Moya Lázaro, Fernando.
It is something impressive how companies can be a success at the beginning and in a few months everything is over. The new technology has brought fast communication and interaction between people all over the world. That means that companies, not only social networks companies, but all kind of companies have to be aware of what, how and to whom their products or services are addressed.
The social network companies are much more sensitive to changes than any other services. Social networks are used every second for millions of people and these people are testing every single corner of the websites. It is like being on the spot, checked and tested by millions of people at the same time. So they have to match the demand of the new applications or features of millions of people. The difficult of that makes some companies to lose its clients, although others success because they know how to match the needs of the costumers…
But who is really a costumer or a client of a social network? If you go to Facebook you are not buying anything, the whole immense structure is held by publicity. That makes you think how much money they are making. A company is willing to put its publicity in a social network spending a big amount of money in the internet instead of putting this money in TV commercials or billboards. That shows the power of the social network companies and how important they have become.
Why some social networks did not success? When someone goes to Facebook (for example) he/she wants to spend some time finding out his/hers friends news or mood. No one goes to a social network to learn something or to teach. It is an entertaining and as an entertainment clients do not want to deal with complicated instructions. I have no idea about how social networks work, but fortunately many of my friends, colleagues and family use them every day, so they have given me an overview of the scene. Every one of them told me that it is impossible to spend more than two minutes in front of the computer waiting; if they have to read something in another language they quit rapidly, if they have to read more than 5 lines they give up immediately, if they cannot find an application (no matter how silly it could be) with a glimpse they prefer to do something else.
One company has taken steps to improve its services above its competitors, Facebook. I asked my friends and family about what Facebook has that others social networks lack. They agree that Facebook never stops, this company is bringing up new applications or games or services that everyone likes. A good friend of mine gave me a good example; he showed me a Facebook page in English and with only a click it was translate in seconds. Then he told me to go home and connect to Facebook, I did it and he made a video call for free also with a single click.
I do not really know how invasive are the social networks in our privacy, but I know that every single thing we upload to the internet is uploaded by us. We should be aware about what we are doing and if we would like that some things could be in the “cloud” of the internet for ever. Social networks are strong and powerful tools that can bring down anything or built anything from where nothing there was. We can take advantage of that and improve communications but what is in the internet is taken by internet user as public domain, which is false and dangerous.
For more info about the history of some social networks you can visit this page.