"Open" Communities, Social Networking Sites vs. "Gated"
Communities
The recent phenomenon of so called "Gated Online Communities"
seems to be catching on. These sites are part of a group of
sites called "Social Networking Sites" these sites are still
rare on the net, with only a handful of them now online. More
common are Social Networking sites which are "Open" i.e. anyone
can join. Some examples of these sites are
http://www.Friendster.com and http://www.MySpace.com.
Other commonly known sites target the business individual like
http://www.ecademy.com or http://www.rize.com. "Gated" Social
Networking sites cater for a smaller more exclusive group of
people which could be called privileged, either because of their
wealth, there social status (which often goes hand in hand), or
just because they are well known celebrities. Mostly these
individuals do not wish to mingle with common people found in
the more commercial social networking sites.
Sites like http://www.OutOrIn.net and http://www.aSmallWorld.net
target these individuals through a more or less strict
membership application process. For example most of us are used
to stand behind the velvet rope and wait patiently for a grim
looking individual to let us pass and grant us entry into the
"exclusive" and "hip" clubs. This is a well known ritual around
the world repeating itself every Saturday or any other Party
night of the week. The privilege to experience this real life
concept of being rejected by the bouncer in cyber space is give
to us thanks to "Gated" Online Communities. Another example of a
"Gated" Community is http://www.orkut.com by Google, which at
the moment counts over 12.000.000 Members. While the "Gated"
aspect is in place most people would not brand it as an
exclusive Online Community, because of it's number of Members.
http://www.aSmallWorld.net introduced the Internet to the
exclusive virtual club scene of Gated Social Networking sites,
by demanding to be invited by another member of the site before
gaining membership. This phenomenon seems to be catching on,
after http://www.OutOrIn.net announced its launch last month.
While you are able to buy an Orkut membership still on eBay,
other "Gated" Community Sites do not make it so easy to join.
This has created a grey market on Blogs with people offering
money to gain membership for these sites. "Who are these people
so desperate to join these sites offering thousands of dollars
to get an invitation"?
Gated Community Sites will discourage the common individual even
about thinking to join, with requirements like "You need to have
attended a prestigious university or boarding school" or "You
need to be a member of a Members Only Club" like requested by
http://www.OutOrIn.net. Still if you manage to fulfil all their
criteria, you will be happy and excited to receive your
membership, join and have the feeling of being "one in a
million" - not so fast - the membership application still need's
to pass the committee! But do not let me discourage you,
especially if you're extremely wealthy and well connected!