Own's Social network

[Debash]

Why is Facebook so famous and all?(I heard it runs on linux) My college(NIST) had blocked facebook, so i thought of creating a forum (which i did: http://www.nist.forums.com) for all to join and have discussions. But another of my friends said he could create a social network.

I was first skeptic but then he came up with this awesome site : http://www.nist.byethost11.com/ (http://www.nist.byethost11.com/) He keeps editing some codes, installs software and all and updates it, all on his laptop. Its pretty nice. Can anyone tell me if creating one's social network is so easy then why is facebook such a huge franchise!? And can anyone tell me how he accomplished all this?

PS: if you try signing up, it will give an error. but don't worry, you're account is created. You can login with your email id and password.

[whatthefunk]

Facebook was the first to have that particular format. Myspace was big for a bit, but facebook kind of killed it. Your friends site looks like a facebook clone so there is no incentive to use it. I think Facebook is more of a "right time right place" type of company. He was lucky.

[georgelappies]

Like whatthefunk said, Facebook was first. Also just trying to get your mom and dad as well as most other friends who are already on Facebook to join your circles on Google+ is next to impossible.

Facebook does what it needs to do sufficiently well for the masses to make the trouble of moving to another social network (which by the way doesn't have your friends on it) way to much of a mission.

[Erik1984]

Facebook was the first to have that particular format. Myspace was big for a bit, but facebook kind of killed it. Your friends site looks like a facebook clone so there is no incentive to use it. I think Facebook is more of a "right time right place" type of company. He was lucky.

It had/has momentum. Now it has the "all my friends and family are there" trump card argument to let competitors bite the dust. I totally agre with this article: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/diaspora.html as someone who has tried alternative networks like Diaspora and Identi.ca They are all somewhat awkward, whenever I logged on to those I got that empty "now what?" feeling.

[whatthefunk]

It had/has momentum. Now it has the "all my friends and family are there" trump card argument to let competitors bite the dust. I totally agre with this article: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/diaspora.html as someone who has tried alternative networks like Diaspora and Identi.ca They are all somewhat awkward, whenever I logged on to those I got that empty "now what?" feeling.

Very true. Facebook now has over a billion users. Competing with that is going to be next to impossible.

[sffvba[e0rt]

Well I am enjoying G+ but for other reasons than Facebook. I find I have different people on both and they serve different purposes.


404

[ugm6hr]

There are reasons for corporations to have internal social networks, which take the place of mass emails etc as collaborative newtworks. Check http://www.cynapse.com/cynin for an example

Also, niche areas, such as scientific research communities, have their own "professional" social networks. See researchgate http://www.researchgate.net/ for an example.

Cloning an existing network is a pointless exercise unless something new is offered.

[ssam]

facebook relies on the network effect. if you friends use it then you want to. you can't interact with it without being a member.

you can compare it to an open system like email. any company or individual can run an email server, and any email server can talk to any other. gmail users can talk to hotmail users.

you can make social network based on an open protocol. a few people have tried. but convincing the masses to move to it is not easy. have a look a http://mediagoblin.org/ https://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/ https://joindiaspora.com/

[mamamia88]

lol anyone remember the episode of the league where taco creates facebook in real life which is basically just a pictureboard?

[Debash]

Since our college has blocked facebook, it was our objective to recreate it in the first place. Getting members to register is not a problem but what about the technical aspects of creating a social network? Is it secure? Is it going to generate money?

[samalex]

Well I am enjoying G+ but for other reasons than Facebook. I find I have different people on both and they serve different purposes.


404, I agree with you completely. I use FB mainly to read what my friends and family do (I never post), but I use G+ as a venue to communicate with colleagues and like minded people from all around the world. I have about 40 people in my FB bucket but thousands in my G+ bucket.