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It seems each day I’m presented with yet another "killer app" I need to go evaluate and monitor. These seem to have a few things in common. First, most seem to have these cutesy 3-7 letter names like "Blyk" and "Fark". Second, none of the names really reflect what the apps do.
Next, most of the home pages for these services use fluffy language to describe the value they offer - and it's difficult to understand how they may be distinct from other similar services within their niche. Finally, many of them are similar in functionality and purpose.
 I challenged myself to take a bit of a top-of-mind list of social applications - not including games a few days ago. It started with a list I had on a post-it note on my desk. Some are older and you'll recognize them. Some may be new to you, as they were to me. Note that this was a casual effort - and I quickly got to about 70, in number. Sorted alphabetically...
Backflip
Bebo
Blinklist
Bloglog
Blogmarks
Blyk
BrightKite
De.licio.us
Digg
Diigo
Disqus
Dopplr
Facebook
Fark
Faves
Feed Me Links
Flickr
Friendster
Friendfeed
Furl
Goodreads
Ilike
Jaiku
Jott
Hi5
Last.fm
Librarything
Linked in
Live
ma.gnolia
Mixx
MrWong
Multiply
Myspace
Newsvine
Netvibes
NetVous
Orkut
Pandora
Picasa
PhotoCrank
Plaxo
Pownce
Propeller
Reddit
Seesmic
Segnalo
Simpy
Slashdot
Slide
Slideshare
Smugmug
Spurl
Stumbleupon
Tailrank
Tumblr
Twirl
Twitter
Twitterbuzz
Upcoming
Utterz
Veotag
Vimeo
Wink
Qik
Yelp
Yidio
Zoomr
I actually put these in a spreadsheet and categorized them by type (Community, Utility, Media Sharing, Bookmarking...etc.) after looking up each one. I also added a brief description. This was a lot of work. (Thankfully, I had a client delay so I had time.) The thing is, I kept finding more as I went along. If you're reading this you may even know of others... I can't help but wonder how many more social apps are created each day...
Sunday's discovery (Yes, Mack - it was on Twitter) was "PLURK." I hadn't heard of Plurk before. Maybe I spend too much of my spare time changing diapers or something. Evidently, it's Toronto's answer to Friendfeed or Twitter. I'm not enthusiastic about the name... it reminds me of "PERVERT" plus "LURK" - not positive really. I guess at the least it is memorable.
Yes, I'm testing it (user name = livepath). Feel free to "friend" me. Same name on Twitter.
All this to say: Call me crazy but I'm seriously getting to the point of total social networking application saturation; so much so that I've developed a syndrome I call "APP REFLEX." It involves a facial tic, shoulder spasm and a gagging sinus noise. This came on gradually but was fully in force after one day of casual research. It's quite attractive!
Like the rest of you, I do have a day job. Fortunately, this is relevant to my day job, so I can justify writing this post. It's enough to say that it IS very hard to keep up on the exponential growth of the social applications, sites and utilities out there. It takes time to evaluate and use each one -- and some tinkering to figure out which tools are things that will become valuable for the future, and which things are fly-by-night, wannabe technologies.
This exponential growth is another reason why Forrester's Peter Kim recently produced research that indicates a very strong lack of confidence in agency ability to keep up on new technologies and know how to apply them intuitively to boost bottom line results and customer loyalty. ;-)
If by chance I happen to find something valuable, I've got to take the time to use it - and have it top-of-mind, and keep up on it - figure out how it's going to be valuable to my clients. That's not always easy. Truth be told -- the activity can be a colossal waste of time if one is not selective. Heck, even if I'm selective I wonder sometimes if all the distraction is worth it. I seem to be more connected and less productive these days.
This is part of the reason I was a latecomer to Twitter, although I'm a bit "twitterpated" now...
