Will the social fad die?
When you say something like that it is quite hard to really know what your trying to imply. After all the whole socialisation of the human species is at the core of us, or something. However let’s just look at Facebook and other social networking sites around on the internet right now. They have all fundamentally stayed the same for quite some time and not many offer any unique features or socialising options.
Look at Facebook, Google Plus and Disporia. They all have the same ideas and overall design. Social networking on these sites at the end of the day are all the same core technique and style. The reason why moving over from MySpace and Bebo to Facebook worked so well at the time was because Facebook accurately offered a much more solid interaction with friends. At the time it was the top of the game, but since then it is the same core design which has been reused over and over again. It has become a internet fad, rather than a way of networking and sharing. The current design of social networks has run its course.
All the new social networks which are arising, Google Plus and Disporia are meant to change the way we think about social networking. Revolutionise the game. However at the end of the day it is the same core design from Facebook. What changes have they used to change the game? Well the friend list was shaken a little to allow more customisable sharing, which guess what, that got copied to Facebook anyway.
When I last talked about social networking, I talked about MySpace and how it should of evolved and become a key player in a different side of social networking. I raised the point it should try and target Deviantarts market rather then Facebooks, by becoming a more creative social outpost. I still stand by this point, and I want to further say that all social networks should probably incorporate more and more creative socialisation into their websites.
Social Networking should become more private, allow circles to be tightened and information that is revealed to the world much tighter and more portal styled. It should be like a different view for people who look at a page, for example let’s imagine this crazy creative social network site did exist, the global page for all could be a more personalised project hub site. While as you go through the circles you start seeing more interaction with the core owner, such as emailing appearing into the hub area, then pictures of holidays, pictures of friends, status updates and finally full interaction and commenting through various hubs. While this tightening of social networking is starting to happen, it still doesn’t allow the user full control of their information, at the end of the day they are just limiting the information to various users, rather then allowing limited information to present a different way of socialising with different people.