YakShaving

I’m not sure how I feel about gated (or exclusive) social network communities yet. I’ve recently received an unsolicited request to join. It sort of feels like a cult.

Anyway, the request got me starting to think about these types of communities, where people self segregate themselves. I had read about them but never expected to be cool enough to receive an invite to one.

There are closed groups on LinkedIn, and on Facebook that I’m sure are valuable, because they increase the signal to noise ratio for the group topic of discussion. In other words, they get rid of the shills, spammers, and maybe even the noncontributing lurkers. But what is it about these standalone gated social networks that feels different, and elitist?

Moreover, I’d love to see a graph analysis of these networks. How do people in different social circles decide to join such a network–Do they bring their friends with them? And then, do these gated communities ever really remain gated? Does their cachet erode over time and their reputation smirched?

One way to prevent this erosion that I’ve witnessed recently is to assign an essential attribute as a prerequisite to join (CXOs of Fortune N companies only, 100K+ salaries only, schizophrenic clowns obsessed with reality television shows). Then, the question becomes, how does one authenticate and certify themselves? Is the site (and its attendant “gate”) only serving as the arbiter of the presence of the attribute (yes, indeed you are a schizophrenic clown…) and sole authenticator?

Really? You’d create a standalone social network for that reason alone? Why? Without contextually rich information (strategic planning resources, educational material and contacts for the CXOs maybe?), I think this idea is a dud. So move along, nothing to see here.

socialnetwork