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Steps To Creating A Social Network

Monday, April 30th, 2007

How many times everyday do you hear about social networks? Oftentimes, the social network tag is accompanied by one of three sites; YouTube, MySpace or Facebook. YouTube isn’t even a social network at heart… but anyway.

In participating in quite a few networks, I have drilled down a few of the main things that it takes for a social network to succeed.

Steps to creating a social network:

By no means are these limiting factors, but they are areas of concern if you are thinking about building the next Myspace. If there is one thing the web has taught us, it is anything goes.

Social networks must have a niche market

Every popular social network started as a niche. MySpace was for undiscovered rockers. YouTube was a video dating site. Each site started as a niche.

Today, there are countless networks opening up everyday. What is it that makes yours stand out? How is your different? The funny rounded corners and pastel colors don’t mean a damn thing. What market does your site hit?

Social networks need to add value

What exactly does your service provide? Is it a collaborative wiki about community development? It better not be. Your site won’t be going anywhere. Not because people don’t care about community development, but because they don’t care to put in the hours to populate your site for you!

Some of the best examples I have seen recently are eJamming.com and Stockpickr.com. eJamming is a site that lets you network with other musicians and perform live across a broadband connection. You can record tracks, have concerts, and do pretty mush anything you damn well please. It truly is a miraculous application. I am not a musician, but I can appreciate the complexity.

Stockpickr.com is a site geared for investors looking to diversify their portfolios. The software takes your profile and compares it to others and recommend investments that you might be interested in. It is a nice way to see what else is out there without spending hours wading through the Bloomberg network!

Social Networks need to cater to an individual

The social aspect of the network needs to be apparent; things such as delivering mp3’s, photos, video, etc. In order to succeed the community needs to be able to share.

This really depends on what your niche and added value are. In the previous example, Stockpickr would be remiss to cater to video uploaders. That isn’t their core strength. Their strength lies in their community’s stock portfolios. Couple thousands of portfolios and a bit of data analysis, the service can recommend great picks for their members.

Social Networks need to promote communication

In every successful network, there is some form of communication. This includes blogs as well. The communication comes from the comment line. In the social networking environment, the communication is derived through personal messages or adding friends. Although adding friends is usually used in a shitty way, it can be of benefit.

This can be anything from blogging platforms to RSS feeds. Rating systems to messaging. Anything that promotes user interaction, really.

The tricky part of ‘promoting’ communication is building the services in that allow people to communicate with one another. Building areas to upload in a site isn’t really a big deal, but inter-site messaging can be a bit difficult to code and keep up.

Social Networks need to be profitable

This almost sounds like an oxymoron, because the common consensus is that social networks will just become profitable. Unfortunately, nothing is farther from the truth.

Advertising doesn’t cut it alone. How many visitors a day do you think it will take before you even squeak out $1000.00 a month? Quite a few.

Adsense and YPN are great for monetization, but you need to differentiate your forms of revenue. Some banner ads, some text links, some Chikita, stuff like that. It doesn’t make sense to devote 14 hours a day to a site if you are not paying your mortgage.

Some More-Transparent Social Network Thoughts

Have a successful community already

For companies like NewEgg.com or a site like ProBlogger.net, just implementing a social network will have huge success because they would be leveraging their user base. And people want in on the action. It goes without saying that employing a social network when you have a great number of followers makes everything quite a bit easier.

Allow customization of the social network

I am hard pressed to say that social networks need to allow for customization because then we get Myspace. The ugly, non conforming entity that the network has become. I think it would be interesting to have some sort of ajax style drag and drop box system though.

Free signups – Paid extensions

The free signups are a tried and true method of getting lots of visitors to actually create a profile. The trick is, and we can thank the dating sites for this, is to offer paid functionality. Functionality that adds value which a user might be willing to pay for.

In Closing

As I said before, this list is by no means everything that must be done. I just wanted to point out a couple areas that might be useful for people to consider when building a social network.

If I have forgot anything, please feel free to let me know!

30.04.2007 young entrepreneur Comments

Review – IBackup.com

Friday, April 27th, 2007

IBackupData. Data is crucial to small business and startups. I really can’t stress that enough.

On various consulting gigs, I have walked right into a proverbial shitstorm because the network administator felt it unnecessary to back up their hard drives. Once a drive is toast, it’s toast. If you want to recover that data, you need to send it to some expert in Florida to have it done. Not to mention data recovery is minimum $500.

The nice folks at IBackup – Online Storage are having me review their software for two reasons. One, so I can blog about it. And two, so I can use it in my company.

IBackup is a fantastic solution for a couple of different reasons. Its features include mapping online data as a drive and mapping as a web folder, so you can simply drag and drop and do direct edits. It also has a backup service with a scheduler so you can run it at the times you want (generally nighttime).

One of the best features, in my opinion, is the online storage option. In fact, I bought server space which backs up all of my files from my PC’s weekly, in some remote location. IBackup does it for you for a pretty low cost. That way, if something happens to your office, everything is stored off-site.

All in all, IBackup offers a nice solution for an organization’s backup needs. I am going to do further testing on my own and if there are any more developments, I will let you know!

27.04.2007 technology Comments

Podcast – 7 Crucial Steps To Good Time Management

Friday, April 27th, 2007

Time Management Workflow

In Time Management Skills, it occurred to me that I didn’t really do time management any justice. I highlighed points that I felt were worth mentioning, and that’s about it.

This, on the other hand, is a list of steps to think about when you are trying to work out good time management skills.

In saving all the academic jargon, I am going to give a pretty general overview of the above graphic, and then I am going to attach a more in depth pdf for anyone interested in reviewing it. There is also a podcast accompanying this, so if you would rather listen, feel free!

