ON ONE SOCIAL NETWORK TO RULE THEM ALL

COLD FUSION

Om Malik highlights a common dilemma with "how to use Facebook" with this post, building on the recent "Facebook Fatigue discussion kicked off by Jason Calacanis:

"We are not using the privacy settings of Facebook, and are too polite to say no to invitations from people who want to friend us. No wonder, the social environment is starting to resemble a crowded nightclub. (You go to clubs to be seen, not talk.)

However, if you treat Facebook more like a dinner gathering, inviting only the closest friends and family, it can be a rather efficient way of staying in touch."

I would us the metaphor of a conference or a convention in the first paragraph rather than a nightclub, but the point is the same.

As Robert Scoble lays out the case so well, Facebook is increasingly becoming a business rolodex platform for many, as they connect with both people they know, AND the ones they don't know.  It's an opportunity for personal branding, whether it's used that way or not. 

This is analogous to meeting tons of people in a business social setting, like a cocktail party at a conference, where you go through a stack of business cards in an hour, meeting people that may or may not be relevant to you later on.  Only, you just don't know which category they're in, at the exact moment you meet them.  They're just cold calls for both parties.

It's why I agree with Robert, on "friending" people you don't know in real life, on social networks like Facebook. 

It's just another opportunity to meet people that may be relevant to one's interests, at a later point in time.  Nothing more, nothing less.

And there's nothing wrong with that, and it's a critical aspect of real business life.  So no reason it shouldn't be a critical aspect of what does on a social network.

Om's comment on how he'd like to use a social network for personal connections is also on the money.

It's just that one shouldn't need different social networks for the two functions.

And the issue shouldn't be converted into a quasi-religious debate about the "proper" function of an online social network.  People should be able to do either, or both, as they wish.  No muss, no fuss.

It should be easy for one to maintain both types of social networks within Facebook.  And it's something that could be achieved with future tweaks of the user interface.  It's also something that we'll likely see from Facebook sooner than later.  It's also something that could help Facebook gain more acceptance within businesses, countering the current instinctual and knee-jerk reaction by many corporations to ban services like Facebook with it's corporate internet networks.

So imagine if one could add anybody to your "friend" network on Facebook.  But instead of checking on a button that only allows them to see your "Limited Profile" today, you also have a check-box that says "casual acquaintance".  That definition is not visible to anyone else but you. 

But checking it simply adds the contact automatically into a category that limits them to seeing only your public feeds (as in Pownce), AND gives you tools to build that relationship into a meaningful contact over time.

Just like one goes through the stack of business cards collected at a conference, convention, or a business cocktail party.

Just another feature on your existing social network, not another darn social network to join, cultivate, nurture, and maintain.   

That's what causes the REAL social network fatigue.

Comments

[don loeb]

a few social networks already have this feature (yahoo 360, flickr and vox). you can share different information with family or close friends, etc. the problem is that while people want flexible and powerful privacy settings, they never want to actually do the work :)

[Abhijit Nadgouda]

I think the real fatigue is out of keeping up with multiple social networks. In my opinion, they should be more email like.

[Vikram Rajan]

I'm amazed how Facebook is even overtaking LinkedIn as the social/professional network of choice. I originally dismissed my facebook account as "just for college kids" (yes, yes they grow up quickly).

But if it will be productive for me now, then I should make my profile more robust! Sometimes, the shoe cobbler has to create his own running shoes......

~ Vikram
PersonalBrandMarketing.com

[Dan Schawbel]

I remember when my roomate at college brought facebook to my school and told me to join. I said no and then a few weeks later everyone was on it. Now businesses are even using it for marketing and networking purposes.