"social" is not a destination

Today I stumbled across this thought provoking article in the NYT. I love the quote about social not being a destination. I think that Google and Yahoo are smart to not try to directly compete with Facebook and MySpace. People are going to go where their friends are, and are NOT going to sign up for another social networking site just for the fun of it. In order for users to have a desire to use multiple social networks, the site must provide a unique utility (and NO I do not mean just new features or better privacy, I mean a completely new utility).

Here is a good analogy for you: AOL Instant Messenger holds the lead position for instant messaging. MSN and Yahoo never cracked AIM because when they came out (in the US at least) everyone and their friends were already on AIM. MSN and Yahoo only offered the essential same utility as AIM, but nobody's friends used it. So, 10 yeas later, AIM is still the leader. However, in my mind, this is all about to change. Facebook chat offers the same essential utility, but with no download, and most Facebook users have all of their AIM friends on Facebook. So, is Facebook chat going to be the demise of AIM? I think so, unless AIM adds some new incentives to download their software.