Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Bebo...Are You On the #1 Social Network?

According to UK computing magazine Computer Which? Bebo was ranked the number one social networking destination on the web over Facebook and MySpace.

http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=73908


Do we really care about another place we have to create or make a new list of friends? Or another destination for online self-expression and weak lines for hooking up? Or maybe we can find solstice in knowing that 2008 will provide us with a new wave of "SocialNextworking".

Tell us what you think or find your Facebook profile updated to a new image of pushing daisies or wearing a new pair of Ferragamo cement shoes ;-)

\*/ The Media Mafia Think Tankers

3 comments:

Kevin McFall said...

Here is a post from MediaPost that could determine why we should care that Bebo is the #1 Social Net, and why the others still matter:

10 Things You Need to Know About Social Networking
by Liz Tascio
Next year $1.38 billion is expected to be spent on ads on social networks - here's the bang for the buck and the pitfalls, Harry

1. The online population explosion will continue. But not forever: A 2007 report from Datamonitor predicts social net expansion will
peak worldwide in 2009 and plateau in 2012. For now, growth is spurring ever-
increasing spending.

2. Mobile and niche social networks will take off. When you hear "social network burnout," think form, not function. People will always like keeping in touch, even if MySpace gets too bulky. Mobile communities from companies like AirG and Radar and niche networks like gaming site king.com could make that easier. JupiterResearch estimates $576 million in mobile UGC revenues in 2007 - ballooning to to $5.47 billion in 2011.

3. Real-time keeps getting realer. Twitter has more than held its own, despite critics
who call it pointless and irrelevant.

4. A profile backlash makes things simpler. How many in-depth profiles does one person really need? Speed-dating site WooMe has users answer four or five short questions, upload a picture, and go. Other users enrich your profile by tagging you with one-word descriptors, building a cloud that follows you on the site. Obvious pitfalls, but hassle-free.

5. Voice and video will keep people connected. As use of broadband and pc cameras grows, this will rapidly get even easier. WooMe already uses Skype for video meet-ups and chats, sometimes leaving space for video ads, and MySpace and Skype have announced a deal for IM with voice.

6. Branded social networks will be integrated, not tacked on. The day espn.com launched its "conversation" pages, the response was 10 times what was projected. User interactions now drive news coverage. "We've added a social element to ESPN, versus introducing a community area we sort of shuffle you off to," says Ed Davis, vice president for product development and community at ESPN Digital Media. The site had 4 million visits by 2.5 million users in October 2007.

7. Yahoo will use social networking to take down Google. John Kremer, vice president of Yahoo Mail, told the Business Standard in November that the company will unveil a new social networking service. "Our ability to launch a social networking tool that can integrate all the existing services right at the Mail home page should be the clincher for us in 2008." That's right, it's on.

8. Virtual communities will remain problematic for advertisers. Brands made a huge, exciting dash into Second Life, but so far, it's been lonely for them there. "There is potential for user engagement, but simply opening up a shop in Second Life or other virtual worlds and hoping for the best is far from enough," says Datamonitor's Ri Pierce-Grove.

9. What old media does well - create content - may finally give them an edge in new media. Mansueto Ventures' Inc. magazine recently launched IncBizNet, a social network that includes professionally moderated groups. Can Facebook say that? "They don't have four decades of experience running publications about these subject areas," says Ed Sussman, president of Mansueto Digital. "Our technology is way behind - and when I say way behind, I mean two years - so I think we'll catch up and see what happens when we add editorial to the mix."

10. Users will make the Web their social network. Maybe 2008 is too soon for this, but there are already tools out there helping this along. coComment, for example, gives users one place to track and share every comment they or anyone else makes anywhere online. "It gives me an overview of what people are saying on the entire Web," says Kristina Serafim, vice president of marketing for coComment. The entire Web? Now that's a network.

Anonymous said...

The original 10 Things You Need to Know About Social Networking post can be found at:
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=71826&Nid=38057&p=301060

Anonymous said...

great post. I think i am a victim of social network burnout, infact it is a job in itself just to keep up with my many accounts. BTW I do use coComment on one of my computers it drastically slows load time for most blogs and also interferes with posting comments sometimes even producing errors. I will say when it does work it has definitely helped me keep track of my comments, that is the only way I have used it thus far. As far as being on Bebo, I think I have an account there but don't even really use it. i have also heard Bebo is the most popular social network for women.