I get invitations to new social networks every single day. My inbox is filled with emails about the downfall of sites like MySpace and news stories about scandals related to pictures and information posted to social networks. The latest flurry surrounds the financial losses suffered by companies who hopes social networks would be their best advertising bet.  It seems that the world is abuzz with misconceptions about how social networks function, what they’re actually good for, and why they seem to be all the rage. Let me give you the simple low down. I’ll do it with a story. Bare with me. I promise at the end you’ll be saying “Aha! I get it!”

Before social networks:

Sally is taking a physics class and can’t focus on the difference between gravity and mass because they guy who sits in front of her, Dave, is so handsome. He’s smart, answers questions in witty ways, and even listens to her favorite band on his iPod before class starts. Sally would love to ask Dave out but she’s nervous. She doesn’t know much about him, only what she knows from seeing him in class. She finally works up the courage and Dave says “Sure! Pizza sounds great!” They go out and the conversation is awkward, full of long pauses, realizations that their personalities are totally incompatible. She’s a vegetarian. He loves meat. She’s a conservative and he’s a socialist. She likes romantic movies and he only likes action. They’ve got nothing in common. The date is awful and physics class is awful for the rest of the semester.

I’m sure this story is pretty familiar to most of us. Either we’ve had a bad date or we’ve heard the sob stories of a friend. Now let’s look at the same situation in the age of Web 2.0 and social networks.

After social networks:

Sally is taking an American  Literature class and can’t focus on Poe because she’s starry-eyed over a guy named Joe who recites “The Raven” and makes her feel all mushy. Right after class she rushes back to her room and pulls up Facebook. She searches for Joe, finds him and sees that they have five friends in common, one of which, Christy, lives on her dorm floor. She runs down  to talk to Christy. Is Joe nice? What’s he like? She then goes back to his profile and checks out his interests, hobbies etc. Wow! Joe likes Alfred Hitchcock movies too and he spent a semester in Japan just as Sally is hoping to do next year.  Sally drops him a note on Facebook to compliment his reading in class. He responds with a thanks and comments on her favorite bands. After a few days of chatting online Sally asks Joe if he wants to go out and get some veggie pizza after class. They have loads to talk about and enjoy themselves.

What’s the difference? Information. Now imagine if instead of being two students on a first date these were two companies. Sally’s company really wants David or Joe’s company as a client. Which meeting would go over better? With the aid of social networks, Sally would have already checked out Joe’s company, the kind of folks who work there, the topics they seem to chat about or be concerned about, and she’d be prepared to offer him a meaningful meeting that he’d know wouldn’t be a waste of time. As a matter of fact, they might agree to do business before they meet and get together merely to discuss details.

In some ways, social networks just replace some of the face to face social communications we’re all used to. It’s the small talk that allows us to find the person at the party who we’ll find interesting and avoid the obnoxious guy (that’s the guy with the drunken Facebook pics that will keep him from getting a job). Social networks function as a “getting to know you” process that makes face to face interaction more efficient and more productive. So don’t be the shy guy in the corner at the social network because you’re worried that you don’t have anything in common with other people. Learn the ropes and then jump in and start reaping the rewards.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 6:47 pm and is filed under social networks, strategy, web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.