MWF+1+social+networking+blog+post

To: Proximity From: Social networking team Subject: Blog post collaboration Date: November 9, 2009

Social networking has made a huge impact on everyone's life. It is the new way of finding out new information, about friends, family, news, gossip, and more. We propose to show Proximity how social networking will be like in the future by presenting a slide show. In our slide show we will compare how social networking was like in the past at what new things will be happening with social networking in the future.


 * General patterns in social networking:**

Social networking is currently driven by two forces consumer power and the rivalry among competitors. Some social networking sites can go from hot to not quickly like Myspace which used to be the most popular social networking site, is one of the only to see traffic fall, and was quickly outmoded by Facebook. There are also a lot of smaller companies that are being eaten up by larger companies such as Friendfeed which provided the ability to have mass status updates for multiple social networking sites and real-time search options for social content. Although their site was innovative they had trouble gaining traffic. So Facebook swooped in and asked them to join their team. It seems as though this will be a reoccurring pattern in social networking for now (Forbes 2009). Currently social networking sites are having a problem turning a profit because their ad models don't work, however they have the potential to fix this problem. A good example of a social networking site that has been successful in making a profit is Linkdin. "What's unclear is where social networking goes from here. Experts at Wharton say there's still a lot of growth left in the sector, but a round of consolidation, reinvention and restructuring is likely in the not-too-distant future" (Forbes 2009).

Past (short description of company founder and what it does), present standing of company (eventually bulleted), and future (specific ideas will be moved to slideshow include how they make a profit)

Info: Mark Zuckerberg, current CEO, founded Facebook in 2004 at Harvard University. It is now headquartered in Palo Alto, California (Facebook 2009). Facebook provides its users with the gratification of commenting on various pages or pictures and getting responses from friends and family. One reason Facebook is ahead of the game is because it has such a large user base and offers a large variety of functions. Facebook currently reaches over 300 million active users (Facebook 2009).
 * Facebook:**

Present: Facebook's main problem today is how to turn a profit. Its main source of revenue is ads, but Facebook's original ad model, Beacon, failed. It announced on September 22, 2009 that is was teaming up with Nielson Brandlift to provide marketers with an effective measurement for Facebook advertising. The Neilson Brandlift program will measure aided awareness, ad recall, message association, brand favorability, and purchase consideration by prompting users with short, one to two, question surveys that are specially designed to collect the information marketers need (Nielsen 2009).

Future: Facebook believes these surveys will easily mesh with the Facebook user experience (Neilsen 2009), but these surveys could become an annoyance to Gen-Y users. Facebook currently needs a solution for the problem of turning a profit. If the Brandlift program doesn't work then Facebook will need to resort to other measures. Analysts should closely watch how users react to Brandlift. The new marketing strategy could be a tragedy. I believe Facebook should generate revenues from a mix of subscription plans for users who use more then just the basic Facebook functions and ad revenue.


 * Myspace:**

__Past:__ MySpace’s is part of Fox Interactive Media, which is owned by News Corporation. MySpace was created in 2003 by a small group of programmers managed by Chris DeWolfe (MySpace's starting CEO), Josh Berma, Tom Anderson (MySpace's starting president). MySpace has succeeded with new site functions, and the ability to allow users to have complete creative control over their homepage. __Present:__ MySpace has redesigned many of its features both in layout and functions through 2007 and 2008. One Critical alteration was the redesigned user homepage, featuring status updates, applications, and subscriptions, in order to compete with Facebook. __Future:__ MySpace hopes that the successful transition to the new page design, mixed with the upgraded applications and functions, will prove helpful in maintaining and increasing members.


 * Twitter:**

Past

Twitter founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, is privately funded. It is a real time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices that allows users to ask just one question, "what are you doing?" under 140 characters.

Present

People all over the country follow sources that are relevant to them. Twitter also allows users to access information ranging from breaking news to updates from friends and family. Twitter is to sign a contract to take an investment of $100 million from as many as seven investors, which would value the company at $1 billion

Future

Twitter has teamed up with Jajah, VOIP Company, to make phone calls via Twitter free of charge (theNextWeb). This deal will help bring service for the Twitter's to stay connected with friends and family. Twitter has teamed up with many news broadcasters such as CNN and Fox News for breaking stories.

Past: In Feburary of 2005, former PayPal employees took a chance at making a social networking group where users could blog and post their own videos online. This was one of the first online video social networking groups and it became a huge success quick. Youtube quickly became the most popular online video networking group in the world.
 * Youtube:**

Present: Youtube is currently the number one video networking group on the internet and compitition is no-where in site. When Gen-Y users think "online video networking", immediately their minds go to Youtube. There is no close competition and Youtube will continue to run the internet for years to come.

