Qualifier: I'm sure this discussion has been going on in AOL for years, but, being enmeshed in our Games world, I've never heard it. So pardon me if I tread old ground. I know there have been products (AimSpaces) and features (AIM's "Enter a status message here...") that have spoken to the issue, but I feel like they're steps in a direction instead of an enthusiastic sprint to the finish. So I'm using controlshift to throw in my 2 cents (1 cent adjusted for inflation).

I think Digsby is a little window into what is coming, and, ironically, what AOL has been well-positioned to do for a long time. The app's astounding out-of-the-gate popularity is a flare we should heed, especially with Bebo in our immediate future.

What is Digsby and why should we care?


Digsby is a small chat application that integrates popular chat, email and social networking services. So you can have access to your AIM, Yahoo and MSN buddies, while checking several email accounts and getting real-time updates as your Facebook friends commiserate. There are a number of apps that try to do this with plug-ins, but Digsby wants to make this UI juggling-act a core competency. In the process, they're setting out to create new limb on the SN beast, bringing it to your desktop in a way even mom would be comfortable with!

Social Networking is to Chat and Email, as Peanut Butter is to Chocolate
AOL may have had its ups and downs in recent years, but there have been products with consistent popularity and growing quality...namely, AIM and email. If you consider that social networking is, well, building a social network online, then it doesn't take a genius to see that email and chat are damn good starting points for a network. A primary reason Facebook exploded is that it keeps your experience pertinent to the bulk of us. It confines you to a bubble occupied by people who are a degree away. You don't have to navigate the nutjobs, unless of course you've associated with them by choice.

So imagine offering the AOL customer a hub where they can see their friends' icons, statuses, and latest pontifications amidst the mails in their (spam-free) Inbox. "Contextual Networking" you could call it, if you had your marketing cap on. Think of the ramifications...This would mean that the content of every email you received would be a gateway into even deeper interaction with the sender. In this shiny, happy world I envision, the same hub page is embedded with AIM chat where, again, your buddies' online identities, in all their glory, are presented in a clear and interactive way. A chat message is not just a chat message, but a window into everything the sender wants you to know about them. A UI challenge, yes, but I know our spectacular design team could pull it off.

While the talent we have in AOL is exceptional, we still have to look at what's out there to know what we're missing, and Digsby reveals a gap in AOL's thinking. While the company has been working on a number of fronts to keep pace with the Social Networking scene, there's still a long way to go. Certainly "buying innovation" can put a foot in the door, but the real key to even qualifying in the SN space is capitalizing on what we're good at and making it matter to our customers as they become more savvy and open to the SN experience.

Related Links:

Read