for cheaper forms of communication, but are offering a virtual access point for people to express themselves within a community that holds similar interest.” Access to the community is free, only network data fees apply.
In addition, ‘ubyou’s’ content will include local flavour, dialect and content to ensure that it truly reflects the community it is intended to serve.
Since May 2007, GWSP have invested an estimated R 2-million in the wap.ubyou.co.za platform with a view to realising new revenue streams from advertising as well as the knock-on effects of downloads.
The second phase, due to be released soon, will include interactive gaming, an incentive point system to stimulate user interaction and strategic corporate partnerships to evolve the ‘ubyou’ experience.
The portal was built by in-house development team, headed by Stuart Steedman.
I haven’t tried it out yet, but I will do. What do you think of the potential for this?
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South African ex-pat, Gareth Knight, just mailed me about the success of his recently launched startup Kindo, an online family tree application.
They’ve managed to signup users around the world by very quickly offering it in 14 different languages. Of course, having startup capital from the guys behind Skype and Last.fm must have helped that along nicely.
Translation into the other languages was a smart move, because they access market verticals on a regional level. According to TechCrunch, this creates a barrier to entry for other would-be players in this space.
Despite the popularity of sites like MySpace and Facebook globally, there are many examples of social-network success on a regional level:
- Â Skyrock is the biggest social network in France (Alexa Rank 2), bigger than WindowsLive, YouTube, Yahoo or Ebay there;
- StudiVZ (Germany) is the biggest soc. net. in Germany and the 6th biggest site in Germany (Alexa);
- There are at least 10-15 massively successful local social networks, some more of them are vkontakte.ru (Russia), Mynet.com (turkey), netlog.com (Benelux+France)…
I sincerely hope that we see the same patterns emerge in South Africa, and we start seeing sites like Zoopy.com, MyVideo.co.za, Afrigator.com, Amatomu.co.za, Laaik.it, and Muti.co.za out-ranking their international counterpart’s traffic in our country. Do you think is likely?
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