Mediaboss Marketing

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites on the Internet with 750 million users. Bob Crisp/The Daily Home

Facebooks closest competitors, Twitter, LinkedIn, My Space, and Google, dont come close to having as many subscribers. In fact, according to eBiz, an ebusiness data group that ranks Internet business traffic, Facebooks unique monthly visitor numbers outnumber the rest of the top 15 social networks combined.

Internet technology has changed the way many people communicate. According to a recent Consumer Report (Facebook and your privacy), Facebook Chief Operation Officer Sheryl Sandberg believes Facebook and other social networks are rewriting the rules of social engagement.

With Internet access, anyone can use the social network to communicate with family, friends and acquaintances globally. Social networks provide opportunities to share photos of family, include others in celebrating success stories or even vent over irritating issues.

Families have found solace by joining support groups such as Marine Moms, Bravo Family and Friends, and others.

Through the network family and friends of deployed Marines can pass information to the general population, express feelings and frustrations about missing loved ones that others might not understand, give and receive ideas about what to send to the troops, and exchange words of encouragement.

Social communication has long provided the exchange of ideas and information. In Blount County, on Straight Mountain south of Oneonta, an oak tree once served as the communitys Facebook.

The tree stood at a fork in the dirt road, one way going to an old mill and spring, the other to the top of the mountain. The number of nails and staples found in the tree when it was cut down indicated there were hundreds of announcements posted on the tree through the years.

At the spring, women gathered to wash clothes and catch up on community news who had been sick, who was getting married, who was having a baby, etc.

Fast-forward to the 1980s. A popular TV program focused on the importance of social interaction. Cheers was a perennial favorite, running for 11 years. Its theme song reflected the social need of those gathering at the tavern. It was a place where everyone knows my name.

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The dangers of social networking

The iPhone app links drivers ready to vacate a parking space with those looking for a place to park.

NEW YORK -- Social networking has finally come to the aid of drivers ceaselessly circling in hopes of finding a parking spot on Union Street or North Beach in San Francisco. Here at TechCrunch Disrupt, KurbKarma launched an iPhone app that could take the pain out of parking.

A user ready to vacate a parking spot publishes his or her spot to the app, which it locates on a map and then sends out the availability to the KurbKarma social network. Drivers circling the area can see the spots locally available, and send a request to take a spot. Drivers choose the lucky driver, and earn "KarmaKredits." Those taking the spots pay with the same currency. KurbKarma takes a $1 fee for each parking transaction.

The business opportunity could be significant. According to company co-founder Neha Sampat, San Francisco has about 400,000 parking spots, of which 50,000 are in high demand. The high-demand spots result in about 130 million parking exchanges per year. If KurbKarma attains just a small fraction of the exchanges, it could have a healthy business. The company plans to extend its social network to 25 cities, and claims its could generate $30 million per year in revenue for alleviating parking pain. KurbKarma could also end up with an auction model as drivers compete for spaces as the social network grows in specific locations.

However, KurbKarma will need to move fast in building its social network across the nation and globe, or get acquired by a more mature social network, given that the barrier to entry is low. The company was founded in January 2012 and has raised just $10,000. If the company could integrate with smart parking meters and help drivers avoid the fines, it would alleviate an even bigger pain point.

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KurbKarma makes car parking social

Everyme attracted nearly half a million users in their first month of operation. Here's why they jumped to the web and Android so quickly--and why Facebook's success is good news for other social networking services.

Everyme, a heavily funded social networking service, made it big last week when they unveiled web and Android versions of their previously iPhone-only app. The social networking service restricts itself to users' friends and families, and has a series of sophisticated algorithms that automatically determine how contacts know Everyme users. Everyme isn't just high-tech: It's also an early peak at the post-Facebook future of specialized social networks.

The California-based social networking service's secret source is a series of algorithms that go through a user's phonebook/contact list and automatically sort contacts into coworkers, family members, friends, neighbors, work contacts and other sublists--with a surprisingly high success rate. In a phone conversation with Fast Company, CEO Oliver Cameron explained that the algorithms were designed to understand the relationships between end users and their contacts. More importantly, Everyme was only able to provide their service with the advent of cloud computing--by using Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company was able to get the computer brainpower their sophisticated algorithms require.

