The role of private social networks in a Facebook world

I attended a really interesting mashup events panel debate this week on Private Social Networks.

What caught my eye about this was that although I’ve tried out a few private networks myself: Ning, Path (really restricted social networks coalescing around photos) and more recently the beta of MyCube, I’m still not sure how these offerings grab traction against the sheer usefulness / ubiquity of Facebook. Even with the rebalanced privacy vs. utility equation they appear to offer.

I also thought with my marketers hat on: how do brands interact with these closed / private networks to provide monetisation and assure some degree of post-launch survival? Do the numbers exist to leverage real interaction in decent enough volume to generate ‘value’, in whatever form, for their users?

Basically I had lots of questions so this event looked appealing. And it proved a good bet to attend. The speakers clearly knew their stuff, having built such networks or acted as investors / mentors to others to do just that.

The panel included Alexis Dormandy, CEO  of www.lovethis.com (@adormandy ), Julian Ranger from DADapp.com (amongst other things) ( @rangerj) ,Dominic Wheatley from SocialGo (@socialgo) and Steve Dale, The Knowledge Hub ( @stephendale).

So why the need for Private Social Networks? What makes them so appealing? Well, the clue’s in the name – private. Julian Ranger made a good point that for many (most?) users of Facebook there’s a lack of understanding or clarity around what the long term repercussions of lax digital privacy could mean. His point was that the permanence of what we commit to the web plus the ease for others of searching all that information (and ascribing it back to us as individuals), means many people could be ‘self harming’ their future selves (jobs, career progression, future relationships etc). Personally I’m not so sure.  I get that point of view in more extreme examples but I think ‘the mass market’ of users consciously accept that what they commit to Facebook, now, is forever ‘out there’ and feel that it’s worth the trade off for the convenience, the connectedness to friends, bragging rights and being able to do increasingly more (e.g. f-commerce) from one single jump off point.

That said, as information is increasingly being used without our explicit permission, the issue of trust (a word that came up a lot in parts of the discussion) may swing the tide towards many private social networks and less to one ubiquitous F-shaped one.

However, the sheer scale and usefulness of Facebook means it’s unlikely to be usurped soon (although MySpace shifted more dramatically and declined faster than you may have thought it would). But the guys on the panel weren’t talking usurping or revolution. Instead they talked about working with and around Facebook (and Twitter) in order to nurture more specialist networks that could find a home outside of Facebook City Square but still within the city walls.

For example SocialGo.com caters for specialist businesses or social groups and if (which is the key part) you attract users, get enough traction and sustain it, there are ways to monetise the network. SocialGo isn’t set up as a Facebook alternative, actually it integrates Facebook and others services in to the platform. The attraction is that these closed communities let you discuss / share/ nerd / fan / enthusiast out without having to make it public on Facebook.

Steve Dale talked about the increasingly important role of the Facilitator, or Network Connector (volunteer or paid-for specialist) to ensure that the Private Social Network that’s been set up is there to grow in the long run. Left to their own devices the handful of initial enthusiasts will run out of steam, so someone needs to introduce fresh content, to point people in the right direction, to add catalytic questions etc.

Have a look at some of the links here if you are interested in this area. See what you think from the perspective of a punter and  marketer (we all have more than one persona) and if you haven’t already seen it (and I was reminded of it at the mashup night) have a look at (ex Google, now Facebook) Paul Adams’ excellent presentation from last year that covers off pretty much all the areas I’ve mentioned here :

Finally , my take on the night was shared on a public social network (Twitter) with one of my (shared) personas (@brassagency) as: