Social Networking: A Fluid Community

Before I begin this blog I have to admit- I am not a social networking addict. It is not that I do not have a Facebook, mySpace or one of the hundreds of other social networking sites (SNS) pages or that I am against the idea of these communities, I simply cannot bring my self to waste my precious time creating a beautiful profile for one account, only to find out that no body uses that particular SNS anymore. This dilemma has brought my attention to the elasticity of social networking communities and the constant migration to SNS’s that better accommodate there members needs.

The reason for this migration can be put to two main factors. Firstly the growth of the Internet and technology in the past 8 years has made creating new profiles on SNS easy. Between 2000-2008 the worlds Internet usage has increase by almost 300% this massive growth combined with faster more reliable Internet connections has made it possible for SNS to flourish. To date, there are well over 300 major SNS in which users can become a member of with as little information as user name, email and password. This ease of access has led to the users switching from SNS that do not provide them with what they want to SNS that have the features and services that meet their needs. The second reason for this migration is the teething problems associated with SNS as a industry. SNS have only really taken off in the past five years and issues such as privacy and security have kept the evolution of SNS in a constant state of change. Due to user feedback and public forums new competition in the SNS industry are designing their products to their users specifications enticing online communities to switch to their SNS.

An example of this mass migration is the uprising of Facebook and the demise of mySpace. Only a couple of years ago mySpace was regarded as ‘the’ social networking site for online
communities around the globe, however, only a few years down the track Facebook looks to be gaining popularity with online communities.
The question may then arise, how a site as big as mySpace can be threaten by extinction in such a short period of time. The answer is simple, online communities are moving to new SNS because of easy access to join to a better SNS that offers better facilities, functionality and services to its users.

If you thought that the story ended at the next SNS heavily weight Facebook, then think again. The migratory pattern continues with new comer Moli experiencing massive growth over the past few months. It has heard the cries online communities regarding privacy and the access structure of information and has introduced a SNS that separates social, business and family profiles allowing the user to choose who has access to what personal information.

Personally, I regard this migration as a necessary step in the evolution of SNS as it creates a shift toward sites that satisfy the needs of online communities and the interaction between its members. Perhaps one day there will be a universal SNS in which I can safely put my time and effort into that won’t become, as Clay Shirky describes, Yet Another Social Networking Site (YASNS).