This link has been bookmarked by 4 people . It was first bookmarked on 05 Dec 2007, by Wisely.
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19 Dec 08
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14 Apr 08
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05 Dec 07
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I think I see more clearly why we've hit the wall, so to speak. It's because we're an egocentric network, not an object centric network.
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This was actually a new one to me, that I stumbled across while reading this article from Fred Stutzman. In it he explains that egocentric networks are places like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. They develop around the profiles of the people who join them. Object centric networks, on the other hand, develop around interactions over digital artifacts--like Flickr, which has formed communities around photo-sharing and del.icio.us, which focuses on sharing links.
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Social networking sites are ego-centric. Object-centric social sites, like Flickr, YouTube, Del.icio.us, place something else at the nodes of the network (admittedly, though, Flickr is a tough one). I have previously called this the primary pivot. The way to ascertain what type of network you’re looking at is to look at what gets the URLs…what is the primary thing being shown at the URL? In ego-centric sites it’s a profile. In object-centric sites it’s the object…
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our ability to handle egocentric networks is finite--we can handle only so many people in our lives. But our ability to manage object centered networks is infinite, especially when it's so easy to share digital pieces of information.
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when people are interacting about an object (like a photo or a video), they tend to visit and revisit the site to add more of these objects and find new ones. In an egocentric site, though, once you've put up your identity, then what do you do? Eventually you will probably get tired and move on (unless you're someone who has endless amounts of online time, like teens who are happy to spend hours on Facebook).
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In thinking about our Ning network, I think that the fact that we formed the network around a common interest puts us in a funny in-between position between an object-centered network and an egocentric network. The common interest of better blogging is to some extent like an "object" for us--it pulls us together around a central theme more than might happen in a more general network. But at the same time, our profiles are a much bigger part of the community interaction than we might find in a place like Flickr. And there isn't the reason to go there to add objects that you have with a YouTube kind of network.
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Comments
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Hi Michele. I think most of the Object Vs Ego centric comparisons are true. One aspect that may have been missed out, however, is the function centric network. Where a network forms in order to perform a function or achieve a goal. In this case, it doesn't quite fit into either pigeon hole. When you leave, you can take your personality away but everything you've put into the network, all the work you've done trying to perform the function or achieve the goal may be lost. I say may be list purely because the goal the network is trying to achieve may be public, personal or shared.
I mention this for two reasons. I think at the moment the better blogging community is a function centric community but the goals we are trying to acheive are very much public, i.e. our individual blogs. If we could set some shared goals, it may get people a bit more involved. Secondly, I've used similar analogies when dealing with clients, although in a slightly different context. And as a BA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_analyst) I'm used to defining things like this to the nth degree.
Very good write up by the way.
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Posted by: Simon | December 02, 2007 at 05:01 PM
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I, too, created a NING site for those interested in Social Learning: SocialLearning.ning.com. But after I did and I started getting people there... what now? How do I get them to want to come back. The first thought was conversation. But that is not something you can force. And if it doesn't happen, people lose interest and move out.
But if it is centered around objects, especially ones that each individual has some ownership in, then there is some sticking power. So, the question is, how do you combine the strengths of both type of networks to strengthen networks like your Bamboo and my Social Learning networks? I can how it is combined in a corporate setting. But what about more of an informal network setting?
I need to think about this some more...
Posted by: Kevin Jones | December 03, 2007 at 04:01 PM
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Hi Michele:
I first learned about the difference from a user interface design standpoint from Rashmi's slide show
http://www.slideshare.net/rashmi/perils-of-popularity-webdirections-keynote/Anyway, have you started to explore all the online facilitation/community literature techniques and how they apply to white label social networks?
Great post! And thanks for your comments about Harry's powerpoint. Tonight he decided to replicate some handrawn comics he had created in powerpoint. While he writing in the speech bubbles, he called me over to show me something he discovered - the spell check! Then I got a series of questions how come it doesn't suggest the correct word? Look what happens when I mispell the word this way instead of that way ... why is that?
Now, the space of less than a week - he knows more about powerpoint inner working than I do and I've been studying it for years ...
Posted by: Beth Kanter | December 03, 2007 at 07:13 PM
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hi Michele
had the same kind of question popping up in another ning-group:
http://internettime.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=656824%3ATopic%3A9751Jay Cross also felt as though the community saw him as the creator and thus the one that could make things move. your remark on 'this was created by...' is very true, it would make a difference to get away from the ego and onto the community spirit.
Posted by: Ignatia/Inge de Waard | December 05, 2007 at 02:29 AM
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04 Dec 07
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