Web 2.0 one minute Social Network: Does size matter?

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?” the old saying asks.

I ASK: If you create your own social network and no one joins, do you exist?

Web 2.0 turnkey empowerment platforms lure with visions of instant social nirvana, for free and with no side effects!

The 1960’s Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll notions of “higher consciousness” often engendered risky and costly behaviors, for both society and individuals. 

Web 2.0 instant enlightenment may be the ultimate answer to the American self-evident “truth” of our unalienable right to “the pursuit of Happiness.”

Ning, co-founded by Marc Andreessen and Gina Bianchini, offers an unalienable right to Social Networking happiness, instantly and for free.

Ning V2 launches today and proudly declares the “perfect social network” platform to be “the “software equivalent of Home Depot.”

Why did Andreessen and Bianchini build Ning?:

To enable a diversity of social networks the same way the web browser enabled millions of different websites. 

How does Ning enable the creation of “Your Own Social Network”:

It's super easy! You can create your own social network in a few simple steps. 

It should take you all of about 1 minute to create a full social networking site that's ready for whatever you'd like your social network to be. 

Om Malik says Ning “has come up with what amounts to a 15-minute Social Network.” 

While Ning promises instant one-minute gratification, Malik’s 15 minutes may be more apropos though, as in Andy Warhol’s fifteen minutes of fame!

Malik notes, “The big challenge for Ning will be to get mass adoption, for upon that “adoption” hinges its business model.”

Yes, but user adoption of Ning’s turnkey social network platform is not the only adoption challenge. 

Given the appeal of a no-cost, start-your-own-social-network-in-one-minute Ning value proposition, the bigger adoption challenge will be for the instant Social Network lessees to spur adoption of their instant Social Networks! 

Malik: Ning will need thousands of social networks before it can join an elite network of start-ups of recent vintage that are profitable. 

BUT each of the thousands of social networks will then need to generate at least hundreds of social networkers!

Ning user “Frantz23” Social Network “Frantz23’s Wishlist” illustrates that while creating your own Social Network online may be free and easy thanks to Web 2.0, the platform is the easy part!

The “Frantz23’s Wishlist” Social Network is listed as one of the “popular networks on Ning,” but it does not appear to have generated any popularity.

The “Frantz23’s Wishlist” is in fact a lonely Social Network of One.

Perhaps Frantz23 needs to wish harder!

ALSO: WEB 2.0: DOES ‘OLD MEDIA' GET IT? and
John Edwards NOT Social Networking for ‘User Generated Politics’