Meta Social Networking & Social Aggregation are two phrases used to describe the morphing of social communications into a single platform for ease of use. These tools/sites provide relief from "tool fatigue" in which a user has to constantly login to websites all day to stay on top of his social calendar or work communications.
If you take a current snapshot of the social market (even though we're relatively at the start of social networking as a whole) you'll find that these networks are growing at an exponential pace.
Fast forward a year or two and it's fun to imagine just how many social networks will proliferate the internet and how these social networks will play out in our day-to-day social & business way of doing things. Some people will never touch a social network, some will build a profile in Facebook or MySpace just because their friends and family are doing it (but will never use it), some will be casual users and some will be everyday users. Which one will you be?
Today at lunch a colleague and I were discussing how the majority of people in our networks use an email centered work plan; in other words they plan their day, their contacts, their workflow, etc.. all around email. Email is the primary form of commmunication and quite frankly preferred over the telephone (as long as it's not relationship based). Email provides structure, communication history and a way to pace your response timeliness.
Look at the pre-teen and young adult arena and I think you'll find that email is ancient history. Instant messaging, SMS text, Twitter, blogging, etc.. are what the younger generation use. What is this telling us? I think the latter mentioned forms of communication are quicker, more efficient and certainly more in the "now". If you add conversation history wouldn't it make more sense to move to a the more timely instant messaging platform, real-time communications?
So how does this play into Meta Social Networking/ Social Aggregation? Well, combine real-time communications into your social networks, spill every data point into one portal and you've got the most sophisticated social ticker tape available to mankind.
Today, I think the market can be generalized into the following types of social networks:
- Large social networks like MySpace (casual), Facebook (casual and business) & LinkedIn (business)
- Niche social networks like College.com, eons.com, bebo.com (which can be quite large too but are normally focused on a niche crowd or interest)
- Genealogy style networks like Ourstory.com, MyFamily.com, Dandelife, MyHeritage.com that are based on family or life experiences (normally include a timeline feature)
- White-label social networking platforms like Ning.com, Piczo.com, PeopleAggregator.com which allow a user to form their own niche, branded social network
- Meta Social Networks which, in various ways, delivers a portal for users to combine the various networks they belong too and feeds them to one location for viewing, tracking and staying on top of the activity at each of these sites. See Friendfeed.com, Spokeo.com or MyLifeBrand.com
These social aggregators are really onto something big. They understand busy, real-life personalities and allow users to have a broader, more enriched social experience.
Now, bring these capabilities into an enterprise environment and I believe we will watch the enterprise communication platform completely morph into a more robust, lifelike communication stream.
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