Social Networking Website Analysis
Social Networking Website Analysis (2004)
TheFaceBook
Thefacebook is an online directory that connects people through social networks at 298 colleges and universities.
Features/Capabilities
· Search for people at your school
· Find out who is in your classes
· Look up your friends' friends
· See a visualization of your social network
· Contact Info
o gender
o Status
o Concentration
o Second concentration
o House
o Room
o Mailbox
o Phone
o Preferred email
o Year
o Birthday
o Home address
o City
o State
o Zip
o High school
· Personal Info
o Screen name
o Cell phone
o Interested in meeting (friendship, dating, a relationship, random play, whatever I can get)
o Interested in (men, women)
o Relationship status (single, in a relationship, in an open relationship, married)
o Interests
o Clubs and jobs
o Favorite music
o Favorite books
o Favorite movies
o Favorite quote
o About me
o Website
· Courses
· Picture without caption
· Groups
o 4 types:
§ Open – anyone can join and see the message board
§ Close – administrative approval required for new members to join; only members can see message board
§ Invitation only – you can only join if administrator invites you; only members can see message board
§ Invitation only (invisible) – same as invitation only, except it will not appear in search results and will not be visible to non-members.
o Can optionally show related groups that group members are also in
o Can optionally show groupies (people who are friends with many people in the group)
o Have a logo
o Message board
o Can hide evidence that your belong to the group
· See links to people (restricted to your own school)
· Away message (leave messages on your profile for others)
· Wall (place for people to post messages on your profile page)
· Shows where you last logged in from
· Pictures of friends are randomly displayed on profile page
· Messaging system (send message to anyone)
· Poking (similar to flirting, perhaps)
· Searching
o Intra-school search
o Global search
· Adding to your friends requires approval from the friend
· You can invite friends via an email interface
· Highly hyperlinked interface
Friendster
Friendster is an online community that connects people through networks of friends.
Features/Capabilities
· Web Search powered by Eurekster allows you to search the web with your friends. Unlike other searches, Friendster's web search returns results that matter most to your personal network or to all Friendster members.
· Search anyone with criteria related to personal traits, physical traits, geographic location, interests, proximity to network
· Invite friends by email (requiring approval)
· Bulletin board
· Testimonials – allows other users to comment on your character
· Allows multiple photos with captions
· Can tie in your blog with an RSS feed
· College search (see all users at your college)
· Profile fields:
o Gender
o Interested in meeting people for (dating men/women, relationahiship men/women, friends, activity partners, just looking around)
o Status (single, in a relationship, domestic partner, married)
o Birthday
o Country
o Zip
o Hometown
o Occupation
o Hobbies and interests
o Affiliations
o Companies
o Schools
o College/university
o Favorite:
§ Music
§ Books
§ Tv shows
§ Movies
o About me
o Describe who you want to meet
o Rss feed url
Orkut
Orkut is an online community that connects people through a network of trusted friends.
Capabilities/Features
· Ratable friendship level (haven’t met, acquaintance, friend, good friend, best friend)
· Social, professional, and personal views of profile
· Profile general
o Name
o Genger
o Relationship status (single, married, committed, open marriage, open relationship)
o Birthday
o Zip
o Country
o Primary language
o Interested in (friends, activity partners, business networking, dating)
o Children
o Ethnicity
o Religion
o Political view
o Sense of humor
o Sexual orientation
o Fashion sense (i.e. alternative, casual, designer, trendy, urban)
o Smoker
o Drinker
o Pets
o Living status (i.e. with friends or pets)
o Hometown
o Web page
o Describe yourself
· Profile interests
o Passions
o Sports
o Activities
o Favorite books
o Favorite music
o Favorite tv shows
o Favorite movies
o Favorite cuisines
· Profile contact info
o Email (up to 4)
o IM (up to 2)
o Home phone
o Cell
o Address
o Zip
o Country
· Profile professional
o Education level
o High school
o Major
o Degree
o Year
o Occupation
o Industry
o Sub industry
o Company
o Title
o Job description
o Work contact info
o Career skills
o Career interests
· Profile personal info
o Headline
o First thing to notice
o Height
o Eye color
o Build
o Body art
o Looks
o Best feature
o Turn ons
o Turn offs
o Idea of perfect date
o From past relationships, I learned
o Five things I can’t live without
o In my bedroom you will find
o Describe your ideal match
· Can create an album of pictures with captions
· Your bookmarks help you keep track of members you want to remember. Your bookmarks are only visible to you.
