Multiple Skins- A Common Shortcoming of Social Networking Sites

I have a strong interest in Social Networking Sites because I see enormous potential for positive change and productive collaboration across all dimensions of the social grid. I just wish I didn’t have to use so darn many of them at the same time.

If you’re a participant (or a “joiner,” to use the vernacular of Charlene Li) of Social Networking Sites, chances are you use more than one. I’ll bet you may even use more than a couple of them. For some “joiners,” users have subscribed to multiple Sites because other users and acquaintances have sent them invitations to join networks that they are using. You’ve been “friended” by someone you know. For others, you may use multiple sites out of the necessity to adequately represent the multiple aspects of yourself. I call this the phenomena of “living in multiple skins.”

I have multiple skins. I have my professional skin for my life as an IT Consultant. This skin has a list of professional credentials, accomplishments, experiences relevant to the work I do as a Consultant. I’m also a professional artist, and that skin has a list of credentials and accomplishments as well,… but are completely different from my Consultant’s skin. It also has a portfolio of work that is important to include in the profile of that skin. I’m also a father, there’s another skin. I’m an investor, and I need a skin for that. I play and coach ice hockey, so there’s yet another skin.

I’ll bet you could describe yourself in a similar way, needing multiple profiles to adequately describe all the skins you may wear each day. This is a common problem that everyone shares, but remains unsolved by the Social Networking Sites out there today. Unless you’re satisfied by slicing off a single persona from your real-world life to project into the online world, you’re in the ranks of unsatisfied Social Networking Site users. I, for one, want to take all my skins with me for my cyber persona.

Now, before I’m taken too literally in these comments let me say that the problem is not as simple as developing a site that allows multiple profiles to be linked to a common user account. The Social Grid is very dynamic and needs to remain that way. If one of my skins is that of an authority on early 20^th century French films (It’s not, but to use an example), it’s not necessarily a great idea to mash that up with my IT Consultant’s profile on LinkedIn. The Social Networking Sites focusing on film, or should we say a focus as directly relevant as practical for that topic, is the right place for that profile. Similarly, if I’m a user of a dating site I probably want to make sure there’s a separation between that profile and my professional profile.

The Social Network architecture we need is one that leverages an intelligent interface to appropriately link our multiple skins together, much in the same way that the dynamics of our real-life personal interactions dictate the changing from one skin into the next. It’s an architecture that images the dynamics of relationships that exist in our multiple professional and personal lives.

Who’s using Electronic Social Networking Sites?

One day, while updating my myriad of profiles on the Electronic Social Networking sites that I use, I stepped back and recognized what an odd problem this is that I have to manage content on several different sites just because I use different ESNs for different purposes.  Since I’m one person that lives in several different skins, and because I’ve yet to find an ESN tool that well represents all sides of me, I continue to put myself through this administrative headache.

I began to wonder to what extent I’m alone with this problem.  Using the feature on LinkedIn that allows you to post a question out to the user community, I solicited feedback from other users about what sites they’re using, what they’re using them for, and which, if any, they especially like.  I share the results of this with you below.

I received a fairly healthy response to my question, and looking at the responses gathered I can separate them into three groups:

ESN as a Rolodex 

The first group is the users who are using ESNs as rolodexes.  These users said that they use a small number (one or two) sites for this purpose, and are more or less hoping for a return in the form of job offers or business development opportunities.  This group of users also seems to see more value in the quantity of “connections” or “contacts,” rather than the quality of the contact or the depth of relationship with them.  These people are fishing in cyberspace. 

Business Value 

The second group is looking for business value from ESNs, but are not quite sure they’re getting it yet.  These people are conscious about the quality of their contacts (while exactly what “quality” means to one person may differ slightly from the next).  They are not contact collectors, and frequently refuse connection requests from other users if they don’t know them well and/or if they see them as insufficient value.

 Unrealized Potential 

The third group is comprised of users who are contemplative and skeptical about the real value available through present-day ESNs.  Like the second group, they are mindful of quality of connections over quantity.  They are even more apt to decline or ignore invitations to connect because they just don’t see it as that important to either party.  Interestingly, this group also offered the most insightful feedback and suggestions on how ESNs could be improved to deliver true value.

Credit for the illustration used with this post goes to Clayton Brothers.

Social Networking Sites

Electronic Social Networks are something in which I have a very strong interest. Popular examples of what I’m referring to as an “ESN” are LinkedIn, Plaxo, MySpace, et. al. I’ve been a user of several of these (and one in particular) for quite some time. As new ESN’s have emerged over the years, I’ve been drawn into a presence on others as well (‘said another way, I’ve been sucked into subscribing to a new service because a friend or contact fed their address book into the site, which caused me to be drawn in as well).

The growing number of these sites, and the divergence and convergence of use cases among them are a source of interest for me and the early roots of my exploration of this space. Beyond that though, I see a huge potential in this technology. For one thing, I see a potential for ESN’s as an accelerator of business processes through the facilitation of collaboration and immediacy of communications that these tools offer. I also see a potential for broad social benefit, through the opportunity to consolidate and amplify streams of thought, and through the amplification of innovation and creativity through collaboration.

As I share some of my thoughts, observations, and collected information on this topic, I welcome any thoughts and observations you’d care to share as well.