An Interesting Experience on BarackObama.com

A few weeks ago, I created a profile on BarackObama.com so that I could see how grassroots groups were forming around common interests. There is a section on the website called "Action" where you can join or create a group in your local area, an action group. I joined two groups, one called "Marin County for Obama" and the other called "Greens for Obama."

The functionality and concept was great; I could search groups in my area by entering my zip code. Immediately, I had access to hundreds of people with common ideas and interests.Once I had signed up for these two groups, I started receiving lots of email. Tons, actually, twenty or thirty a day from each group. I started reading the email and people were having conversations and trying to organize things but a lot of it seemed to be arguing! Certain people were using it for negative comments about other users and getting defensive and all sorts of crap. My initial excitement on the possibilities were a bit deflated. I wondered why people were using it for such negativity.

I realize that everyone wants to express themselves. Some people use these groups as a venue to get heard and they may be very passionate about the issues, but they are also very strange. I don't see how such a positive thing, can bring out negativity in this way. And it was very unproductive. I think great things are happening with this grassroots events and group formation on the whole, but after this experience, I didn't feel like being involved. Maybe the groups need more moderation? Just a random experience of mine involving my interest in social networks with politics...

What is the evolution of social networking?

The evolution of social networking sites show they develop new functionalities.

1. First generation sites only let users manage friends' lists. There are mainly flat, single entry lists by schools or classes you attended. Examples: Copainsdavant (FR), Classmates.com


2. Second generation sites can be seen as the first social networks. They are centered around an individual and his friends, and friends of friends : they follow the 6 degrees rule. Examples: LinkedIn (US), Viadeo (FR), Xing (G).


3. Third generation sites could represent the first social media sites. They allow multi-dimensional connections, real conversations between users, in compliance with the social graph theory *. Examples: Myspace (US), Facebook (US), Bebo (UK).
   


4. Fourth generation sites are what I am proposing already exist and will flourish in the future. They would represent social media sites that facilitate face-to-face meetings. They allow people to come together off-line around common interests, building real communities and friends in the real world. Examples: Meetup.com (US), Match.com (US).

We are already seeing a huge amount of green social network sites that are flooding the market place. I think that we are already maxxed-out on these sites. Most of my friends use Facebook and LinkedIn, but are unwilling to belong to any more social networks.

Unless...the rules change. The climate is right, we just need the right solution that might integrate into these pre-existing sites. Why reinvent the wheel?

There is still a huge opportunity here to provide some real value to people through the internet. People are craving to be heard and to interact with people off the computer. This is not regression, but progress facilitated by technology.

Facebook Study

view presentation (tags: facebook study)

Sources: faberNovel analyses, Stanley Milgram (1967) Facebook; 03.10.2007 - Facebook study;
FaberNovel Consulting.

* As exposed by Mark Zuckerburg (US).

Seeking experts to contribute to our blog.

We are looking for experts in different fields to post to our blog. If you think that you have any ideas on how to build local communities, please contact us.

Our Manifesto:
Ideas to build strong local communities. We believe that the internet should be harnessed to bring people back together, face-to-face. We would like to empower everyday people to make a difference, locally.

Here are some keywords to give you an idea on what we are looking for:

• social networking
• community building
  
• grassroots movements
  
• environmental experts
• clean-tech
• education
• healthcare
• renewable energy
• water
  
• biofuels
• green building
• technology

Bringing social networking to life: using the internet to meet offline.

Going Local can present a wonderful opportunity. And we can harness the amazing power of the internet to build and strengthen our local communities.

I recently discovered meetup.com which is just that, an on-line venue that facilitates the process of meeting up face to face around a common interest. Taken from their website:

“Meetup's mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.”

I think that this is a great idea. No matter what your interest, you can form a group and meet people in your local area consistently.

The only drawback is that you have to pay. It is a nominal fee of $12-20 a month, depending on your membership type and you can collect this fee as the organizer from the attendees of the meeting.

This blog’s mission is to provide community-building ideas for a venue like meetup.com or maybe eventually start our own community-building website that is totally free and more customizable. Stay tuned.