Technology As Innovator

I’ve noticed that Facebook has hidden “Networks” tab for some time.

Now Facebook just announced that they will discontinue Networks and encourage using Groups.

What do you think of this decision?

Tai Tran's Lab: Technology As Innovator

Facebook

73.5 million users and growing fastest

What I like about it

1. Mini-Feed is useful in seeing a quick snapshot on the latest happenings within your network without going to several sites to check.
2. The ability to supply how you know a person.
3. Nice applications. Approximately 10% of Facebook applications I’ve tried are interesting and useful while others are not as good.

I think these can be improved

1. Fixed 600 width and non-resizable
2. Non-customizable design
3. No built-in blogging functionality. Blogging can be done with applications such as Live Blog, but we don’t normally depend on addons for such important values like blogs.
4. Tight security: profile only viewable by friends. How do you determine if a profile is your friend or not just by looking at the screen name which can be different from the real name?
5. One account can only join no more than 200 groups. Unlimited is preferred.

Orkut

24.6 million users

What I like about it

1. Simple design, Google philosophy after all
2. Extensible width
3. Ad-free

I think these can be improved

1. Name. Honestly speaking, the Turkish name “Orkut” is very unfamiliar. Just a remark, as the brand name is not supposed to change
2. Very few, if any, extensions

Yahoo! Mash

What I like about it

1. Wider width
2. Larger font
3. Allows profiles to be updated by friends
4. Mini-feed is also supplied

I think these can be improved

1. Check boxes to select friends to add should be provided
2. More group levels
3. Informal language. I am especially not easy with the word “fugly”
4. Profile with non-removable fields such as “What’s most likely playing on my iPod”… Excuse me, can I NOT have an iPod?

MySpace

107 million users. The currently largest site

What I like about it

1. Integrated all-in-one solution that includes social networking, blogging, mail, favorites, forum, movies, events, media

I think these can be improved

1. Inconsistent design
2. Music landing page
3. Spam, including spam invitations, protection
4. Tons of ads

Other notable networking sites

Name	Focus	Number of users (in million)	Comments
Windows Live Spaces	Blogging	120	Really eye-catching glossy design. Powerful blogging support. Try new Microsoft experience!
hi5	General	50	An issue: the letter ‘5′ creates this word “hị” in Vietnamese. hi5 is still nice anyway
bebo	Schools & alumni	34	Nice and neat
friendster	General	50	Friendster is getting old. It needs more innovation.
imeem	Media: Music, Video	16	Possibly the best media site currently. Nice design and convenient upload process. Support tagging
LinkedIn	Business	15	Very professional for business networking purpose
Last.fm	Music	15	Attractive design, especially the logo. However, radio alone is not that fascinating. They could use more of music sharing
Xanga	Blogging	40	The ad on top is a huge barrier to this site’s design. Usability is a little messy

Read more

Wikipedia, List of social networking websites

Mashable, Facebook Hammers MySpace on Almost All Key Features

Techcrunch, Facebook platform

American Class Divisions

Nerdlifestyle, Media restrictions

My choice

Facebook to keep in touch with international friends and English-speaking communities

Yahoo! Mash. Many young Vietnamese users rely on Yahoo! services

for socially musical networking

How about you?

Share your experience here…

Which site do you like best? What you wish your site had offered?