Ahmed+N.+Blog+Post+Analysis

Ahmed N. To: Proximity social networking team From: Ahmed, N Subject: Building a social network in a Facebook and Twitter world Date: February 1, 2010

We have been asked to analyze a social networking blog post in order to prepare for the Proximity’s spring focus group sessions. Below is the summary of PaidContent’s article which argues that the future of social networking lies in differentiated, specialized streams. I suggest we ask questions on the spring focus group session to determine the number of TU students who are shifting to new social networking sites.


 * What is myYearbook**

Facebook and Twitter have each, in their own way, peaked because people use them to do only one thing. In the case of Facebook, they use it to update friends and family, however, Twitter is used to update status and share photos. Pictures, posts, videos, and live chat are a few forms of communication on these social networking sites. Geoff Cook who is the CEO of the myYearbook argues that the future of social networking lies in differentiated, specialized streams. He stated that the “stream” for something like myYearbook is different than Facebook and Twitter. People are going there to interact with new people. Things actually happen on the site.

According to Geoff Cook, myYearbook is all about playing various games, like Owned or Battles. Match is another application, where users secretly admire each other. In playing those games, you meet new people. According to a survey to poll users of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and myYearbook, about 70% of the users stated that they use myYearbook to meet new people, flirting, and playing games.


 * Why these social networks are important**

The social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are the broadcast television network of stream communication. On the other hand, the “stream” for something like myYearbook is different. It differentiates its own streams, myYearbook chatter, in a number of ways. Most of all, the people posting into Chatter have a different purpose for sharing than people posting into Facebook – they want to meet new people, to flirt and to connect with people both near them and half-a-world away. As Geoff stated, our chatter differentiated into two critical ways. First, Chatter allows users to comments on other users’ posts with photos as well as text. Second, “users view the chatter of people near them, filtered by age and gender, making Chatter, at its core, a geostream, and one well-suited to meeting new people.” Due to its bigger growth, chatter is now a geostream with 700,000 posts per day and double-dignity monthly growth rates.


 * Questions to ask TU Facebook and Twitter users**

In addition to determine which social networking sites TU students use, we need to find out how they are now using those sites. The social networking of proximity’s spring focus group session should include questions such as following

· Are you shifting to new kinds of networks like myYearbook? · Do you use these sites to meet new people, update status, or share photos? · Do you use social networking sites such as Facebook anymore?

Proximity clients need answers to these questions to know how to target Gen-Y using social networks

 __Reference__: Cook, Geoff. (2010, February 1). Building a Social Network in a Facebook and Twitter World. Retrieved Feb. 02, 200, from []