Social Networks: Where Is My Economy?

I've been stewing on the 'social networking buzz' for some time. At first we had forums, and that was good. Then we had blogs, and that was better. Now we have 'social networking sites', such as Facebook. We have synthetic worlds such as Second Life.

We have Flickr, that forces people to link to Flickr.com when they use images from it but provides only 'no follow' links back. We have Facebook advertising next to our profiles, but for those of us who create content on our own sites (there are some of us), we have no way to actually generate revenue through most of these 'social networking' sites. Even if we read a book and post it on our Facebook profiles, we do not get an affiliate commission.

Someone else does.

And that, they say, is OK because we're not paying for a service - but the service is paying for itself by taking what we do and what we recommend and breaking even from it. I was very pleased that Zazzle had a merchant store on Facebook that allows people with profiles to derive some income, should they wish to. Where's the Amazon equivalent for books, DVDs, etc?

Well, Amazon probably doesn't care. Someone's making the sales for them. That's business.

But how can you tell me that what I do, what I create, is something that someone else can leverage for their own income - and yet I have no way to do the same myself? That seems horridly imbalanced.

But then, what is a social networking site but a walled garden on the internet? And at the end of the day, can't this all be done without a centralized site? Of course it can. It was done beforehand - what social networking sites do is allow people to stay on top of things without doing much. Imagine, though, if everyone had a weblog. Or a content management system. Impossible? No, not really. In fact, many of us have been doing it for some time.

So here's the thing. Why would I continue to participate in something that doesn't allow me to make something off of my own work, my trends, my recommendations? Why should I offer that up for free to the 'social networking gods' as some sacrifice...

If social networking sites are going to truly survive, they have to reward creators. Failing to do so will simply mean people who wish economic recompense will be less likely to use these social networking sites.

I, Heretic. This is a negotiation, you see - and even as I wrote about using Zazzle within Second Life for real products, I realized that social networking gurus who have been passing around the Koolaid generally don't care too awful much about the economy of creation. If users don't make something for their trouble, they will eventually go where they can.

And that place, unless you are wondering, is right here on the Internet. Where it all started, where it all exists, where there are no funnels for others making money off of recommendations of others without even the honor of recompense for those that recommend.

I, Social Networking Kool Aid Heretic.

If a friend of mine recommends a book on their website and I purchase it from their site, my friend makes a commission. If I do it on Facebook, someone else does. Clearly, if I want to support my friends whose recommendations I believe are worthwhile, I will reward them. Not someone else. That is actually one of the strengths of synthetic worlds such as Second Life.

And it is the greatest weakness of social networking sites. I will not recommend anything on a social networking site that I don't at least get a piece of. Sadly, most people haven't realized this yet... but in time, they will. And when they do, what do you think they will do?

Self interest is a powerful thing. Ask anyone who makes a social networking site.

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