Friendster has a love-hate relationship with most everyone I’ve ever encountered that uses the system. For the most part, the excitement surrounding Friendster seems to set in early in the process and then quickly dissipates. Any user that’s attempted to stay committed to the service has surely encountered a number the problems, usually starting with the speed issue and onto any assortment of other gripes.

In many respects, Friendster has been out of the limelight for some time now. Though viral marketing system inherent to the application itself has kept traffic numbers up there, there is not nearly the same level of press coverage the once-darling used to garner. Some are inclined to believe that more recent actions indicate an even worst fate in the near future.

danah boyd posts some interesting comments (also here):

Friendster realizes that it has lost the attention of its earliest adopters. This morning, Friendster sent a message to a select number of people that they labeled as “SuperFriends.” It’s a usability survey where they are asking for users’ advice on an email campaign. There are four different potential emails that they sent out as screen shots.

[…]

The tone of these messages is desperate, begging for attention of the original early adopters - the ones that Abrams told me were ruining his system. One focuses on Burning Man types; one mocks the old Power Point COO; one charges non-users with harming children; one is a desperate love poem. They’re hyper American-centric, SF-centric, white collar, wannabee hipster, intentionally attempting sarcasm (and clarifying that below) and complete with 80s references.

I guess Friendster isn’t happy with the majority of its users being young and from Asia. Does this mean that Friendster has its tail between its legs about its early egotistical behavior? Apparently, viral marketing isn’t working well enough anymore.

Source: Many 2 Many, “Friendster is desperate; viral marketing failed”

It really begs the question, though. How large can an online community become before its utility breaks down? This breakdown is likely to happen on 2 fronts, technical and social. From the technical point of view, complex systems require complex solutions. At the rate some of these systems are cropping up, one must always wonder how scalable the system is (especially when there are already visible cracks in the system). Socially, we’ve got things like Dunbar and other group metrics that seem to indicate that beyond a certain size, utility falls off considerably.

Is Friendster suffering a mid-life crisis or pointing to a threshold?

As mentioned what seems like moments ago, Blue-ing is growing in popularity, though in very small disparate systems across the globe. Adding another straw to the camel’s back, we have BEDD. BEDD is a living, functioning system that is slowly starting to take shape in Singapore that works very similarly to the Mobule system.

The software automatically searches for and exchanges profiles with other phones that come within a 20-metre (65 ft) radius. Matched users are given each other’s contact details.

“I’ve become close with people that I’ve never known before, built up a close clique of friends whom I chill out with, sleep over at their homes and go for late suppers with,” said Lim, 19.

Source: CNN.com, “Wanted: New friend, must have Bluetooth”

Joe McCarthy adds some more insight to this phenomena by digging up a more detailed comment about the service:

For the end-users, BEDD costs only S$0.98 per month and offers a full menu of BEDD-functions: BEDDmates - searches automatically for friendship or dating; BEDDbay - searches automatically for items to buy, sell and trade; BEDDtalk - allows users to send free SMS with Bluetooth range either person to person or broadcast to a group simultaneously; BEDDbuddies - alerts users when their buddies or family are close by; BEDDshare - superdistribution of the software where users can share with each other; and BEDDfish - allows users to send Bluetooth messages to any Bluetooth enabled phone.

Source: Hardware Zone via Gumption, “BEDD: Multidimensional Social Software for Bluetooth Phones”

I’m most intrigued not by the technology per se, as it’s really not reached anything close to a wide enough base to be useful (in a meaningful manner), but moreso in the philosophy that drives this product. There are two difference that I think worthy of note:

• Autonomy - Unlike Mobule and many of the other services, the BEDD service uses a local application to provide its processing and filtering. This has some pros and some cons, of course. There will be inherently different kinds of filtering that are allowed since there is less processing power and data available, generally, on these portable devices than on server farms. Of course, this is almost not an issue when the context is considered. It’s important to note that we are connecting passing parties, people in motion with minimal contact. This creates a need for efficiency, the kind that passes as little as possible between devices.

