Social networking sites are like nightclubs?

[randomness]

marginaleye, referencing the MySpace to Facebook to Google+ trend: "I fear, however, the horrible possibility that social networking is going to be a perpetual treadmill of pursuing the 'in crowd' and fleeing prole drift, stretching out from here to infinity."

Well, it is how clubbing seems to go. Some dance clubs do last a while, but the crowd does seem to follow the trendiest new place. So there is some social precedent here.

I suppose if one was creating a social networking site one might keep that particular dynamic in mind.

Comments

[bloodstones.livejournal.com]

Good goth clubs, however, often have a lot of staying power and a dedicated following. How's fetlife doing?

[st-rev.livejournal.com]

Some are like nightclubs, some are like bars.

[jab2.livejournal.com]

and yet, fewer of my friends have to use earplugs to survive a night on a social networking site.... :)

[dpolicar]

If I were creating a social networking site, I would design it with a distributed open-access data model, such that people could create and use new apps/front ends without needing to "migrate," and could adopt a best-of-breed approach across multiple apps without having to keep recreating the social network data.

[serendipity9000.livejournal.com]

I find it exhausting to even think about checking ANOTHER place for updates. Honestly, I currently find LJ the most pleasant to read.

[dirque.livejournal.com]

Both FB and google+ is about the ease of finding and adding people. LJ assumes they'll find you if they really try.

While I don't think Google+ is a winner- their graphic design is atrocious- it always lacks that final polish. I think it's good enough to destroy the one social network to rule them model. To me G+ is too much like FM calculator watches.

It tells time! It calculates! I can listen to the radiooooooo.

But is it something grandma would use?

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

What perplexes me in this quote is why this is a "horrible possibility." It's socializing. Socialization has flow and change. What's the big deal? Why is is this bad in any way?

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Sounds like we need a social networking system which has an infinite number of alternative sectors. Then one can engage in the infinite cycle of moving to a cooler sector while fleeing the less-cool who have arrived at one's current sector.