New Year's resolutions are funny things. OK, maybe funny isn't the right word; mine are more often then not clear demonstrations of lofty goals I should work hard at but almost never achieve. Case in
point, this year both my better half and I vowed to cook more for ourselves (you would know how lofty a goal this was if you ever saw us in a kitchen), and therefore stop eating so much fast food. As
I write this, it is almost midnight on Jan. 1, and after a two-hour French toast debacle this morning (extending into this afternoon) costing nearly $30 in food waste, destroying all of the pans in
the house, burning ourselves multiple times and nearly poisoning ourselves by melting a plastic spatula into our food, we have scrapped this resolution in record time.
All that said, the spirit of
resolutions is almost always good. In that spirit, and with similar expectations, I present the lofty New Year's resolutions that a couple of the social media players should be making to themselves:
AOL: I will become a major force in social networking by leveraging my market share and extensive experience in instant messaging, even if I have to overpay for Facebook to do it. I mean
the only things college kids use computers more for than plagiarizing papers is instant messaging and checking their social networking site. And Fox is not going to have all the fun. I mean HBO
produces the perfect types of content for facilitating communities.
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MySpace: I will get over my downtime issues and move forward with functionality. I will spend more time looking at
the wikis of the world as evolutions in functionality, and pay very close attention to their demands within my ecosystem--not to try to stop or copy them, but to invite them in and be a better
business partner. Because I know that staying hip is hard, and that 10,000 companies developing cool features for my ecosystem have more smart, dedicated and energetic people than I could hire with
all the IPO money in the world.
Google: I will refocus myself within social media. I will not try to build the social networks. I will not try to own the content; shame on me for
compulsively buying YouTube in 2006. I will remember that what made me great was my ability to organize the world's content (including the advertising), which made the world a better place for
Internet users--and that the money came after. Social networks are just a whole new type of content, and I will help my new friend MySpace organize its content, exponentially increasing efficiency and
broadening appeal. I will make the world a better place for social network users in 2007, and the money will follow later. I will do no evil (that one is a classic).
All social networks:
We will promote standards and interoperability between social networks. We will learn from instant messaging before us, and know that we will have to eventually talk to each other--because that's what
the people want. We know that people will not want to maintain multiple social networks for professional, family and social reasons. We will make things easier for users.
As I said, I don't
expect to see every company follow through on its resolutions. For example, after the French toast debacle we had Wendy's for dinner. But I might take some cooking classes in 2007. Baby steps are all
right, as long as the goal is the correct one, or at least that's what I am telling myself. And who knows, maybe some of the social media guys have the willpower to actually accomplish their New
Year's resolutions.
What resolutions would you like to see the social media players shoot for? What were yours?