Future: Youtube is currently trying to promote its "Premium Package" to gain more revenue from its customers. Youtubes "Premium Package" will consist of the users purchasing copyrighted material and, in turn, making profit for the website. Although the "Premium Package" is not manditory, this will be pressured on to customers to purchase. Now that Youtube has been purchasesd by Google... the website is expected to be bigger than ever.


 * Linkdin:**

Past LinkedIn was started in the living room of co-founder Reid Hoffman in the fall of 2002. The five original founders were Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Eric Ly, and Konstantin Guericke. The site was officially launched in May of 2003 when the five founders invited 350 of its most important contacts to join. LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world representing over 200 countries.

Present:

• Facebook has more than 250 million users whereas LinkedIn has a mere 35 million. • LinkedIn turned profitable in 2008. It’s valued at $1 billion by its investors due to businesses paying for access to the site. • LinkedIn had 8.74 million unique users in August, up 67% from a year ago. • Forrester Research, a technology research firm, formed a survey partnership with LinkedIn in August.

Future-

The company, which says it is profitable, has benefited from the economic downturn as people increasingly use LinkedIn to look for employment. "The business-oriented social networking site has become more important than ever for those looking for job opportunities, and it has the growth to show for it," he says.

LinkedIn has a recruiter product for human resources professionals, designed to find "passive candidates," or people not actively looking for jobs who could be good hires. LinkedIn charges a fee per user for the recruiting service and counts Allstate, eBay, Logitech and Kaiser Permanente as customers. The site also launched a survey business so customers can poll the professionals that use its social network. Those revenue streams are in addition to advertising on the LinkedIn site. "Certainly, there are revenue opportunities that haven't been explored," says Matwyshyn. "LinkedIn could also facilitate conference calls and develop new business communities."


 * E-Harmony:**

//Past:// Founded in 2000 in Pasadena, CA, eHarmony.com has taken the electronic dating scene by storm. Founder Dr. Neil Clark Warren, a clinical psychologist, has specialized in relationships for nearly four decades and has written several best-selling books.

//Present:// Using the patented and trademarked Compatibility Matching System, eHarmony has united more than 10,000 couples in marriage in its short history and, during 2005, had more than six million registered users. On average, 236 eHarmony members marry every day, accounting for 2% of U.S. marriages (eHarmony). The rigorous 436 point questionnaire determines compatibility with other users based on things such as intellect, character, values, humor, spiritual beliefs, etc.

//Future:// To possibly undertake new marketing strategies aimed at helping older single Americans, which is estimated at around 100 million, find love and lasting relationships like eHarmony's younger clientele. Another question concerning the future of eHarmony is whether the company will go public.

//References:// (n.d.). eHarmony. Retrieved from http://eharmony.com

Rhodes, N. (2005). Eharmony.com, inc. ReferenceAnswers, Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/eharmony-com-inc


 * Skype:**

Past: Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis and was first established as a Kazaa company. It was then bought by eBay and currently holds its headquarters in Luxembourg. Skype is one of the largest international voice carriers, and was reported that as of May 2009, there were over 17 million concurrent online users. Computer-to-computer traffic between Skype users was 2.9% of international carrier traffic in 2005, growing to 4.4% in 2006 and 8% in 2008 (Wikipedia).

Present:

Skype is only a marginally profitable company, which fueled eBay’s most recent business decision that sold 65% of its stakes for $1.9 billion in cash to lead investor Silver Lake, along with Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan investment board.

Skype currently is used as a social networking tool among individuals to communicate PC-to-PC or PC-to-mobile between other Skype users.

Skype’s current revenue results from two sources: · Skype-In: This program allows people using landline phones to reach a Skype user on their computer using a regular telephone number. The telephone number can be assigned at 3 months at a time for $12, or double the cost for an entire year. (Watrous 1) · Calls made to and from land line or cell phones are charged at a per minute rate. An unlimited fee of $2.95 per month allows unlimited calling in the U.S. (Watrous 1) Future: Skype has started using SIP Beta to help its users connect existing standards-based (SIP) communications to the Skype community.This social networking tool is an efficient way to connect businesses with consumers through the use of one sole media source. Small businesses and consumers benefit from this feature in these three ways: · Allowing companies to place a gateway to Skype on their website · Enable viewers to call directly to the company’s landline or mobile by simply a click of a button. · A U.S. user may call an out-of-country company directly online and through this process, long-distance calling charges will be avoided.

Slide show: post what you want to include here: (Lucas will make the slide show) -Brandlift and Facebook info

Questions: EVERYONE should post 1 or 2 -Would you be annoyed with the pop-up surveys Brandlift is going to integrate into the Facebook experience?

Conclusion: As you can see, the future of social networking is looking up. Sites are quickly learning how to make a increase in revenue through adversiting and marketing schemes. We expect to see, within the next few years, an drastic increase in the use of online social networking sites and an increase of the profit of these sites. Gen-Y will begin to broadcast themselves through these social networking sites, realiizing how benefitial they actually are.

References: Everyone post references

[] - this is the link to forbes