We are extremely happy with “The Social Network Decision Tree” infographic for two reasons. The shorter reason is that we agree that Twitter is a useless social networking site. There have been no original thoughts expressed in the billions of tweets. If a thought cannot be adequately, fully and properly expressed in 140 words then how can it be done with just 140 characters?
The second reason is that the proper question is not whether to join a social networking site but which social networking site to join. We have always believed in social networking sites. We joined Classmates–perhaps the very first social networking site–about 15 years ago. We did not participate in it much, if at all, but after significant life changes, we started participating in it as much as possible. However, we observed that it was dying out and we moved to Orkut.
After a couple of years, we saw that this too was dying out. We considered a range of options before deciding on Google+ which was relatively new. We joined this because it seemed to be the logical extension of our membership in Orkut (which was owned by Google) and by the fact of our distaste of Facebook.
Facebook seems to have an antediluvian knowledge of places (for example, a city is referred to as “Calcutta” rather than “Kolkata” even though the latter name has been around for about 14 years). In addition, although we appreciate large social networks, the largest is not necessarily the best.
Likes: Perhaps the best thing about this infographic is that it forces you to think and to have a reason to join, rather than to blindly follow the herd.
Dislikes: It would have been obviously better if it included LinkedIn, other social networking sites, and perhaps even forums.
In our most recent infographic for tech guru Guy Kawasaki, we helped illustrate Guy’s thoughts on which social network fits you best by creating this decision tree.