• Application - While the majority of the mobile social networking systems are focused on forming social relationships, the BEDD system has some early applications that encourage/enable financial relationships (the sale or barter of things). Is this a potential expansion point for things like EBay?

Peter Caputa asks a very good question: “BUT, DOES ANYONE USE THESE FANCY SERVICES?”. I think until we see the interfaces for cellular phones improved to the point that there is easy utilization of these devices, widespread deployment of Bluetooth components to mobile, pocket, and related devices, and standardization of a Bluetooth protocol (there are many formats and security issues to consider), we’re still going to see pre-dominantly small communities for the near future.

Lately it seems that more and more tools and services are released that provide us with the opportunity to dynamically establish and map naturally and socially formed networks..

Here’s a roundup of some of the new initiatives/thoughts circulating most recently.

WhoAt.com

I came across this service first at the Social Software Web Log. The WhoAt.com service is strikingly similar to dodgeball, though technologically more accessible, in my opinion. While dodgeball makes use of SMS (text messaging) for communication, WhoAt makes use of WAP, XHTML, SMS, HTML. This provides the user with not only a wider platform for participating in the system but also a richer experience to boot.

Currently, it’s running in only San Francisco and New York (which means I can try it out). I’ll report more when I get some friends into the system.

Pocket Rendezvous Emerges as Pocketster

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Pocket Rendezvous was set to provide dynamic networking for PocketPC users. Gizmodo reports on the final release of the product:

Razvan Dragomirescu, CTO of Simeda, wrote to let us know that the official version of Pocket Rendezvous, now branded as ‘Pocketster,’ has been released. Pocketster lets you set up a personal web server on your PocketPC, allowing, among other things, the streaming of MP3 files over WiFi, meaning that connected PocketPCs can become their own streaming networked radio stations. In addition, regular stuff like JPEGs and HTML can be shared, as well. Right now, the free version has been tested only on Windows Mobile 2003 devices (although it may work for Windows Mobile 2002), and messes around with some of the Pocket PC Zeroconf (zero configuration toll) settings to prevent your Pocket PC from trying to connect to your preferred network when Pocketster’s ad-hoc network is running. What I’m saying is, don’t mess around with this version of Pocketster unless you’re willing to potentially screw up (until you edit them back in) some of your wireless settings.

A soon-to-be-released version called ‘Pocketster Pro’ will allow you to join existing networks without creating an ad-hoc one (and without screwing up your settings) in a few weeks, presumably for pay (although Simeda doesn’t say for certain).

Gizmodo, “Pocket Rendezvous Officially Released as ‘Pocketster’”

If anyone has a PocketPC and tries to use it, I’d be interested to here more. By the way, why is everyone obsessed with the -ster, Pocketster?

Familiar Strangers

Joe Bartling provides some thoughts and links to tales and research on Familiar Strangers. Joe hits things on the head as he talks about the potential:

The integration of “location-aware” and short-range wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, and online, real-time access to information about one’s social network (like LinkedIn or Orkut) and familiar strangers, will enable all kinds of interaction between people, from entertainment, such as digital street game, to impromptu business meetings. Intel’s Jabberwocky software for MIDP 2.0-compatible phones with Java J2ME support, enables familiar strangers to recognize each other when chance encounters occur. Services such as Dodgeball allows for your current location to be announced to your “friends” and “friends of friends” that happen to be nearby, as long as you live in the 10 cities currently supported by Dodgeball.

Source: Spiderware.com, ” Familiar Strangers and “Location-Aware” Social Networking”

[update] Oddly enough, I was editing this post to point out Peter’s great list-of-links regarding the mobile social networking efforts when I noticed he was pointing back at me.

A couple of days ago I posted a quick announcement regarding Simedia’s soon -to-be announced product, Pocket Rendezvous. This entry proved to be quite popular and was viewed and trackbacked quite a bit over the past few days. Out of them all, Sandy McMurray’s trackback particularly struck a chord with me.

