Social Network Profiling – Another Side, Another Story

Every movement has a counter movement. It has been true for political, cultural or sociological movements throughout time. It is normal for it to happen as it is as innate to human nature – we can only see black because white exists. In movements this happens naturally – it’s a natural evolution. And, as in every other aspect of society, this applies to the Internet.

The clash that the engagement on the Internet causes in various factions is noticeable. People who defend the web, who are against it, who are indifferent, and who simply don’t have an opinion. The fact is that the Web has given birth to a whole new level of interaction between users, as it has evolved from a mere channel to the stature of an era changing tool – the engine of digital philosophy (more on this coming in a future article). But, to focus on the main point of the article, one of the most important tools that appeared on the web is the Social Networking Websites. I will not rant into the importance or characteristics of SNW, as each of their aspects deserve an article on their own. I’m going to focus on a more sui generis subject – the counter movements of social networking.

For every major SNW tool, such as Facebook or SecondLife, a counter website has appeared. Although it brings nothing new to the ying/yang balance of movements, it does bring up a few interesting details – just as specific as the characteristics of the SNW, so are the movements as they show the flaws of the original ones in ways that sometimes we fail to grasp. And, above all of it, it all comes down to a fight between the SNW engagement and relationships axis vs the real life experience. We can actually witness to the birth of an online symbolical universe that we begin to share as a connected community.

Take SecondLife for example. The Virtual SN System found opposition in the one page satire First Life, which displays the advantages and perks of getting on using the account you were born with – reality. Using the same homepage structure as of its original counterparte, GetaFirstLife can’t be considered a tool on its own, but it has gained quite some popularity due to the blunt way it shows the users how disconnected from real life they become when engaged in the SecondLife Hype.

Facebook, on the other hand, found a few more counters, being Enemybook, Snubster and Hatebook the best examples. While the first two are apps inside Facebook itself, in which users can list their hated users and list their misdeeds, or “snub” them by pointing out warnings to them on their behavior, the second is a website on its own. With a structure very similar to Facebook, Hatebook makes fun of just about everything on Facebook by containing, for example, a “Hate Album” where the users place the things they hate the most. Actually, the site includes some added value the go beyond the basic features of Facebook, like a Google Maps app that shows where the members are. Of course, the more hyped the SNW, the bigger the probability for a counter-movement to appear. That is barely the point – the point is how these movements have a life of its own and an entire line of thought that doesn’t connect to the offline world at all.

Apart from the counter-movement websites that are directly connected to a popular SNW, there is an example of one directed towards the Social Networking phenomena – NoSo, where people are invited to join in Flash Mobs without actually talking to each other – the joy of making no friends and no connections. This shows how the main focus of the counter-movement – the fight against the constant, non-stop contact in every area of the Web, as well as against the nonsensical social graph developed through the profile adding frenzy of people who aren’t even friend’s of the user.

So how does this relate to a Brand? At this stage it is early to say – as I delve more into Social Networking Profiling and in the coming Digital Philosophy article, I will try to make it clear to you how the Web should be faced – not as a digital print of real life but actually as an evolving independent organism, whose importance is widely acknowledged. But, studies done upon this subject do no justice to the inherent concepts and lines of thought that a online marketer should take into account when developing the Brands’ online presence. In the course of these lengthy articles, I hope to help the reader to develop the in-depth necessary to consider your work in the online world with the necessary context – connected to an online world without being stuck to the offline world universal knowledge. When you are able to do so, then you’ll definitely have gone from the Information Age to the Communication Age and will have taken the most important step towards creating true and relevant engagement with the online consumers.