I know where you live...

So I'm sure everyone's aware of Ping.fm, the site that connects your social networks when you update your status so all your friends can see exactly what you're doing. Makeuseof made a blog post about the network status updater.
I thought that people were trying to get away from the whole "stalker/I know everything that's going on in your life/I know where you are." Apparently, they're not.
Considering the popularity of the site, people definitely want to know exactly what everyone else is doing at that moment.

Demand for Social Graph API

In The Work Place's blog post Social Network Overdose: Is there a solution?, blogger complains about a lack of a single source to connect all social networks. Unfortunately, well-actually- fortunately, there's the Social Graph API. Problem solved! Notice, I posted about the social graph API about a month ago.

When I first read the blog post title, my reaction was...re-hab. Honestly. Just quit all your social networks. Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Just kidding.

But this just goes to show that others are thinking about how to connect social networks, for well...more networking capabilities. The demand is there, the product is there and probably demand will increase.

Amy Winehouse? The first image that shows up on Google image search of overdose.

But their Facebook says...

Josh Catone's blog post Should Employers Use Social Network Profiles in the Hiring Process? addresses the issue that many current college students face. When employers are looking into potential job candidates, social network profiles provide personal information that may or (in most cases) may not be relevant to the job.

I understand that employers want to find out about what kind of person they may be hiring, but the information that is on social networks is for just that purpose- networking for SOCIAL purposes, not necessarily job prospects.

The topic of discrimination based off of social networks profiles was also brought up. It could be very difficult to determine why a person was not hired based off of solely the social network profile, especially if a picture of the applicant is available.

Two addictions for the price of one

Douglas Carr made a post about Starbucks launching a social network in order to get customer feedback. My Starbucks Idea brings customer service to a whole new level. Of course company websites offering email and FAQs are the norm, but a social network based solely off of the caffeine-product company is creative to say the least. The social network is in response to Starbucks stocks floundering. Video of Howard Schultz's return as CEO explains.



I think that a social network for just one company has its pros and cons. For example, you know your already reaching your target market because the people using your network are people who are not only brand loyal, but feel strongly enough to join a network. However, the social network will only be relevant to Starbucks users, therefore missing other complete markets.

I have no friends (on my sweet new app).

Brad Fitzpatrick's post URLs are People, too perplexed me at first. He talks about how you join a "sweet new app," but you're all alone because none of your friends from your other "sweet apps" use this new app. And so, to fix this "sweet new app" dilemma, the Social Graph API was hence born. It's pretty techie, but for all us non-techies, there's a wonderful video showing how it works in (mostly) Layman's terms.
Basically, it's like a Facebook Mini-feed type deal for all your web needs, sort of. It connects all your social networks together, so you have a friend on Myspace who also has a blog, you find out about all of these things. Yup, it's like a social network "stalker's paradise." So much information, all at one's fingertips!

Make Your Own!

The iMedia Connection article "Build a Social Network in Les than 60 minutes," shows not only how important it is for companies to know where the social market is leading, but also how important engagement is for a company or brand.
I think it is very possible for every brand to have its own social network. This would not only build brand loyalty, but would show how a brand can "keep with the times." This could be comparative to how many companies keep blogs.
I do foresee one problem with this idea. Something is usually only cool when only some people have it, when it's for the "elite" or "special." When it's something common, it loses an aspect that is difficult to attain again. Therefore, its a definite that at this point in time, it would be wise to form a social network for your brand, but it could hurt the brand in the future.