A few social networks
Do you have a social strategy for your product?
“The world is becoming more social!” “users want to interact with peers!” “it’s the new age of web 2.o!” – if these topics have been circulating the watercooler, beware.
Before jumping in and adding that “person” entity, implementing a “feed”, allowing people to put each other in “circles” and post on “walls” – lets pause for a sec:
There is only one Facebook, there is only one twitter, and one shubiduba (or whatever the next thing will be). You can aspire to become the next social app: but keep in mind that is a goal in itself. If your goal is a new level of engagement or attracting more users – lets consider. We have quite enough of “social” apps, and you don’t have to take my word for it – others say it better.
Consider first what you want to accomplish – usually it is not taking ownership of the users social graph. Quite likely, the user will not be very agreeable to importing it to your site without significant motivation. Case in point – Apple iTunes Ping - not a huge success..
Better discoverability, however, has a lower threshold and can be accomplished by tying into the user’s existing Facebook, twitter, google+, yammer or whatever other social apps. That way, users will win (getting the feedback of their peers) and you will gain access to the social graph, without needing to enter the battle to own it.
Ratings and comments on user content can also be accomplished either as an integration or internally – consider the pros and cons of either. Owning “comments” has the implication of jailing the commenters to your site – you may want this the other way around – publishing content to outsiders – allowing outsiders a sneak peek - and a subscribe button.
So before you jump ahead and develop your own feed – consider integrating with the assets the user already has, even if they are owned by external parties.