For starters though, let’s dig in. The Time Management Matrix above has seven steps:

  1. Set Goals – This includes everything from starting a company to making $10,000 a month on your blog. In order to have a clear set of steps you need to have a clear goal.
  2. Formulate an Action Plan – This is where you break those goals down into smaller pieces. If you want to make $10,000 a month on your site, first you need to write content and apply to the various ad networks.
  3. Set Milestones – Many small successes equal one big one. Set your first milestone at $1,000. When you acheive it, take yourself out to lunch or buy that latest video card.
  4. Frame it in the Workflow – This is where you take your actions, and apply them to your current schedule. For instance, each day you go through your feed reader for two hours. Cut it down to one hour, and use the other hour to learn about advertising programs online.
  5. Breakdown into To-Do lists – Now that you have a plan of combining your actions with your schedule, break those actions down into small to do lists. For instance, Monday you will apply to Commission Junction and Adsense. Tuesday, you will check out Text Link Ads and ReviewMe.
  6. Act on the To-Do List – Put the to-do list into action. Not much explanation there.
  7. Evaluate Your Progress – This is the crucial part. After your to-do lists are completed and you hit a couple milestones, look back and think of what you could have done better.
  8. Repeat the Steps.

This set or rules can be applied to any profession or event, across any industry. I did the example of website monetization because a lot of us can relate to that for the most part.

If you are interested in checking out the PDF, click below. It is a bit more wordy and academic, but worthwhile nonetheless.

Time Management Matrix Downloads: 3279 times

And to check out the podcast, click below!

JDsPodcast – Episode 13.3 – 7 Steps to Time Management

icon for podpress  The Time Management Matrix - 7 Crucial Steps to Good Time Management [16:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

27.04.2007 business building 101 Comments

The Most Important Tool For An Entrepreneur

Thursday, April 26th, 2007

WhiteboardThere is one tool that no entrepreneur should live without.  It isn’t SLI video cards.  Nor is it the latest dual core processor.  You don’t even need a dedicated secretary, or a $800 a month office.  The one tool you need, to get work done effectively, as a whiteboard.

Whiteboards help you visualize what’s going through your head.  They help you map out plans of attack or strategies that you wouldn’t have been able to come up with otherwise.  Just simply writing an idea down and sitting back to ponder it is sometimes enough to get the creative juices flowing.

In my office I actually have two whiteboards.  They are oftentimes the most valuable tools that I have.  Well, that and a good set of markers!

What I like to do, in the couple seconds of down time that I have, is sit back and think about the direction I’m going in.  Not only do whiteboards let me plan my course of action, they also help me determine pitfalls and alternatives.

Currently, I’m working on a search engine optimization book.  This will not only help brand my company, but allow a local advantage for Tech Solution.  This sort of indirect route presented itself through a pretty intense consultation between me and the board.

These kinds of indirect strategies are what makes whiteboards the best tool for a young entrepreneur.  The other advantages, you can sit a group of people down and explain a very common vision.  This makes all sorts of things possible.

Just out of curiousity, how many whiteboards do you have in your office?

And since I am taking pictures of my office, here are some more.  You can see how much of a nerd I am…  Like the Lord of the Rings movie poster?  Right next to the whiteboard.  How’s that for inspiration?

Computer and whiteboard

You can tell quite a lot about a person by their desk. Hence the stack of books, microphone for podcasting, poster, wires everywhere!

dual monitor office

A small part of my book collection.  And the drawing Chelsey did for me of a Hobbit Hole.

office pics two

And probably the most entertaining picture…  Here are some of the parts for my new computer.  I am getting the C2D processer and RAM today.  And that is Whisper, the office ferret getting excited about the install!

computer parts and a Whisper

26.04.2007 entrepreneur tip Comments

Time Management Skills

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

Oftentimes, one of the hardest things we can do, is get everything done.  With so many demands on our time, there’s just simply not enough hours in day.  This is especially true if you go to school and work or have your own business.  One of the basic skills, that every young entrepreneur needs is good time management skills.

The following are some areas that should be focused on to maintain a good schedule.

  1. Prioritize – Not every task is a crucial as the next.  Weigh some more heavily than others.  If you have a class assignment, it might be weighted more heavily than a project you’ve been working on.
  2. Schedule weekly reviews – This includes going through your to do list and seeing what you’ve done in the previous week and how you could do it better.
  3. Develop blocks of time – rather than make all your phone calls throughout the day, scheduled one hour for them and sit down with a list of people to contact.  This will help alleviate wasted minutes through out the day.
  4. Have alternative places – this includes having a coffee shop or library to work at.  Somewhere free of distractions where you won’t be constantly nagged by your feed reader.
  5. Dead time – Use your downtime to catch up on the little things such as reading a book, working through an idea, or planning a project.
  6. Lists – Have current to do lists, daily and weekly planners, and the long-term planner.  Each of these should be updated consistently.
  7. Set goals – if you don’t know where you’re going, how are you going to get their?

Lately, I’ve been under an incredible time crunch.  So I figured these thoughts would help you as well.  I’m particularly fond of the goal setting, though.  I feel everybody should set goals for themselves, their businesses, and their life.  In time management, goal setting is crucial.

Not only is there just 24 hours a day, but there are only seven days in a week.  Two of those days should be devoted to family or free time, and the other five are usually committed to business.  Even bloggers take a couple days off.  Time management is absolutely crucial to their success.

One of the things I’ve gone through over the past month or so, is working way too much.  Not only has work suffered from being in too deep, but free time has become way more stressful.  Too much to do, not enough hours in the day – leads to a pretty boring entrepreneur.

So I hope these tips offer a thought of what it takes to pull off successful time management.  It is probably one of the most crucial things which we do on a day-to-day basis, but it is rarely addressed.

25.04.2007 business building 101 Comments

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