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The Miscellaneous Social Products

I’ve explored the main social media platforms over the last few weeks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and You Tube, but there are so many more.  Far more than I could explore in a blog series.  Every week it seems like something new is coming out, a new social platform, a social extension to an existing site, or a revamp.  Take for example, Myspace.  Back in 2009, most people considered Myspace dead.  They had a huge number of users deleting accounts and either moving to Facebook or choosing not to replace it.  Late last year, Myspace went through a huge redesign and was bought out (by Justin Timberlake, no less).  The new layout, design, functionality, and focus on music made it totally relevant again.  It’s sleek and stylish and AdAge even had a feature that showed the preview of the new site and subtitled it “It’ll Make you wish you didn’t delete your account back in 2008”.  And it did.

That example demonstrates how fluid this market is.  It is constantly changing.  A few other players in the social market include:

  • Klout – Though it’s pretty useless, it does assign you a score based on their algorithm measuring web and social presence.  For example, President Obama has a Klout score of 99.  Someone with 50 Facebook friends and no other social media would be 0.  Does this do anything besides measure your score in relative terms? No.  But it looks like they’re trying to evolve somewhat, so this may be one that changes.
  • Quora – This site is a good way to demonstrate authorship or authority in particular subjects about which you are an expert.  People ask questions (some informed, some silly and random) and people post responses.  The idea is to show a thorough understanding of the topic because it can be a way to add your name in the social world as a thought leader.
  • The music sites: Last.FM, Spotify, Soundcloud, etc.  Share playlists, find new artists, listen to music, see ads.  If you’re in the music world, you could probably list tons of these sites and their various social implications, but for most people they aren’t particularly useful beyond the social lines.
  • Blogging and microblogging – Tumblr, Blogger, Blogspot, WordPress, etc.  Same rules apply as any blog.  You can have photo blogs, personal blogs, industry blogs; it’s fairly limitless.

The key is always to know what’s available for your industry and what makes sense when you apply business principles.  And, as always, ensure you have privacy settings in place and review them quarterly.