Variety is Key: Why There Should Be No Need for a Best Social Network

By Karla Robinson
March 15, 2012

Founder and CEO of MyLife.com, Jeff Tinsley suggests social networks should focus more on helping users live their lives and less on trying to serve as the most popular network.
“The staying power of social networks — big and small — proves that there needn’t be a ‘best’ social network, or even a ‘most popular.’ Instead, there ought to be a bit more social networking diplomacy,” he writes in Mashable. “While the public battle for ‘most liked’ social network carries on, trends point to a far more satisfying outcome: diversity of choice.”
A new comScore report found that people spend 16.6 percent of their time online using social networking sites. In December, the average user spent 151 minutes on Tumblr, 80 minutes on Pinterest and 423 minutes using Facebook. Twitter also saw 37.5 million unique visitors while Google+ had 20.7 million.
“Users will embrace a variety of sites, each of which excels at its unique method of connecting, sharing and more,” Tinsley writes. “For the future of social networking, that means tolerance is key, and integration and management tools will have essential roles to play. Those that succeed will offer users simple, comprehensive solutions to maintain their connections and make new ones.”

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