Social Networks a Fad, Fashion or Utility

Posted on December 17, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized | | Written by Gary Reid

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Mashable report Steve Balmer’s quote about social networks

I think these things [social networks] are going to have some legs, and yet thereâ€™s a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically appeals to younger people

And it got me thinking. Do people expect facebook et al to continue forever?

My personal feeling is that social networking is more than a fad, Twitter on the other hand hasn’t stepped into the ‘fashion’ arena yet, it’s still a bit of a fad.

The fashion cycle is

seen as comprising three stages defined as distinctiveness, primary emulation and secondary or economic emulation. Take up of a new fashion by INNOVATORS seeking distinctiveness who will then be emulated by EARLY ADOPTERS who wish to copy them. In turn, if the fashion appears to be attractive to the mass market manufacturers will rapidly bring out large quantities of similar articles at much lower prices

Social networks are already into the economic emulation segment. The big question is whether the innovators will now create something that has distinctiveness to start a new fashion cycle taking away from social networks.