Everyme, of course, is well funded and has prominent backers. The Y Combinator graduate recently raised $1.5 million in seed funding from a team of Silicon Valley A-listers including Andreessen-Horowitz, Crunchfund, and Greylock Partners. Since launching in April 2012, Everyme has attracted over 400,000 users--a staggering growth rate. Everyme's backers hope that the company will continue to attract similar numbers of new users over the next few months.

Social networking in 2012 is an odd game. The old Facebook-MySpace-Friendster (remember those?) wars are over and Mark Zuckerberg's creation is the Internet's de facto user directory in much of the world. Facebook attempts to be all things to all people. But while Facebook is ubiquitous, it also fails at niches. Spotify unites music lovers. Path caters to close circles of friends. Foodspotting caters to foodies. Goodreads is for readers. Instagram's for photo geeks. The list goes on and on--with the notable exception of LinkedIn, Twitter, and Tumblr, the only three truly successful non-Facebook social networking sites that exist in private ecosystems.

Like Spotify, Foodspotting, Goodreads, and Instagram, Everyme is also integrated with Facebook. Users can share Facebook status updates with circles of contacts via Everyme. Interestingly, Everyme has no option at all for public sharing: All content posted through the service goes directly to restricted circles of contacts.

Everyme's default social circles include Family, Friends, Co-workers, and Sweethearts. Users can easily customize social circles and all content is self-contained; stories, photos, and files posted to Everyme cannot be republished on sites like Facebook. However, Everyme does allow users to share content from Facebook, Instagram, and others on their site.

Ironically, Facebook's popularity makes it possible for other social networking sites to flourish. Facebook's Achilles heel is their awful mobile product, which makes it possible for smartphone-centric services like Everyme, Path, and Instagram to thrive (and, ironically, competitor Google+). More importantly, Facebook offers a massive list of services it provides to users. Most of these services work well, but none of them work great. This leaves space for more specialized social networking services to operate and, of course, make a profit. And if Everyme doesn't work, hey, at least users will still have one heck of an address book organizer.

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Everyme And Social Networking's Future

According to a recent poll by the Associated Press and CNBC, 46 percent of respondents think Facebook will fade away as new things come along. Thats an ominous data point for a company whose IPO dominated the news cycle last week, and claims some 900 million worldwide users.

Facebook seems to be infiltrating every facet of our lives. Like buttons appear on every website. Like us on Facebook! shouts at us during TV commercials. And more and more apps rely on Facebook to simply log in. Its starting to feel more than a little oppressive its like were living in a blue-and-white-painted jail cell.

And all this IPO madness is just foul icing on the cake.

So where do you turn when the worlds been stricken with Facebook fever? We rounded up seven apps that could satisfy your social networking needs should Facebook go down the tubes or you just cant take it anymore.

As Facebook fervor dies down, Googles social networking attempt could rise up to the occasion, and dare we say it eventually take its place.

The popularity of Google+ is definitely on the rise. A number of commenters pointed out in our hands-on with Googles redesigned iOS app that they are fervent users of the network, finding it a great source for quality content minus the moronic posts that litter Facebook feeds.

Speaking of the redesign, Google+s updated iPhone app (see photo above) features an attractive, almost post-modern aesthetic and a much-improved user experience. The Android version is set to get a facelift in the near future, too. Google+ is one of the few social networks that has both a robust mobile and web experience, making it a strong contender for those tired of that other social network.

For something a little different, how about a social network based entirely around sharing video? Thats Viddy.

You can take a video using the apps camera, which has adjustable white balance, exposure, and focus settings. You can also grab a video already in your camera roll, and upload it to Viddy. From there, you can go hog-wild with Instagram-like creativity, adding one of a handful of different filters Vintage, Black & White, and Crystal are default options, with more available as free in-app downloads. You can also add music, transitions, and other visual effects.

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7 Social Networking Apps for When Facebook Jumps the Shark

17-05-2012 22:17 Facebook is planning to sell 18 per cent of its company to the public on Friday in an IPO that could value the social networking site at $ 100 billion.

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FTN: Does social media offer more value than mainstream media? - Video