Does your social network define you?
August 20, 2008 – 2:44 amSocial networks are pretty well main stream now. Everyone has heard of MySpace and knows what it is, and even my teachers from high school or earlier are adding me on Facebook (I’m still not sure if them remembering me is a good thing or not). Every now and then I even have a few students from UNCW request to join my network on LinkedIn. Even less occassionaly, I get a twitter invite from someone locally. I would estimate 95% of the people I meet are on a social network (yes, I realize this is skewed based on my profession, etc). I’m just not sure people are choosing the right social network to be a part of.
See, there was this girl who we’ll call Jane. She was smart, had exuberant energy, and was really passionate about what she did. We’ll say she did pottery. Now, Jane was looking for a job, and I like being able to connect talented individuals who need employment with worthwhile employees. It just gives me that little tickle of joy, you know, the kind when you get to sit down and watch your favorite tv show, or when you get a tinge of success (or something). The problem was I didn’t really know Jane that well, so I wanted to see some of her work. That was no problem for Jane! While she didn’t have a website (she should have a website) she did have examples of her work online. But it was on her MySpace.
Ok. Jane is a Gen Yer, so the fact that she had her work on a social network wasn’t what got me. What got me was that she had it on MySpace. That’s kind of like building a mansion in the crappiest part of town. Sure, the mansion looks nice, what with its gated entrance, indoor theater, triple crown moldings, mohagony floors, and river front view, but the value of the place is automatically horrible by association with the area.
This really made it hard. As much as I wanted to start looking at Jane’s work in an unbiased way, I couldn’t. If she had it on Facebook, even though she should still have a nicely designed resume flaunting her pottery skills, I would have accepted it. It would have been the right neighborhood at least. But no. Her work was on MySpace.
Thinking about that, I’ve noticed I think along similar lines when I meet new people. Depending on the conversation, if you’re not on Twitter, you’re docked geeknick tech points. If you’re on Facebook, that’s somewhat redeemable. At least we can be friends. But if you’re only on MySpace, regardless of how awesome you are, friendship simply will never be- online anyway. I can easily see this becoming a more prominent step in branding. Questions like Digg or Sphinn. For the average person it doesn’t matter but for the SEO specialist it may make all the difference.
But what do you think? Does someone’s social network define them to you? Does your social network define you?
Update:
There were a number of comments left over on Brazen Careerist where this post was also at. In addition to that, Rebecca of Modite mentioned an interesting article written about the social class differences between Facebook and MySpace. If you’re interested in more of the theory or principles behind social networks, it’s a interesting read.
3 Responses to “Does your social network define you?”
Facebook is the Pottery Barn of social networking - http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html
By Rebecca on Aug 22, 2008
Thanks for the link, Rebecca : ) Was a really interesting read. Good consideration for marketers targeting social networks, too!
By Nathan Snell on Aug 22, 2008
Nice write up! I can relate to this as I work on branding my own little social network project. It always seems to be about perception and brand recognition.
By Nick Young on Oct 18, 2008