Embrace the twist, be human

Often, hugely popular products are the result of adding a few twists that better enable people to do what they already like to do. MySpace blew past Friendster for two simple reasons: first, they targeted bands and their rabid fans. Bands embraced MySpace because it gave them a free page and tools to communicate with and grow their audience. Fans loved it because they could contribute to that page and communicate directly with the objects of their affection. Add the bands-and-their-fans twist to the already popular notion of connecting with the friends you already have via social networking, and you have an instantly better mousetrap. But MySpace took a second crucial step that guaranteed their success.

MySpace allowed user pages to be totally customizable. They didn’t subscribe to Friendster’s one-mildly-attractive-design-fits-all approach. MySpace empowered users by allowing them to personalize their space. We’re seeing this personalization trend everywhere now, and the simple truth is, if you introduce this element into an environment where it didn’t previously exist, you will most likely trounce the competition.

What’s valuable is that you can classify these twists and then extract them for use elsewhere. MySpace’s first twist consisted of empowering a specific type of influential people, bands. MySpace didn’t just focus on friends adding friends. They realized that they could jumpstart their virus by approaching and empowering people that had more than the usual amount of influence. Also, MySpace realized that focusing on music is cool, fun and addicting because human beings already love to discover new music and connect with the source of that music. MySpace just enabled and enhanced what we already like to do.

The second twist of enabling personalization is arguably just as powerful as the first. It targets another core and ingrained human behavior. We’re forever distinguishing ourselves by how we dress, our hairstyle, the way we talk, the cars we drive, the hobbies we’re into, etc. Friendster somehow missed the fact that we love to personalize our lives. By simply allowing users to paste in code that changes their page, MySpace helped us do what we already like to do. Thus, they are the reigning social network champions.

And if you think that there is no further innovation to be had in this space, you are dead wrong. There are other groups of influential people that need to be targeted, and better ways to enhance communication and personalization. The future is truly exciting for those entrepreneurs who build apps that enable and enhance what we humans already like to do.