Sandy makes two observations that are worth taking note of. First and foremost, he deals with the issue from a Mac-centric point of view. Sandy goes each of my use cases (Conference Management, Classroom Coordination, Business Networking, and Location-based Services) and identifies existing technologies that cater to these different audiences - all using the Apple-centric implementation of Rendezvous.

Unfortunately, I think Sandy has it wrong and is comparing apples and oranges (no pun intended). I’d have to make the case that the most important aspect of Pocket Rendezvous is the “pocket” one. Consider the unique traits of pocket/mobile devices.

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Social networks are everywhere and their value, though disputable, is undeniable. It is clear that individuals that are able to leverage both their strong and weak ties can quickly maneuver through any number of unique challenges, far more deftly that someone lacking the requisite “social tools”. In this case, we’re getting more evidence from the United States Armed Forces.

Commanders have the ability to make exceptions for soldiers with special circumstances; otherwise, soldiers won’t be able to leave the service or transfer from their unit until they return to their home base after the deployment.

The move will allow the Army to keep units together as they deploy, Hagenbeck said. Units with new recruits or recently transferred soldiers would not perform as well because the troops would not have had time to work together.

“The rationale is to have cohesive, trained units going to war together,” Hagenbeck said.

Source: CNN.com, “Army widens ’stop-loss’ program”

In an unrelated report, Knowledge@Wharton has published a paper titled “Why Global Business Needs Kinder, Gentler Entrepreneurs and Leaders”. As the abstract describes:

Images of entrepreneurs and leaders tend to focus on the vision and guts needed to get ventures off the ground or on the solitary hero leading the crowds. At the recent Lauder Institute Alumni Association Global Business Forum in New York, however, two panels on entrepreneurship and leadership debunked these notions. Speakers at the conference said entrepreneurs need social networking skills as much as business savvy to succeed. As for leaders who want to be effective in global business, they need to learn that arrogance is out, humility is in.

BusinessWire via Social Software Web Log

Surely, the landscape and peril are completely different, but the parallels are undeniable.

A valuable characteristic of a network is the inherent ability for nodes to discover their parents, siblings, and children. For years, more and more network technologies have been spawned that ease this process for not only the humans at the helm but also for the system agents that drudge through the data on our behalf.

Apple computer released a very unique network recognition system, aptly named Rendezvous as part of its OSX operating system. The basic role of Rendezvous is to allow machines, and inadvertently their operators, to locate available networks and initiate conversations, in one form or another. For the most part, these conversations are either social a la user-user chat or functional a la synchronization, streaming, and sharing of files/resources.

In the next few weeks, the Rendezvous methodology of auto-discovery will be unlatched from Apple, and more importantly. from the desktop and destined for your pocket. A bright developer, Razvan Dragomirescu of Simedia, is poised to release his newest application: Pocket Rendezvous. As described:

It’s a web server for the Pocket PC that advertises itself to other Pocket PCs in the neighbourhood wirelessly using ad-hoc WiFi networks and Rendezvous. Windows users can look here for a Windows Rendezvous browser/publisher. Pocket Rendezvous also allows you to browse for nearby devices running Pocket Rendezvous and view the content published by the Pocket Rendezvous server on those devices. You can also browse for regular Rendezvous services published on your network.

Source: Smart Mobs, “Pocket Rendezvous”

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A couple of months ago Onfolio launched its shared search technology which facilitated collaboration and planning amongst a small collective. A new startup, Pluck, is hoping to steal some of that fame and perhaps expand on the promise.

Pluck has spawned into existence to extend and enhance the abilities, and shortcomings, on Microsoft Internet Explorer. Using a plug-in approach similar to Onfolio, Pluck raises the bar by adding additional features to the mix. Pluck provides four key functions: Content Sharing, RSS Reading, Bookmarking, and Search.

Though new to the game, and not quite as polished as Onfolio, Pluck seems like it could be a serious contender in the long term. As News.com reports:

Pluck was founded last year by Andrew Busey, who helped build Mosaic, the Internet’s first browser, and Dave Panos, the creator of IBM Lotus SameTime, an early Web collaboration application. Pluck is the latest company attempting to generate business by marketing software that aims to augment IE. An increasing number of companies have sprung up in this market over the last year, such as Onfolio, which sells a content aggregation application that works with Microsoft’s browser.

Unlike Onfolio, which charges $30 to $80 for different versions of its browser-based tools, Pluck is distributing its software free of charge from its Web site and hoping to drive profits through paid listings. The company is using a similar sales model to the one employed by search giant Google, in which companies bid for specific terms and have their ads appear when users complete a search or access content relevant to their business.

The Austin, Texas-based company estimates that so far it has attracted several thousand people who have begun using a test version of its software.

News.com. “Start-up looks to add pluck to browsers”

News.com has run a Knowledge@Warton piece regarding some of the business aspects of social networking and its future in the business and social worlds.

Here’s an excerpt from the end:

The broader social networks may find that there are only so many people interested in networking, that many of those interested in joining social networks won’t pay fees of any sort, and that, as the novelty of networking fades, members will drift away, especially if networks seem to deliver less than they promise.

As a result, some social networks will disappear. Others, the betting goes, will be subsumed by bigger fish interested in using them to provide ancillary benefits to existing customers. Zero Degrees, a Los Angeles-based social networking service, has already been devoured by Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp. Conversely, experts also expect that existing Web-based businesses will add social networking to their services, thus ratcheting up further the pressure on the start-ups. Monster.com–which might expect to see its business cannibalized by social networking aimed at helping people connect for jobs–recently added networking to its offerings, telling subscribers that it will help “introduce you to the right people.”

All in all, the betting is that only a handful will be left standing after another 18 to 24 months have passed. “I can’t imagine that there is room for more than one dominant social network, one dominant business network and one network for special interests,” Croson says.

Source: News.com, “Need a job? How about a date?”

The other day the term metadata came up at the casual roundtable. Of course, most everyone understood what was being talked about, and it’s the sort of thing anyone intuitively imparts meaning to, however someone asked what it meant.

So it’s essentially data about data — data that describes and assists in contextualizing other data. Social networking applications are filled with metadata. Of course, the barrier at which one crosses from true data to metadata is somewhat blurry (intentionally so for many reasons). However, if we go on the basic assumption that the most crude, emprical indentifying information is about us, then quite a bit fits into the other bucket. So, as I’ve stated before, You Are Not Your Khakis, erm, Your Profile.

However, those snapshots are valuable — especially considering our memories highly consist of snapshots with some connective tissue. Unlike real memories though, which can be filtered and otherwise polarized, today’s methods of persistence have much more stickiness.

Which brings me to the main point — how much metadata can we handle. There are two perspectives I think worth mentioning. On the one hand, we’ve got the summary effect — the total memory we have available to us. On the other hand, there’s the runtime memory — the memory that is swapped into and out of our active memories.

This arrangement is very powerful and extremely efficient. It’s no wonder that we’ve modeled computers, and software systems to boot, to mimic this natural behavior. Recently, we’ve seen a slew of tools that are aiming to extend our contextual, runtime understanding of information. Multimedia (how old does that word seem these days?) promises to enrich our lives and “store” more and more than we ever realized was possible.

Stowe Boyd points out hooks in the Picassa/Blogger integration that promises to build storylines while Ross Mayfield comments on Flickr Notes, a new metadata system designed to spur not only runtime but also associative memories.

These happenings are not new and will continue to be outdone as we embark on the next phase of social mapping.

Matt Web has posted a series of notes and ideas on understanding social software and its role in our futures. For anyone that’s been reading this site and not quite figured out what all these concepts are related to, it’s a good read.

Find it here (via Many 2 Many).