Soon after rumours surfaced of facebook reaching saturation at 500m members, the company introduced a new dimension to 'groups'.
Now users can create very specific groups of friends within their total network.
This is about driving QUALITY back into a social experience that up until now has been more about QUANTITY.
It makes perfect sense that within your network you would want sub-groups who are together for different reasons. Family, workmates and old school friends are obvious choices, but take a closer look and you'll see something unsurprising and intriguing.
COMMON PASSIONS ARE A BIG PART OF HOW THESE GROUPS ARE BONDING.
They're the glue that draws and keeps a big percentage of sub-groups together.
Inevitably, groups will join with other groups and people will find themselves part of bigger networks of more likeminded others. Just like in 'the real world' where groups of friends come together as one bigger group around a shared passion.
This is Social Networking 'catching up' with what happens in the real world, by enabling a more natural experience (or in geek speak, more intuitive and elegant).
This rise of quality has 3 hugely valuable implications for brands looking to engage with consumers and customers through Social Media:
1. The more consumers are grouped by common bonds, the more easily and COST-EFFECTIVELY they can be engaged.
2. This then has massive value for the QUALITY OF INSIGHT that can be drawn from these 'expert groups' and used to build comms platforms that really connect.
3. Ultimately, good branded content will be shared by members with a HIGHER QUALITY OF CONNECTION - exceptionally likeminded others who are more actively interested.
We're shifting from, 'HOW MANY I'VE GOT' to 'WHO I KNOW' as a better articulation of 'WHO I AM'.
Personality and Identity are being driven into Social Networking. This opens up great space for brands to do what they do best: feed people's desire for ways to express who they are.
How long before all brands create their own version of Nike Run, 'the world's biggest running club'?
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