Four Important Social Network Characteristics
By Rob Safuto on Apr 14, 2007 in Advice, Networking, Social Media | Tags: Building , Characteristics , Designing , Social Networks , Success
I’m starting to get more inquiries from people who are looking to build or show off new social networks. These communications have got me to thinking about some important characteristics of social networks that shouldn’t be overlooked.
- Functionality - The features that you provide on your social network amount to a web based service. Does the service you’ve created provide the features that you want it to provide?
- Usability - Okay, so your features are there. If those features aren’t easily usable then growth of the network may suffer. Can everyday folks easily use the features in your social network?
- Performance - People hate slow websites. You can’t always control the speed of web page delivery to an individual computer but you can make sure there are no bottlenecks on the server side. How well does your site handle heavy loads or unexpected traffic spikes?
- Aesthetics - Looking good is important. Are your pages bursting with too much content? Are the graphics gaudy and overpowering? Or is your presentation clean and inviting?
There are surely more than these four things to consider, but I believe that these are very important. In this case the execution is just as important as the idea. A poorly executed idea for a social network may never get off the ground.
[tags]Social Media, Social Networks, Building, Designing, Success, Characteristics[/tags]
