P@ Log

Today I’ll be representing Google (Orkut and iGoogle) at the “Comparing Social Platforms” Panel at Web 2.0 moderated by Justin Smith from the Inside Facebook blog.
There will be representatives from facebook, MySpace, Bebo and SixApart. Should be a fun panel.

One of the questions he plans to ask is about viral channels and balancing user and developer interest. I will just point to the survey he posted today about Which viral channels do Facebook users hate most about apps?

Invitations and profile clutter seem to be user’s two worse pet peeves. Both Orkut and iGoogle will soon implement user to user messenging, but eschewed invitations for now, prefering developers to use the Activity Stream to spread their app, because it provides for a more “organic” way of spreading an application. About Organic vs Viral spread, see Kevin Marks’ very good post from February.