Perils of Popularity Webdirections keynote

The perils of popularity (or how to create hits) Rashmi Sinha www.slideshare.net

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=13051425&size=l

social networks are evolving

~2002
linked in, friendster

Hi I found you while I was searching my network at LinkedIn. Let's connect directly, so we can help each other with referrals. If we connect, both of our networks will grow…

Just a graph!
How it works
People connect to each other
Six degrees of separation
“ Are you my friend” awkwardness
1) I am linked to -> -> to you --->You are linked to her -> -> to her…

~2004
object based social networks

Watercooler conversations (mediated by objects, e.g., Flickr, YouTube, SlideShare) 1) I share my pics -> -> with you ---> -->You share your pics -> ---> with him
How it works
People share objects | watch others
Connections through objects
Social info streams: emergence of popular, interesting items

Viral sharing (pass on interesting stuff, e.g., YouTube videos)
How it works
Individual to individual to individual
Popularity based navigation track “viral” items
1) I send video I like -> -> to you. You pass on --> --> to her, who sends on to her, who passes on…

May 2007
Facebook - We own the social graph, you bring the objects

social app has 3 components
the objects
the social graph
the place

Can the social graph be independent of the place & objects the graph the place the objects

Nov 2007 Can Google set it free?

4 models of popularity
Google
Digg
YouTube, SlideShare
Facebook

1. Google - Blind sociality
Social network cannot be browsed

Picasa: You cannot see friends of friends

Google calendar: You can only search public events

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=231287836&size=o

2. Digg as a laser beam
Focused
in time
on tech topics
young male users

encourages mobs
Quick, engaging, transparent metric
Sequential decisions

top diggers
can reach front page
rich get richer effect...

wisdom of crowds needs independence

3. Youtube - promiscuous popularity
Many metrics
no multi-level menus
navigation by popularity

Popularity on SlideShare Keep it on your desktop Download Remember stuff, tell someone you like their stuff Favorite & tag Share with your friends Email Share on your blog Embed Watch it View Interact with others Comment Goal Metric

diff strokes for diff folks
most viewed
most favorited & tagged

Long tail of content
Anyone can share
But who reaches the masses?

How hits are created

N Sync vs. lonely girl

System designer as studio boss
We need things to talk about at the watercooler
Hits will find a way!

Creating trends
Everything starts as equal
People can connect locally
Highlight alternative viewpoints
System should be flexible

4. Viral navigation on Facebook
News feed, notifications & messages
Its about social connections
Content does not get passed
Apps get passed around

Making spammers of all of us?
Tracking spam rating
Throttling as needed

Rules of the game are always changing
Changed metric
Throttled viral pace
Still no leveling of the playing field

Popularity breeds spam & corruption
Top Diggers
Spammy facebook apps
News feed optimization

the metric counts
Digg - One transparent metric. Easily corrupted
YouTube - Multiple metrics. Harder to rig
Facebook - Single metric ( no installs ). Now daily usage

Is search threatened by popularity & virality?

User generated content Images Videos Slideshows Music Articles

Flickr based search results

Pagerank needs an open web
Closed circles don’t work

10 lessons about social design

Forget the ipod!

Give up control This is messy!

1. Make system personally useful
personal snippets (Del.icio.us & Flickr)
Creativity (YouTube)
My slides: SlideShare
Don’t count on altruism
thrive on people’s selfishness

2. Symbiotic relationship between personal & social
Small individual contributions
can be collected & mashed-up
Simple, guessable URLs for everything
Slideshows > by Events
Music > by Playlists

3. what kind of social do you want to be?

Which playground do you want to play in?
Open web
Facebook
Myspace / Hi5 / Xanga / other social networks

Do you want your own social graph?
Or play in existing ones?

4. Privacy is social
Sharing is often in closed circles

Indexed by Google (everyone/everywhere) Only me My friends My groups Public Private Only in place

5. levels of participation
Everyone does not need to create!
Implicit creation (creating by consuming)
Remixing—adding value to others’ content
Source: Bradley Horowitz’s weblog, Elatable, Feb. 17, 2006, “Creators, Synthesizers, and Consumers”

6. Enable viral navigation
Help people connect
Let them feel presence of others

but decisions should be independent…
Choreography: when alone, when part of group
prevent mobs
not too easy to mimic others
incentives for originality
allow for alternative viewpoints

7. Add in serendipity
navigation not just about popularity
Keep popular stuff fast moving
make “long tail” accessible
popularity as a jump off point to other ways of exploring
personalization & recommendations
ad-hoc groups?

8. Add in a dash of experts
contest on SlideShare: both judges & popular votes

9. Be agile
You don’t know the right answer
Fail fast to get to the right answer
Track metrics, adjust, change

10. Most of all, allow for play

Finally
your slides at
http://www.slideshare.net/group/web-directions
find me at
http://www.slideshare.net/rashmi

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Perils of Popularity Webdirections keynote

by Rashmi Sinha on Sep 26, 2007

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Perils of Popularity Webdirections keynote — Presentation Transcript