· Your hot-list helps you keep track of members whom you find attractive or are interested in dating. Your hot-list is only visible to you.
· Your crush-list helps to find out if someone else also has a crush on you. Your crush-list is only visible to you. However if you add someone to your crush-list and the same person adds you to their list, you both will get a message indicating that there is a match. The rest is up to you!
· Your ignore-list is only visible to you. People you are ignoring cannot add you as a friend or send you a message.
· Testimonials
· Rank your friends
o Fan (yes/no)
o Trusty (3 smiles)
o Cool (3 ice cubes)
o Sexy (3 hearts)
· Communities
o Range from activity specific to science & history
o
· Searching (by location, gender, age, relationship status, friendship proximity)
· Media
o a weekly collection of writings and photos by orkut members.
o Porch – offers a variety of columns ranging from the hot and humorous to the thoughtful and thought-provoking, along with galleries of riveting photos from around the world
o The "Lounge" and "Studio" will contain archives of all the collected orkut media material (on the off-chance that you miss a week), along with tidbits about contributing writers and photographers.
· Did you know? Brazilians make up 64% of orkut’s users??? (with US at 11%)
Jolinko
Jolinko connects you to people from college and is made up of profiles and blogs, sandwiched between albums, groups, and sugary sweetness like Snitch and Snoop.
Capabilities/Features
· Blogwatch – keep tabs on other people’s blogs
· Snitch – see who views your profile (must be enabled)
· Profile
o Name
o Gender
o Birthday
o Majors
o Residence
o Hometown
o Relationship status (single, in a relationship, in an open relationship, in a domestic partnership, married)
o Political leanings
o Religious leanings
o A bit about me
o Contact info (sn, phone, address)
o Interests
o Activities/clubs
o Favorite books, movies, music, tv shows
· Multiple pictures
· Photo albums
· Irreverent groups
· Notes = equivalent to messages
Multiply
the only single location where you can share all of your most important stuff - photo albums, stories, events, reviews, market listings, and more - with friends and family!
Capabilities/Features
· Profile Contact
o SN and service type
o Address
o Home phone
o Cell
o Website
· Profile About you
o About you
o Hometown
o Interests
· Profile Social/Dating
o Seeking
o Looking for (friends, serious relationship, activity partner, adult fun, casual dating)
o Relationship status
o Gender
o Drinking
o Smoking
o Religion
o Want children
· Profile Schools
o School info
§ Name
§ Type
§ Country
§ City
§ State
§ Year
o You can have multiple schools
· Profile Professional info
o Seeking…
o Occupation
o Position
o Company
o Industry
o Skills
o Past positions
o Past companies
o Resume (upload)
· Messaging
o Posts to other members
o Create & vote in polls
· Photos
· Journals
· Calendar
· Reviews (books, software, etc)
· Marketplace
· Recipes
· Groups
Links people for the purpose of finding professional contacts.
Capabilities/Features
· Your Network contains professionals out to “four degrees” — that is, friends-of-friends-of-friends-of-friends. If each person had 10 connections (and some have many more) then your network would contain 10,000 professionals.
· LinkedIn lets you see your network as one large group of searchable professional profiles.
· You see each user’s profile, showing whatever information each chooses to provide about him- or herself. You can also see which of your connections links you to that person, and how many degrees from you they are.
· LinkedIn lets you make contact with the professionals you need to meet in a familiar way: through someone you know and trust.
· When you find someone you need to contact, you describe your need in a Request for Contact. Then you forward your request to the trusted connection that is en route to your desired contact. That connection forwards it along, introducing you in the process.
· When the recipient receives the request, they decide whether or not to make contact. When they do, they provide contact information and your conversation begins outside of LinkedIn.
· Network Searching
o User type (potential employees, consultants/contractors, entrepreneurs, hiring managers, industry experts, deal-making contacts)
o Geographic location
o Degrees away from you
o Recently joined to your network
o Name
o Title
o Company
o Industry
o keyword
· You can get a LinkedIn toolbar for IE or Outlook to search at any time
· Reference Search - Find professionals in your network who worked with your candidate or potential business partner at a particular company and time
· Profile – Professional summary
o Headline (i.e. student, executive, teacher)
o Primary industry
o Professional overview (write anything)
o Specialties
· Profile – Experience
o Past and current positions
· Profile – Education
· Profile – Additional Information
o Interests
o Groups
o Honors
o Awards
· Endorsements - Endorsements are short “references” from your connections which appear on your profile. Endorsements give users in your network the confidence to contact you.