But there is hope as the apps proliferate. Last week, I was quite happy to find AddThis... an application that allows you to add one button to your site that allows users to Digg, Multiply, Bookmark, Reddit, Twitter away on any post... In fact, I believe it works with at least 20 services. Adding this to my site was grand time saver and I was happy not to have to add those links individually. ;-)
This brought me a little hope: Who knows how many other helpful utilities like this will come along for folks like me -- like us -- who are time starved and look for a way to cut through the noise and figure things out!
So I'm encouraged... and as the apps multiply like rabbits in heat...I will press on - bold and brave. I heard rumors about prescription drug trial for people dealing with APP REFLEX and I'm thinking of signing up.
Feel free to join me.
But seriously, if you know of more social apps, send them to me with a brief link or description. I'll do my best to publish this list with categories and descriptions in the near future on my website.
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Comments
I think Twitter would have done much better if they had gone with their more descriptive second choice name, "140CharacterMicrobloggingPlatform." ;)
Posted by: Nicholas Tolson | 06.05.08
If somebody wants to create a killer app, they would make a site where I could sign up once, fill out a profile form, and get registered at all the current sites all at once. Once more, it would be good to be able to opt into future offerings, so that I can at least grab my username on new sites, as they come online.
Posted by: Ed Healy | 06.05.08
Another great time-saver: ping.fm allows user to cross-post to a bunch of social networking sites, including Blogger, Facebook, Plurk, Twitter, MySpace and more...
http://www.ping.fm
Posted by: Ann Handley | 06.05.08
Don't forget Flock - a lovely social media-friendly browser. I just wish it supported Vimeo.
Posted by: Robin Houghton | 06.05.08
Nicholas - That's funny!
Ed - Good idea
Ann and Robin - Thanks - they're on the list now.
I've also added Yideo (media sharing / video search engine) and Geotag (location based tagging) since I first wrote that list...
Posted by: leigh | 06.05.08
There is actually an app better than AddThis. It's called ShareThis.
In addition to letting you Digg, Multiply, Bookmark, Twitter a post, you can also email or send the post to someone via Instant Message. Or post an interesting post link directly to your blog.
Not to mention it has an unobtrusive and customizable look that will fit with most site designs.
*For the moment* ShareThis has everything a social media addict could want in an app.
Posted by: Jesse Kanclerz | 06.05.08
Hm. May test this ... But you can also do IM notifications with Addthis.com. The thing I see that is a problem with ShareThis this is the button. NO ONE WILL KNOW what it is. I like ADD THIS' button because it has teaser icons and you can click for more.
- L
Posted by: leigh | 06.05.08
Since this morning - I've added these.
Geotag
Flock
Ping.fm
Mashable
Xanga
Snap
Digsby
Yoono
Youniverse
Youmail
Blip
MyTrybe
And it's only 11 am.
Posted by: Leigh | 06.05.08
I did not see Hoovers Connect on the list. A client of mine has one as well called My Daily Thread where you share fashion ideas.
I just joined a professional event site called eventpeeps.com
I also have a list somewhere, but I have to leave. I'll look it up later and share with you.
Posted by: Harry HAllman | 06.05.08
Just remebered EONS.com
Posted by: Harry Hallman | 06.05.08
It is hard to tell at this stage whether or not there will ever be an over-saturation of free applications on the internet.
Posted by: Levon | 06.05.08
May be of interest: "Using a single digital identity across the Internet." Haven't really explored this yet, but it seems to be the start of a solution to Network Application Overload. http://openid.net/
Posted by: LeanneHeller | 06.05.08
You must know there's a lot of languages in the world. And for example, you have at least 5-10 just slovenian social networks, mostly copies of others.
And if you consider English is just the second largest used language in the world... then you can multiply your list by 50 times at least? :-)
Posted by: Dusan Vrban | 06.06.08
Good point, Dusan. This is underscoring my point nicely. I focused on US and Europe, mainly, but didn't get into the detail of slovenian social networks. :-)
Posted by: leigh | 06.06.08
I wanted to know if by any chance you would be interested in doing an unbiased review of our product.
If you agree we will send you a product sample so that you can try it and then write a review about it.
Please let me know if you are interested.
