Uno de Waal

Uno de Waal’s online space covering everything about web2.0, social networks and internet related developments in South Africa and how it fits in with the rest of the world.

5FM attempts a social network

Uno as Online, Web2.0

Jun|12|2007


5FM just launched their social network called YoungBlood.

The objective of www.youngblood5.co.za is to give everyone the opportunity to “stand up and be counted”. Issues and concerns submitted via the website will be discussed on-air during June – leading up to Youth Day (16 June) and beyond.

Via Bizcommunity

I’ve gone through the basic sign-up process and am busy checking it out.

My first thoughts:

It’s still a bit too much of a microsite and very little a social network. Calling it a social network is like saying you live in Cape Town when you drive a car with a CY number plate, it’s close but not really there. It wasn’t apparent that I had an immediate profile, and I also couldn’t see any other immediate causes that might be relevant to me (you need to go through the registration session first).

Sign up isn’t too bad, they only ask for your email address (and a voluntary cellphone nr “so that a DJ can call you”)

The site is slick as a you can expect from 5FM. It looks amazing, with great little buttons and a fairly intuitive interface - you have 5 options when you start (start a cause, view a cause, create stickers, wallpaper, find something on the map). From a usability perspective this is easy - there are so few features that you can’t go wrong.

I’m not going to talk too much about the content though… that leaves much to be desired (as you could expect - social networks and their netizens aren’t known for their linguistic prowess). People seem content to spit out monosyllabic cell phn spk. yuck.

I’d like to ask though… why on earth would they build the site in flash? Sure, it looks awesome, and that is probably what is going to impress the execs. But this site has no potential to grow or change as they see their people wanting other features. Modularity isn’t one of their strong sets, it’s design.

(I really want to go on a litte rant about the difference between designers, developers and coders here, but I’ll suffice to say that in this case it was designers who developing a site and forgot to think on how the site is going to be used).

The lack of a “homepage” with friends and people interested in the same cause is a bit worrysome. The homepage is also slightly generic - mine could be someone elses as well.

A bit of a problem though - it seems someone isn’t paying the bills!

Final thoughts:

It’s not a social network but rather a forum style micro site. It lacks severily in the connecting-people-with-other-people aspect, which is where this site could be really really powerful. Instead of just saying “its terruble that crime is is so crasy in rsa we must brign back the daeth penulty”, you would be able to connect with like minded people and organise real world events. That’s still where the power is in online - making that shift to the real world.

Still, it’s a great first step in encouraging dialogue in SA. I’d recommend they make a few Myspace widgets, Facebook apps or something similar to get people to migrate to the microsite and build in more social networking features.

The design company behind the site is Gloo.

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13 Responses

  1. Wezzo

    12|Jun|2007

    Yeah had a look at it yesterday, not too sure if it it’s just my screen but I could hardly see anything. Images and font are very dark and against a black background. As you also mentioned, developing the entire site in flash is a bit of a weird choice - a change to the http norm from a nav point of view is never a good thing. Spent 2 minutes screwing around, don’t think I’ll be back.

    Wow, and not paying the bills is rather embarrassing.

  2. sessa

    12|Jun|2007

    “’m not going to talk too much about the content though… that leaves much to be desired (as you could expect - social networks and their netizens aren’t known for their linguistic prowess). People seem content to spit out monosyllabic cell phn spk. yuck.”

    It’s the 1st thing I noticed. The people participating sound a bit daft, and totally clueless. They don’t seem to have the slightest idea of how the economy works, yet they flight their economic opinions in public. Strange…

    Seems like Gloo has not paid the bill just yet.

  3. sessa

    12|Jun|2007

    http://co.za/cgi-bin/whois.sh?Domain=gloo.co.za

    They haven’t paid for their own domain either.

  4. Johann Schwella

    12|Jun|2007

    Interesting project, but yes, sadly it wasn’t developed very well. I opened up the first page and found some QC issues that the developers should have picked up. Sloppy and lazy.

    The 24 hours before your comment goes live makes me slightly concered also. That could mean a couple of things:
    1. Bad engine, the back end might not support instant publishing onto the live version.
    2. Censorship, mods might be checking all comments to see that they don’t violate policy and making things embarrassing for 5fm. But this is worrying in it’s own. The main feature that has made online forums such a success from the days of BBS till now is the face that it’s open for discussion. Rather modurate comments after they have been posted then have people feel they are getting biased opinions.
    3. Bad useability. I posted a comment, I wanted to see it right there and then. Now I have to wait 24 hours to view or for others to view it. That means it doesn’t really promote easy discussion.

    On a more humourous note: Literally the first “thread” I went into I found a comment by a user named “Sessa” flaming some poor sod.
    :D

  5. Johann Schwella

    12|Jun|2007

    Edit:

    2. If mods are checking all the comments before they are made “live” what will happen if the site is a success? The waiting time on a comment might well increase from 24 hours to whatever the load is. :S

  6. Johann Schwella

    12|Jun|2007

    Edit v2.

    I also see they don’t allow for nested comments. :( How do you want to follow a proper discussion where topics can have a few hundred replies.

  7. sessa

    12|Jun|2007

    hehehe, Johann, it seems I wasn’t the only one there to flame the poor sod. :P

    And it took a couple of minutes for that comment to appear, as I literally posted it just now.

  8. Uno

    12|Jun|2007

    Wezzo: I did the same. I won’t go back… It’s not a community site and doesn’t live up to any standards. A Facebook group has more features. Just not the design (which I still like)

    Stefan: It’s the state of the nation! Most open forums like that, with a target audience of radio who aren’t necessarily that net-savvy, or used to a keyboard.

    Johan: Those are very good points. Moderating comments is a very good way for them to keep tabs on what’s happening, but a very bad way for them to foster discussion. Imagine a heated thread, and people wanting to discuss something, and then they need to wait until a moderator edits it… Sorry, Big Brother doesn’t work on the internet.

    I think the goal of the site is different though. It’s a commercial micro-site not destined for growth after the 16th which is such a shame as it is a real opportunity to create a positive social network.

    Thanks for everyones comments.

  9. Johann Schwella

    12|Jun|2007

    “Youngblood 5 gives everyone the opportunity to “stand up & be counted”. Issues & concerns submitted via the website will be discussed on-air during June – leading up to Youth Day (16 June) and beyond.”

    And beyond, seems like this is going to stay. I also wonder what Priscilla’s take on this would be, companies like Instant Grass would most probably love to have a peek at the possibilities that this database can conjure up.

  10. Nic

    13|Jun|2007

    Agreed Uno, great post. I think that you are right about the flash issue and lack of content. No potential for growth, no indexing via google, no nothing.

    Nonetheless I stand by the fact that it is a greatly progressive step in terms of big media buying in to the web and user input. Definitely a move in the right direction.

  11. Uno

    13|Jun|2007

    Yes Nic, I agree, it doesn’t have growth potential but it is encouraging to see corporates buy into it.

  12. Johann Schwella

    15|Jun|2007

    It seems that I got my first comment censored. I posted a comment on Wednesday on a thread someone made concerning the actual website and if people thought it was good or not.

    My comment read along the lines of: “While the concept is good, the website and the execution of it is poor at best. ”

    Looks like Gloo doesn’t like a bit of criticism.

  13. MTV Think: What Youngblood5 should’ve been at Uno de Waal

    21|Sep|2007

    […] the Youngblood5 network that 5FM launched a while ago? I wrote about it here if you’d like to read. Well now it seems that MTV has gotten on board as well with their new […]


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