VLab&GDC2008 003, originally uploaded by KenEKaplan.
A Intel pals Annie Rodkins and Bob Duffy turned me on to last week’s VLAB gathering on Stanford campus. “Shaking the money Tree of Multi-Platform Social Networks” hit the sweet spot of my current curiousities…then it peeled back my skull and poured in a heavy dose of reality. Wow! The more you get involved with social computing technologies, doors just keep opening to fascinating work and business opportunities.
Here we learned about social networking applications maker RockYou, Google’s Open Social, Bebo, Social Media advertising agencies and how people are hustling to create low cost, rapidly deployed services for Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and other socially connected online services that use open APIs.
I’m not at all techie, so here’s what I found scribbled in my notes:
* Social “not” working on the job — a term moderator Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research blurted out describing how some bosses diss the use of social networks/media at work.
* We’re in a new social media economy
* Social advertising, where we can influence getting ourselves or friends in Ads (and get paid? why not?!)
* What’s a platform? RockYou says it’s the ability to add functionality; distribution; monetization (development and maintenance cost, stickiness and openness to other networks/platforms). Reward =distribution x revenue and Risk = development and maintenance costs devided by stickiness + openness.
* Build for “Multiple & Open” platforms/networks
* Steve Cohn had a great sense of humor and quick wit. He used “Make a Baby” with me application that’s widly popular now in his company’s Bebo social network.
* Words from venture capital guru Ken Guillicksen: cutting down costs gets more ROI…open social means more distribution but need keep down development and maintenance costs….if you share a niche product distribute widely while driving down costs and increasing ROI.
* “Social netowrks are the homepage of this generation,” said Jia Shen of RockYou.
* Have a pleasure model
* Higher rate of success in social networks than Web sites
Movin' Ahead 
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