Yesterday, I published a post that questioned the amount of time we put into social networking and whether or not we're actually getting anything out of it.
Shortly after I posted, a friend sent me a message on Twitter, with a link to a very similar thought process, "Are Social Networks just another MMO Grind?"
I don't think I would have come up with this analogy in a million-years, primarily because I never really played MMO games, but I know exactly what he's talking about. There's a lot about social networking that feels like you are just working to get to the next level. And then when you get to that next level, you have to work harder.....to get to the next level. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Brilliant...I couldn't have said it better! Which leads me to my original point: Where's the true value in social networking for the vast majority of people who aren't on the grinding away on the treadmill?
I would suggest that we haven't really seen the "killer app" for social networking yet. It still feels like we are building out the infrastructure a bit, but waiting for someone to get it right. I'm showing my age here a bit, but I can remember when the Internet had very little value except for the power-users that knew how to navigate it...and then along came e-mail and all of a sudden the infrastructure become indispensable.
There are already a few applications that I think might give us a glimpse into what that killer app will look like:
ChaCha: These guys have taken some heat in the Web 2.0 world for their original model of human-powered search on the web, but they have recently embraced the mobile application and I expect big things. They still use the notion of "guides" right now, but I would expect that this might evolve as well.
GetSatisfaction.com: This is simply a great application of exposing the social infrastructure for something truly valuable: customer service. If you have a problem using a product or service, who would you rather reach out to: a) someone being paid $10/hour to answer the phone, or b) other consumers of that same product or service who are willing to collaborate to help solve your problem? This is currently the customer support model for Twitter, and you can see several other companies getting on board.
The common thread here is that these applications are starting to show us how to leverage the wisdom of crowds in a valuable and productive way. Hopefully, we'll see more attention given to these types of applications in the Web 2.0 world as the infrastructure starts to plateau.
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