· Communication Filtering
o set the kinds of contacts you want to make, how you want to be contacted by others, and give those potential contacts advice about approaching you
· Address Book – manage your contacts
· Stats about your personal network
· Requests - When you want to contact a user you find in the system, you write a request which will go through your connections or, in some cases, directly to that user.
· Many professionals advance their business goals by counting on professional groups, alumni groups and workgroups to make vital new business contacts which will enhance their trusted connections. To support this important type of networking, LinkedIn for Groups enables existing groups to get their members “Linked In” — bringing their members extra features for networking and strengthening interconnections between each other
MySpace
Capabilities/Features
· Profile – Basic Info
o Name
o Gender
o Birthday
o Occupation
o City
o State
o Country
o Zip
o Ethnicity
o Body type
o Heigh
o Interested in (dating, serious relationships, friends, networking)
· Profile – interests & personality (clickable links)
o Headline
o About me
o I’d like to meet
o Interests
o Music
o Movies
o Television
o Books
o Heroes
· Profile – background & lifestyle
o Marital status (swinger, in a relationship, single, divorced, married)
o Sexual Orientation
o Hometown
o Religion
o Smoker
o Drinker
o Children
o Education level
o Income level
· Profile – schools
o Type
o School name
o City state
o Major clubs
o Dates attended
· Profile – companies
o Name
o Dates employed
o Title/position
o Division
o Where
· Search
o Gender
o Age
o Marital status
o Looking for
o Geographic location
o Basically all info in the profile
· Invite (email)
· Mail (messages between system and users)
· Blog
· “Favorites" is a place for you to bookmark user profiles you want to remember.
· Forums – wide range of topics
· Groups
o Name
o Category
o Public group (yes/no)
o Members can invite (yes/no)
o Have a public forum (yes/no)
o Members can post (yes/no)
o Location
o url
· Events
o Public Events
o Private Invites
o Featured events (sponsored)
o Search feature
· Games
o Various timewasters
o Compete against other myspace members
· Music
o Featured artists
o See what other members like
o Music classifieds
o Top artists
o Music forums
· Classifieds
o jobs – hiring
o jobs – seeking
o housing & rentals
o musician xchange
o casting calls
o for sale
o cars for sale
o romance
o myspace friends (people trying to sell themselves)
o services offered
o services wanted
o biz opporutnies
o items wanted
o other
· Friends can leave comments on your profile page
NetFriendships
The worst interface I’ve ever seen.
Capabilities/Features
· Profile
o Photo
o Interests
o Basic info
· Calendar
o Birthday remindes
· Photo gallery
· Blog
· Create and Manage Parties
· Have a Pet Friend
· My schools
· My groups
· Miscellaneous stuff
· Rate my photo
o You can see who rated
o Who view my profile
o Who has the most friends
o Who’s online
· Groups - is great way for your club or organization to network and stay connected. Exchange ideas. Plan events. Find people who share your interests.
· Forums
· Online parties
· Rate my thong
· Rate my ride
· Classifieds
· Shopping
· Quizzes
· News
· Chat
· My pet
· Rate my page
· Donate
· Jokes
· “miss net”
· Look at my baby
Ryze
Ryze helps people make connections and grow their networks. You can network to grow your business, build your career and life, find a job and make sales. Or just keep in touch with friends.
Capabilities/Features
· Profile
o Name
o Title
o Company
o Industry
o Interests
o Websites
o Home
o From
o Universities
o Photos
· Communication
o Private messages
o Requests to be in network
· Networks
o Networks on Ryze let existing organizations and communities plus new ones use Ryze's technology to connect their members with each other.
· Events
· Classifieds
· Guestbook on your profile page
· View friends of friends
Tribe
A location based social networking website.
Capabilities/Features
Profile – Professional
Occupation
Position/title
Company
Industry
Specialties in industry
Skills
Overview
Past positions
Past companies
Associations
Profile – Personal
Languages
Personal website
Fav books
Fav music
Fav movies/tv
I’ve traveled to
Clubs & orgs
About me
Dating status (not interested, single, in a relationship, in an open relationship, married)
Looking for (friends, activity partners, dating, long-term relationship)
Gender
Drinking
Smoking
Religion
I want to meet people for…
Instant messaging handles
Profile – basics
Name
Gender
Birthday
Location
Hometowns(s)
Schools
Here for (what are you looking for)
Interests
Photos – for profile
Events
Local favorites
Services
Services offered by members
Miscellaneous posts
Community = groups
Dodgeball