Well there's that too. But to get people to use a new social network in the first place, you either need to hope for a viral effect or spend on advertising. Unless I'm missing something.
I kind of think these days people generally understand the "groups" or "communities" or "family members" they are usually in contact with.
So I kind of envision that new social networks don't need to grow in that "all or nothing" model.
Also I see great potential for "glue networks". Or, in other words, networks responsible for facilitating the seamless transmission of data to / from different social networks depending on which one people decide they want to use.
I think it will get old real fast if people can only interact with people in Facebook while they're signed on to Facebook.
I want a social network that can seamlessly integrate with all of them so I don't have to worry about where all my friends are. I just decide I'm going to try something new and if it works well for me I might stick with it. In the meantime I'll continue to be able to communicate with people on other social networks because "I, as the consumer, should be allowed to dictate where my data can and can't go".
