Building Sites Around Social Objects

Successful social sites are not just friend networks. They are built around objects that connect people with shared interests. For example, the object on Flickr is a photo, on Jaiku and Twitter it is a status update, and on YouTube it is a video.

But turning an idea into a shareable object is not always so simple. We’ll ask, what makes a good social object? For instance, Dopplr is built around trips that have 3 simple elements (two dates and a location) that can be used to make social connections. This talk will deconstruct the social objects and verbs on which well-known successes and exciting new startups are built on.

We will compare and contrast different approaches teams have taken to build social objects. Some examples are:

• music: Last.fm vs. Soundcloud
• products: Ebay vs. Thinglink
• trips: Tripit vs. Dopplr

The talk will conclude with a set of principles for building services around social objects.