Emerging patterns in social networking applications

It doesn’t seem like many web sites are built these days that don’t have some “social networking” aspect. With so many social networks being created, an inevitable echo-chamber of features has formed. These common-thread features are being woven into patterns that will ultimately define what social networking sites are and how to identify them.

Existing patterns

• Friend lists and groups - Friends are the bread and butter of social networking (this should be obvious). If your social networking web site isolates users from each other, it is not a social networking site.
• Status frameworks - Status updates are quickly becoming a vital part of social networks. Services like Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook have made this very clear. Features such as “message walls” and status updates provide users with ways to keep their networks updated and in the know.
• Open data access - Free the data. If you want to spark huge third-party development communities, you’ve got to open up access to your data. Facebook and others quickly figured this out and are now more successful because of the extremely active developer communities.
• Media sharing - This is still a murky area that no one has really nailed perfectly, but giving users a way to share their media is essential. Words are great, but pictures, audio and video are even better. As more mobile devices with higher quality cameras (both still and video) enter the market, more users will want to share their media with friends.
• Transparency - This is a big one. Most people understand that advertising funds most of the great services available on the web. The most successful social networking applications work in the required advertising without getting in the way of their users and without impeding the flow of information between users. Roadblocks, sleazy ads and interface annoyances will ultimately drive away users. If you need an example of this in action, look at MySpace.

Patterns missing in action

• Separation of friends and acquaintances - A huge problem for many users is dealing with casual acquaintances. Are they really friends? Do they belong in my network? You know who these people are: the guy you knew in high school but never once talked to who now wants to be your friend on XYZ network. Do you turn him down and risk being rude, or do you accept is request and start down the slippery slope of diluting your friend list? There needs to be a better way to handle the different levels of friendships that most people maintain.
• Friend recommendation - Last.FM, Pandora, Flickr, and YouTube are great at serving up content that you never knew you would like. Why can’t the same be said for social networking sites? Why can’t a recommendation engine be built that recommends people who might be a good fit for you as a friend, even if they aren’t already linked to one of your friends? This is an untapped market.
• Friend discovery - Friend recommendation is one thing, friend discovery is something entirely different. Social networks usually end up with fragmented or incomplete circles of friends. Not many social networks to a great job of helping me find my existing friends on their network. Some are getting better at it, but existing friend discovery could be improved.
• Credibility indicators - This could be considered a requirement for friend recommendation. Social networks should provide more tools that allow users to judge the credibility of other users. How do I know if this person is a legitimate friend possibility or just someone looking to hock their blog or web site? Indicators that are based on the aggregate actions of a user would be a great feature.

Patterns that should go away

• Email systems - Users already have email, stop being redundant. This is especially true when a web site sends an alert to a user’s real email address to let them know that they have new email on their site.
• Page view generators - Stop inserting detours that are meant solely to increase page views. “One of your friends is having a birthday today, click here to find out who!” Ugh. (I’m looking at you, MySpace)
• Site-specific chat rooms and instant messaging - Again, users already have their preferred way of chatting. Leave it be and stop fragmenting the market further.