Social Networking NOT the Next Big Thing

Well another social networking site bit the dust today as “Tickle” a site owned by Monster.com is shutting down. Tickle was a social networking and advice site that offered free tests to users – sort of a permission marketing concept. The news follows other recent failed attempts by Conde Nast and Verizon as reported in a recent article in Silicon Alley Insider.

According to a press release on the Tickle web site the company was acquired for about $55 million (50/50 cash and stock) or about two times revenue by Monster (NASDAQ: MNST) in May 2004.

The suite of services that Tickle offers provides the easiest, safest, and most comprehensive experience online. From career advice and personality reports to social networking, Tickle is able to apply science to help members build and manage relationships. Tickle’s “Think Tank” of certified PhDs ensures that the sites’ services are useful and the content is relevant. Thus, members have access to practical scientific data that helps them to discover themselves, and better connect with others – a combination that makes the platform truly powerful.

The recent series of social networking failures raises questions about the future of social networking portals in general and how many social networking models will survive as the novelty of their respective “unique” experience grows old. What most social networking sites fail to understand is the dynamic and fickle nature of the Internet audience, the need for serious collaboration and that social networking is a means, not the end. Well I guess in the case of Tickle it was the end after all.

By Chris Dornfeld of the Dornfeld Management Group | June 6, 2008