How Sticky Are Social Networks?

While looking for more information about valuing social networks, I stumbled upon this Knowledge@Wharton article. I especially liked this tidbit:

Among the unknowns: How well can social networking sites hold on to their users? One player, Friendster, burst onto the scene a few years ago, then largely deflated. On the other hand, users go to considerable trouble to upload information and images to these sites, and to establish elaborate networks of friends for electronic sharing. They are not likely to abandon all that effort as casually as they would switch from one online bookseller to another. "It does seem to me there is some stickiness to the model," Holthausen says.

This is really the key: there is virtually no friction online so it's very easy to take your business or even social network elsewhere. If some upstart could automate the transfer of user profiles, posts, and the friends network intact from, say, MySpace to its own site, then there is essentially no barrier to leaving. A crude way is just to scrape the site and reconstruct the information after the user decides to register on the new site. Depending on how tightly linked the user's friends network is (how similar their interests are, are these friends "friends"), this sort of migration could be easily accomplished. A model for this is already in place with blogs: many like TypePad can automatically transfer a blog using, say, Blogger to a new blogging platform. Bloggers move if they think another platform offers enough to them to make the cost of moving worthwhile, and so may the social network users if the new specialized social networks are similarly more attractive.

The Facebook incident a few weeks back demonstrates that it can be quite easy to cause a user revolt if a social network does the wrong thing, and Friendster teaches the lesson that a user base can evaporate if something better comes along.

I think the Musician accounts that are offered by MySpace and YouTube are an intriguing way to entice and retain a segment of the user base that is uniquely able to contribute sticky content. Judging by the million bands that have apparently signed up on MySpace, it looks like MySpace has very successfully adapted to the needs of this niche market. The only serious competitor in the music social network space I found through a quick search was Mog, which requires users to download an application that scans your hard drive for music and compiles a list of songs that you own.

So while I think the more generic social networks can successfully cater to niche users, they can only go so far. To introduce too many different account types would dilute the user experience too much. A lot depends on what kind of value-added specialized social networks can offer.

A final thought: I wonder when the first meta-social networking site appears that links your profiles on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and del.icio.us together. Is there one today that I'm overlooking? Like the meta-video search engines and one page feed aggregators that have been popping up, there's a lot of room for sites that make gathering and absorbing information easier. These meta-networks would also prevent the formation of "gated social networks" whose members don't associate with each other.

Related Posts:
The Rise of Specialized Social Networks (Plus a Review of SocialPicks)
Dandelife: Tell Your Life's Story (In Timeline Format)
The Experience Project: Social Network for Discreet People (And Stephen Colbert Fans)

Labels: Technology

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