BloGiza

The Great Vertical Social Network Shootout

I don't know about the rest of youse guys, but I'm beginning to feel slightly awash in a sea of social networks. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for vertical social networking and I see it as one of the logical developments of the MySpace revolution.

Lately, us Israeli Internet aficionados have found ourselves spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing a social network of our very own.
First into the fray was The Marker Cafe, an online spot where tech-savvy Israeli business types could get together. A couple of months after that, the iDrink guys rolled out their site, which serves as an online complement to the real-world Internet drinking club.

Now, our friends from The Coils have brought out the.co.ils Zone, which also provides an online space for Israeli Internet entrepreneurs (as well as us investor types) to meet, talk, do business, put up photos, share links, and all that other fun social networking stuff.

Hovering above this all, of course, is Facebook which has seen an incredibly quick uptake of Israeli Internet scenesters, and which already contains an iDrink group, a co.ils group, and numerous other groups related to the Israeli Internet.

So, the question now becomes what to do with all this activity. And frankly, I'm kind of stumped. iDrink is nice, but is limited in its functionality. The Marker Cafe has plenty of functionality. It is, however, in Hebrew only which cuts it off from the rest of the world.

The co.ils Zone looks like it has a lot of potential (assuming that Ning, the platform on which the Zone is built, gets their act together and deals with its recent outages). But it will be a challenge for them to get a critical mass of people actually using the site, what with all the competition from the other sites.

What do you think?

What Facebook gets right (and what it gets right less)

Those of you who know me probably know that I've become a pretty big Facebook addict of late. I've actually never been that much of a social networking guy. I've played around with MySpace, but never really got into it. The closest I've come to being active in a social network is LinkedIn, but that has limited functionality and a narrowly defined purpose.

However, when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company's new strategy to become an open platform for third-party web developers, I decided to give it a try. And I've been coming back ever since. Often several times a day.

Simply put, Facebook rocks. It has a robust set of features with user retention fairly built in. And now you can use your Facebook account as a single organizing site for all those other addictive applications -- Twitter, Flickr, de.licio.us, etc.

So, IMHO what sets Facebook apart from the competition? A couple of things:

1. Layout - In a word: clean. One of my biggest beefs with MySpace that it's such a friggin' mess. I know the kids (allegedly) like it, but I could never find my way around the place. With Facebook, everything is laid out in a nice, clear, navigatable manner.
2. Seeing what your friends are up to - Facebook's "news feed" updates you about everything your friends are doing on facebook: changes in profile, items posted, groups joined, etc etc. Among other things, it hips you to applications and groups that you might not have found. Also, it's addictive like nobody's business, and subtly encourages you to go back and check the site a couple of times a day.
3. Easily added applications - What can I say, between Facebook and Netvibes you almost never have to go anywhere else on the Internet anymore. It all comes to you
4. That "poke" feature - Useless but cute, an example of how to keep things light and fun
5. Positioning - Not really a feature per se, but Facebook seems a bit more serious (or real) a place than MySpace. Or, as my friend Chris commented, "it's about 900 percent less skeevy than MySpace."

Now, don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of things that need fixing. To wit:

1. Control over layout sucks. Unlike Netvibes, where you can move around any item anywhere, open up your own tabs, and define the number of columns you want, with Facebook the columns are fixed and there are many elements that can't be moved at all or can only be moved up and down in their respective columns. I would expect a lot more control over my customization.
2. While I love the fact that I can access applications directly from my Facebook page, I would love it even more if I could access them on my Facebook page. As it is, all third party apps open up in their own page. Which isn't so bad for some apps. But it sure would be nice to be able to Twitter without having to jump to a different screen.
3. No built-in chat feature. Yes, you can choose from about a dozen third-party apps. But come on, isn't IM a must-have these days if you want to speak to Generation Y users?
4. Other small quibbles, such as the "How do you know this person" function when trying to verify contacts. The list of options is pretty limited and reflects Facebook's past as a social network for college kids (one of the options is "We hooked up"). At the very least, give an "other" option.

In short, Facebook is progressing in the right direction but isn't quite there yet. My feeling, however, is that when they do get there they will become the social network of choice for a lot of people who don't play around with social networks yet. The kids and the indie bands will always have MySpace; the rest of us may likely be found here.

Koolanoo - Giza's Latest Internet Investment

I am very proud to announce Giza's latest investment in the Internet field: Koolanoo Group.

Koolanoo has developed a platform for creating and running vertical social networks. Founders Oded Kobo and Guy Grinberg believe that the future of the social networking space lies in finding new, more defined communities and exploring new geographical areas in which to launch new social networks.

Currently, the company maintains two sites:

• Koolanoo.com is the world's first network for young Jewish professionals. With well over 10,000 registered members, it's a good place to meet people for business or dating purposes
• 360Quan is an entertainment-based social network which targets the nascent but fast-growing community of young Internet users in China. It offers Chinese users a space for blogging and sharing photos and videos

Giza decided to invest in this project on the strength of entrepreneurs who are driven, energetic, and incredibly creative when it comes to new marketing efforts; as well as a vision which looks beyond just the usual US and English-speaking market.

Managing director Ori Israely led Giza's investment on this one, and I am proud to be a member of the team. Giza is also joined by a group of first-rate private investors.

Oded and Guy have a big vision for Koolanoo and it will be an interesting ride with them there.

In the Zeitgeist

Google just released its 2006 Zeitgeist, its list of the most popular search terms of the year. Interestingly "Bebo" comes in at number one, strengthening the feeling that it will soon become the number two social networking site.

Also, take note of the number four spot. It does my little provincial heart proud....