History of Social Networking

Slide 1: The History of Social Networking Tom Hughes-Croucher Yahoo! Inc

Slide 2: In the year 2000... The Snowboarding joke Snow Boarder + Ninja + Apple Mac = Web Developer

Slide 3: The Snowboarding joke A wise man was once said “Give a man a snowboard... ... and you've distracted him for a day.” “Teach a man to snowboard, and you can't get him to work.” http://www.frostyrider.com/jokes/ *Obviously this is joke true, since none of my other conferences have a “riding day”

Slide 4: What is a social network? • What are the first web sites people think of a “social networks”? • The big hitters – MySpace – Facebook – Bebo – Orkut • Maybe some interest specific sites – Boardpassions.com – Drop19

Slide 5: Direct Networks • The party you organise

Slide 6: The universal law of parties states: There is always one dude wearing a lampshade, trying to sing Elvis

Slide 7: Direct Networks • The party you organise – Invite a known list – Pick the people you interact with – Maybe let them bring their friends

Slide 8: Direct Networks • The party you organise – Invite a known list – Pick the people you interact with – Maybe let them bring their friends • The bar you go to

Slide 10: Direct Networks • The party you organise – Invite a known list – Pick the people you interact with – Maybe let them bring their friends • The bar you go to – Expect a common interest • Football • Taste in music • Wine – Have an expectation of other clients – Expect to see the same people/friends

Slide 11: Indirect Networks • Those people you see every day on the tube

Slide 13: Indirect Networks • Those people you see every day on the tube – They always get the same train, right? – And the same seat – You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello

Slide 14: Indirect Networks • Those people you see every day on the tube – They always get the same train, right? – And the same seat – You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello • Ad boards in supermarkets

Slide 15: Cécile, I love you! Pierre

Slide 16: Indirect Networks • Those people you see every day on the tube – They always get the same train, right? – And the same seat – You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello • Ad boards in supermarkets – ‘Shotgun’ approach – Impersonal

Slide 17: Indirect Networks • Those people you see every day on the tube – They always get the same train, right? – And the same seat – You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello • Ad boards in supermarkets – ‘Shotgun’ approach – Impersonal • Choosing where to eat

Slide 19: Indirect Networks • Those people you see every day on the tube – They always get the same train, right? – And the same seat – You have an understanding but you’ve never said hello • Ad boards in supermarkets – ‘Shotgun’ approach – Impersonal • Choosing where to eat – We use other people’s behaviour as a measure of success – Willing to make choices based on the action of strangers

Slide 20: Direct social networks are older than MySpace • Email lists – News letters – Discussion groups • Usenet – Back before the web – When modems were bigger than my laptop

Slide 21: This thing is approximately 10,000 times slower than my current internet connection

Slide 22: Direct social networks are older than MySpace • Email lists – News letters – Discussion groups • Usenet – Back before the web – When modems were bigger than my laptop • Yahoo groups – Actually one of the biggest social networks on the Web – 100s of millions of users

Slide 23: Direct social networks are older than MySpace • Email lists – News letters – Discussion groups • Usenet – Back before the web – When modems were bigger than my laptop • Yahoo groups – Actually one of the biggest social networks on the Web – 100s of millions of users • Forums – There are forum communities on virtually every topic

Slide 24: Indirect social networks • Amazon.com

Slide 26: Indirect social networks • Amazon.com – Millions (probably billions) of reviews – Reviews of reviews • “5 people found this review helpful”

Slide 27: Indirect social networks • Amazon.com – Millions (probably billions) of reviews – Reviews of reviews • “5 people found this review helpful” • Flickr – Millions of photos – Millions (again probably billions) of comments – Groups of shared interest

Slide 28: Indirect Social Networks • Amazon.com – Millions (probably billions) of reviews – Reviews of reviews • “5 people found this review helpful” • Flickr – Millions of photos – Millions (again probably billions) of comments – Groups of shared interest • Last.fm – Based on something passive (just listening) – Suggestions based on the patterns of other users – Possible friends with similar taste suggested to users

Slide 29: The value of User Generate Content (UGC) • Adds ‘free’ content to your site – Flickr has ZERO non UGC content • Makes users feel like other people are using the site – Everything on Amazon is connected to customer votes • Sales rank • Ratings • Creates a sense of interaction – No one wants to eat at the empty restaurant – UGC lets people be one of the ‘in kids’ • Connects the users to the site – Users take ownership of UGC (the clue is in the name, duh!) – Users are connected to each through the site and therefore to themselves become connected to the site

Slide 30: Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits • The power of reviews – Easy to implement – Visible – Rely on direct products and sales model

Slide 31: Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits • The power of reviews – Easy to implement – Visible – Rely on direct products and sales model • Easy to plug in partners

Slide 34: Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits • The power of reviews – Easy to implement – Visible – Rely on direct products and sales model • Easy to plug in partners – Badges – Open Social – Yahoo! Open / Yahoo! Application Platform

Slide 35: Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits • The power of reviews – Easy to implement – Visible – Rely on direct products and sales model • Easy to plug in partners – Badges – Open Social – Yahoo! Open / Yahoo! Application Platform • Feedback – Everyone loves to be heard – Viva la revolution! Give users a voice – The best ideas are from the people who use your products

Slide 36: Indirect networks provide the easiest benefits

Slide 37: Difficulties of building a direct social network • Orkut – Dropped to a small market share – However, most popular social networking site in Brazil • You can build a platform but that isn’t building a community – Platform building is software • Build once (or buy software) • Add more stuff – Community building requires constant dedicated people • Buying communities is dangerous • Often loyal to people/regime • Yahoo answers

Slide 38: Cécile, I love you! Pierre

Slide 39: Difficulties of building a direct social network • Orkut – Dropped to a small market share – However, most popular social networking site in Brazil • You can build a platform but that isn’t building a community – Platform building is software • Build once (or buy software) • Add more stuff – Community building requires constant dedicated people • Buying communities is dangerous • Often loyal to people/regime • Yahoo answers – Users created a direct social network with an indirect one • Platform not the most important thing • Freely available interaction pushes growth

Slide 40: Conclusions • The snowboarding industry has the best conferences • People have been social with the Internet from day 1 • Adding some social value to your site make your customers happier with the site and want to use it more • Social value doesn’t have to be from direct interaction – Trying to ‘build’ a community is a full-time commitment – Adding small social features can create better ROI • “Open” is the next trend – Use the power of everyone else’s work – Let your users pick their own features and love you for letting them

Slide 41: Questions? croucher@yahoo-inc.com http://developer.yahoo.com Thanks to the following Flickr users for the use of their photos: fstorr, timtom, sportcommunities, _rom_, sparktography, whatdavesees, travelingfoolsofamerica, pakitt, nicoledawn, debagel