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The Evolution of Social Networks

posted on June 30, 2011

Yesterday was an interesting day for me on a lot of fronts. One of those days that clearly follows the old saying of “when one door closes, another opens.”

It hit me this morning with a giggle that yesterday I deleted my MySpace account and opened my Google+ account. A sort of passing of the baton from one era of social networks to another.

I’ve always called myself an Alpha Adapter. I love to try out new services, tools, apps and gadgets as soon as they come out. I want to be in there first and figure out for myself if something works for me or not and how other individuals and organizations can best leverage it for success.

MySpace for me was amazing. It provided me connections to bands to get permission to play their music on my podcast and it gave me a quick and easy way to connect with my listeners. I started using Facebook before they opened the gates because I was working at a college and had a .edu address. I understood immediately how it was a different beast, but wondered if it would ever replace MySpace for the reasons I used it.

I’ve been thinking about deleting my account for years and just never got around to it, but with the sale yesterday it was the perfect time and I know I’m not going to miss it since I haven’t actively used it in quite some time. Then last night I got a Google+ invite and dove right in to see what all the hype was about.

I’ve been saying for a while now that I thought the next evolution of social networks was going to be making them small. Going back to the tighter knit small town model that has been missing as you collect and lunchbox up “friends” on all the services. The more connections you have without proper filters, the less useful a social network becomes.

The concept of circles in Google+ is what has me excited because they are the filters I’ve been craving. I can quickly and easily organize my contacts into circles that make sense to me and then share what I want with only the circles I want. I love that level of granular control and it quickly and effectively lets me filter out all the noise that I don’t want to pay attention to. This is how I’ve been using Google Buzz for a long time and now that of course is built right in.

Lots of people will be talking about if this is a Facebook killer or not. Trust me that Facebook is not going away anytime soon. There is plenty of room in the market for both of them.

I personally lost any usefulness from the FB Wall a long time ago because of the number of connections I have on there. Between Twitter lists and Google+ I can make sure to stay up to date on the people that matter the most to me to keep up on. That has me excited.

So, if it isn’t clear already I’m giving a big Like, +1 and Thumbs Up to Google+. I wonder if I can somehow give them a +K *grin*

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Categories: Technology
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=703291673 Anonymous

    Let me know how Google+ turns out. I have Google Apps, and I can’t use Google+ because of it. Complete stupidity. http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Apps/thread?tid=17b45c62b43447f6&hl=en

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Yeah that makes no sense to me at all and I’ve seen a lot of people bitching about it.

      The only thing I can think is that Goggle is separating them just like FB did with pages and profiles. I don’t think it makes much sense, but I’m betting that is their logic.

      Either that or corporations are worried about things being shared publicly that should be kept inside of companies? Maybe people with Google App accounts will have their own version of + so it’ll work almost like an Intranet? 

      Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

  • pm

    thx for the post — checked it out — will give it a try — always love seeing what you’re up to as its always cutting edge…!  pm, mpls mn

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jane-Quigley/631111974 Jane Quigley

    Patrick Rhone coined the phase “microsocial” to describe these personal social networks – I love that phase. I think that Google + is really interesting so far (much more so than Wave), I wonder if regular people, who already use FB as their “micronetwork” will have any reason to divert their attention and learn a different way of communicating. 

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Both really good terms.

  • http://www.facebook.com/stevegarfield Steve Garfield

    I’m surprised that you DELETED your MySpace account with Justin Timberlake being involved and all…

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/social-media/Justin-Timberlake-to-promote-MySpace/articleshow/9052542.cms

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      He doesn’t need my dick in his box.

      (sorry, I couldn’t resist and if you don’t get the joke go do a search on YouTube)

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  • http://EdRoberts.TV EdRoberts

    I almost exclusively use friend lists on Facebook now to trim down what I look at.  This makes it almost exactly like circles in G+. Unfortunately, the Facebook app hasn’t added the ability to use them yet, which is annoying.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Yes, I’ve used lists for a while as well, but the interface to create them was never easy enough for me.

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  • Kirstines

    Dang. I just learn that you exist and now I may not see you any more if you don’t put me in your circle. Darn microblogging.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      *laugh*

      Don’t worry, you’ll still see me. I’m not going anywhere.

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  • Nathan Greenberg

    Agreed. Facebook isn’t going to die tomorrow and Google+ does offer that “feel” missing from Facebook for so long. I’m optimistic about the possibilities and hopefully both ventures will improve in the near future as they bounce off each other.

  • http://investinsocial.com Jason Keath

    Agree 100%. Curious to see where this evolves into next. But…

    Not sure you really can filter out all the news in a Google+ stream yet. It is interesting, people can publish to you without you even knowing them. You could block people, and that is one filter option. The Stream appears to be a mix of people who have you in circles mainly, not necessarily who you have decided to put in your circles.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      You are the second person to say that, but I have yet to see it.

      EVERY update appearing for me is from people I have put into circles and no
      one else.

      • http://investinsocial.com Jason Keath

        I am seeing something similar CC. But there are people I see in my stream that I do not have in ANY circles. 

        I am going off of what I read here from Google+ http://www.google.com/support/profiles/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=guide.cs&guide=1257360&rd=1

        That being said, it is not crystal clear still and I imagine in the modern web of Google and Fbook algorithms, it is likely all controlled by some snazzy math that takes all this into account. 

        Basically, all they need is a hide button and we are good to go.

      • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

        Make sure you click on STREAM and not on INCOMING.

        Until you create a circle the default is Incoming which shows everyone that
        you are connected to in any way.

  • http://www.davemadethat.com Dave Delaney

    You nailed it. 
    I mentioned it on G+ yesterday, but I love that you can mute conversations too. Facebook drives me nuts that way. I also have trouble remembering who are members of certain Twitter lists, so if I forget to add someone, I miss their tweets. I’m dying to try Hangout, but I haven’t found the time/privacy to be able to do it yet. Have you played with it yet?

  • Peggye Marks

    I haven’t had the time to get into Google+ deeply but so far I’m really liking what I’m seeing.  I agree with you on the concept of the circles.  They’re so simple yet genius.  They actually get a ‘duh’ factor from me!  Also can’t believe FB hasn’t offered such a thing.  How much you want to bet they adopt something like this within months if not weeks….