Thank you
Posted by: Erin | 06.07.08
You *do* know about Profilactic, don't you? They currently keep tabs on your activity on 186 sites. That would be a good source for building your list (not to mention aggregating your stuff).
http://www.proflilactic.com
Posted by: Scott Monty | 06.07.08
You *do* know about Profilactic, don't you? They currently keep tabs on your activity on 186 sites. That would be a good source for building your list (not to mention aggregating your stuff).
http://www.profilactic.com
Posted by: Scott Monty | 06.07.08
Leigh this is exactly why there's no such thing as a 'social media expert'. There are new social sites and tools being created and unveiled every single day, and it's impossible to keep tabs on them all. Just with micro-messaging, I am active now on Twitter and Plurk, have spent about 15 mins total on Pownce, and about 5 on Jaiku.
Best you can hope for is to be familiar with the most popular tools in each sector. It can be a lot of fun, but can also be maddening at times.
Posted by: mack collier | 06.07.08
You could go on forever. Did you mention Meebo?!
Jake McAuley wrote on revealing a list of over 500 such sites.
http://www.scribd.com/word/full/1036413?access_key=key-1o0zlyyepyqnp269to1c
I share your sentiment...because with my job I find out about these things as well! I'll see you on Twitter!
Posted by: Tonisha | 06.09.08
I haven't even got into using Twitter yet and now there is Plurk?? LinkedIn and Digg are about the only ones I'm using.
And I have to agree about the fluffy names with 4-7 letters...why is everyone doing this?....
http://www.hiyaya.com
"Changing the face of e-commerce"
Posted by: Nathan | 06.09.08
I think your comment about being more connected and less productive is very timely. For those involved on the business end of social media they can spend a lot longer using tools such as twitter to stay on top of what is happening.
This is certainly not the case for the typical man / woman on the street who is already suffering from information overload.
I think that Ning looks interesting as you define a network around an activity or an interest, and then have lots of networks, this is more how things are in real life. As an example I might have a network of my close friends, one for family members, I have a social scene around our local bar, the fishing crowd, etc. The tool will need to be able to allow the user to reveal as much or as little of of themselves to different networks, again much as in real life.
One of the issues is that most of these tools are predominantly used whilst sitting at a desk or on your sofa. Not particularly social at all.
I believe the future will be mobile. Its the best social networking tool we have. It will need to have more intuitive interfaces and tools that are usable by all (not just by those who job is technology related)
Mike Ashworth
Marketing Coach and Consultant
Brighton and Hove, Sussex, UK
Posted by: mike ashworth | 06.11.08
In response to Ed Healy. Open ID (openid.net) and OpenSocial by Google (http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/) are the future of integration.
Also, three more to add to the list are:
www.teebeedee.com
www.muxtape.com
www.oovoo.com
Posted by: Chris Bonney | 06.12.08
Mad Mimi is another one. Great article.
Posted by: Carl Oats | 07.26.08
Well, guys - thanks!
Scott Monty - YES. I've got profilactic on the list.
I've got a list compiled with over 350 sites - some have descriptions and usage stats...
I have another PDF with 500 more. If you'd like these resources, contact me at http://livepath.blogspot.com and I will send it to you!
Posted by: Leigh Duncan-Durst | 07.27.08
Can't edit my post but my contact URL is http://www.livepath.net/about.asp Sorry about that.
Posted by: Leigh Durst | 08.20.08
Hi Leigh,
Great article, and interesting comments. I agree with Mike Ashworth...most of the average Joes and Janes won't be hopping on the next flutterfly bus app.
I am a frequent Facebook user (Myspace is a bit too chaotic for my taste) and love being connected with my little community there, but often am annoyed by the "weeds" that pop up...those silly applications that compare me to a Disney character, etc!
I soon get a sense of which of my friends are big fans of these and generally just ignore, but some of the ones that purportedly support good cause are harder to ignore.
Wondering if Twitter is enhancing the quality of most users' lives, or just creating more static?
Thanks again, and keep up the good writing!
Ann
Posted by: Ann | 09.14.08