I read through the article “Chime.in: Do we need another social network?” from CNET News (cited below), which described a new social networking site called Chime.in that focuses on subjects rather than people for what gets shared around. Interesting topics of discussion are populated with “Chimes,” or extended messages, posted about these subjects that then turn into communities connected around the content. With the social networking arena as filled as it is with the mammoth Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn for employment networking and the relatively new Google+ service, Chime.in wants to separate itself by being a destination for talking with people about the same common interests as you, with the content itself being the center of attention.
Frankly, as promising and interesting as Chime.in looks (you can visit it at http://chime.in/ yourself to see), I can agree with the article author that people’s free time is valuable and only so much of it can be spent on social media. Google+ has had its troubles gaining ground and page views, while Facebook and Twitter continue their dominance in connecting people together and delivering updates. Avid users of the Internet have their sources for news and subjects, whether it’d be to “just Google it” or to visit specific message boards or forums to engage in discussion over specific topics like sports, music, cars, travel, technology, games, or whatever the case may be. Chime.in is a nice deviation from what’s out there, but whether it remains a niche site or gains traction against other social media remains to be seen.
McCracken, Harry. "Chime.in: Do we need another social network?" CNET News (2011): 18 Oct 2011. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-33200_3-20121754-290/chime.in-do-we-need-another-social-network/>.
In theory, we have much more room for social networking (SN) because many hope these means will eventually supplant our current modes of communication, namely phone and face-to-face. I believe that is unlikely, so to address the question at hand related to personal bandwidth room for the Chime.in network, I would not casually dismiss that people will not make room. I can see the value for news media visiting the site looking for great opinions on local news, discovering uploaded community media surrounding an event or linking to it when tracking a local or national story of high importance.
ReplyDeleteLastly, it will be difficult for Chime.in to challenge the other sites for a couple reasons. First, this site is positioned with a different focus point-a news story rather than a person. Second, its success will be measured by how it integrates into the other SN sites rather than competes for the same audience. If they keep these as a focus, I can see it being successful.
--CG
It's interesting to see that even with the dominance of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, a lot of companies are still trying to build newer social networks that will eventually take over. In my opinion, I don't really think that it is possible to predict the success of a particular company until it actually happens. For example, my very first social network account was on a website called Friendster, and considering the success of that website while it lasted, I never thought that anything would take over... but then MySpace came around. I had my MySpace account for a LONG time and even refused to create a Facebook account at first, because I did not like the way Facebook was set up. However, eventually MySpace got old and Facebook became the new thing. So I think it is only a matter of time before another social becomes the new thing to join.
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