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"A few sites today added in some social networking features, namely Google Reader and Magnify, among others, to the dismay of a Corvida over at SheGeeks.  The point of discussion today, on blogs including SheGeeks, has been the questioned necessity of social components to sites that didn't have such features prior.  Well, to the specifics of Magnify, I've addressed this already, and even provided quotes from Magnify's CEO Steve Rosenbaum.\nTo share this quote again, which could be used in response to SheGeeks' opinion that other sites already do social networking better, Rosenbaum said the  following:  \"I think it\u2019s wrong to believe is that the only way for people to communicate is Facebook. That\u2019s narrow-minded and silly. \"\nLike It Or Not, Social Networks are Necessary\nAnd while Rosenbaum may have some decisions to defend today, I spoke with him at length about the surprise I expressed at the overall discussions across multiple blogs today, especially for Magnify, as it was already a social media tool for sharing videos amongst niche networks.  Inherent in such a niche network, there's a need to easily communicate with others in the network.\nAnd as far as Google's shared reader options go, there's a larger push for Google tools to become more social.  It's in part due to the activity in the space (how many socially-oriented search engines have you come across in the past three years?), and in part due to a natural evolution of a tool that aims to deliver an organized account of the web (also inherently social).\nFor some companies as large as Google, there's also the small matter of keeping the shareholders happy.  And what do shareholders like?  Constant change, by way of improvement.  The concept of \"not letting the little guys catch up\" means that larger companies absolutely need to take some action in response to improving industry standards.\nInformation Wants To Be Free. Social Networking Frees Information.\nAll of that aside, I feel that a more central topic to discuss here is the balance between adding one's own social networking components and leveraging an existing social network in order to achieve the same goals.  Having a socially-oriented site isn't just about the \"eyeballs\" anymore.  It's nearly impossible to launch a standalone site and expect it to take off.  Not to mention, the access to millions of socially active users via open platforms.  Content is very able to be distributed, and the current trend is to share one's personal  in as many places as possible.\nIf that means that Magnify supports Flickr and Mogulus imports along with Twitter updates which can then be sent through to FriendFeed, or that Google shared reader can also be tied in to all of Google's other increasingly social applications and used to improve Google's feed readers (which could ultimately improve your FriendFeed experience), so be it.\nThe fact remains that, gimmicky though it may seem, social networking components on larger websites will be recognized by enough people to make it worth the company's while, and eventually aids in economic alternatives to the dissemination of information, advertising, and market research."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2008/03/19/duh-we-defend-social-networks/>