Chapter 7's discussion of significance made some good points about making sites relevant and successful. I really enjoyed thinking about the aspect of exclusivity in online communities. Howard's example of the Obama website provided good evidence for the positive effect from exclusivity, but prior to reading that, I originally had a negative perception of these sites. From my personal experience, sites that debut as "invitation only" or anything like that can either by wildly successful and draw lots of attention, or they basically flop. I think the key to ensuring the former is making sure that the network isn't too exclusive. For example, Pinterest is quasi-invitation only, but just in the sense that you need to provide an email address for them to send you your "invitation". It's not actually that difficult to become a member, but that aspect of exclusivity, along with the generally popular concept of the site, is what contributed to its success, I think. However, I remember when Google+ first appeared it was strictly invitation only where a member would have to personally invite you to join the community. Because the idea of Google+ was so new and unique, not being able to visit the site and immediately explore and understand what it is, the exclusivity turned a lot of people away that I know of, including me.
Of course, Google+ is now very successful and I don't think the exclusivity actually turned away any significant number of people; they had the advantage of the Google name, which almost guaranteed their success alone. However, I do know that that element of exclusivity was an obstacle that may not be the best idea for brand new sites who don't already have users chomping at the bit for an invitation.
I agree that sites that are invitation only may be extremely successful or may not be. I initially thought, when I read about Facebook in this chapter, that it was not smart for social media sites to be private and only allow certain people to join. However, it is beneficial for many sites because it pushes people to become a part of a group if it is popular. It is also important, as you pointed out, to not make sites too exclusive or too hard for people to join because then people will feel as though there is no point simply because there is no way they can get in.
ReplyDeleteYour responses covers everything I thought about when reading this. Within your first few sentences I was thinking about Pinterest and you mentioned it in the next sentence. The idea of "invitation only" was mysterious because no website had ever really done that before. The process, like you said, was really easy but the thought made people curious and join to see what the site was all about. I think Pinterest is a super success because of how fast it hit and exploded throughout the world.
ReplyDeleteWIth Google+, I would say it is much less successful. Since it is pretty similar to Facebook in so many ways, it is not as exciting because 1) not many people have Google+and 2) it's not as easily understandable and 3) nobody understood the personal Google+ invitation process. It was far too exclusive so people just didn't pay that much attention to the site.
I, too, was interested in this idea of exclusivity being a good thing in websites. My initial reaction was the same as yours. I also thought that would be a deterrent for many people, if not because they couldn't get invited then because they didn't have a desire to be a part of something like that. Facebook, however, is the perfect example of this. It started out exclusive, then once that significance had been established, it became public. I think the initial exclusivity is what gives it an edge and gets people interested. So long as they don't stay exclusive then their significance, and consumer pool, can build.
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, you're absolutely correct about exclusivity being an essential part of a successful online community. Think about it like this. Who wants to make the football team that they'll let anyone join? Who wants to get into a college that everyone is admitted into? Exclusivity has always been, and will always be a major attraction when it comes to joining anything, including a social media site or online community.
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