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"Shane Snow is a technology journalist in New York City. Follow him on Twitter at\u00A0@shanesnow.\nOne of the main challenges for social networks stems from a question ancient philosophers have debated for centuries: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In social media, the dilemma often takes the form of, \"We need users for our network to be useful, but users won\u2019t join the network unless it\u2019s useful.\" A social network\u2019s utility is derived from the people belonging to it.\nThe second great challenge in social networking is spreading to new users at a fast and sustainable pace, i.e. viral growth. Virality is the pot of gold every startup yearns for. It can\u2019t be obtained without first solving the chicken-and-egg puzzle.\nThis month, a social startup called Hashable (no relation!) released an iPhone app after a few months in private beta. Hashable helps users make introductions and track their connections and relationships through \u201Cpeople checkins,\u201D using Twitter hashtags and e-mail. Without publicity, Hashable\u2019s private user base grew by itself to more than 5,000 members before the app officially launched.\nHow does a new site like Hashable get past the chicken dilemma, when others can\u2019t? Hashable CEO Michael Yavonditte says he \u201Clooked at all the successful networks\u201D when designing his product. \u201CThere are things to learn from all successful companies in adjacent spaces,\u201D he says. Here\u2019s a quick look at the science behind some of the most well-known social networks, and how they cracked the philosophical egg.\nHow Facebook Did It: Start Small and Exclusive\nWhen Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004, he positioned his social network as private and exclusive. Psychologically, this made users want to join, in the same way his fellow Harvard students were dying to join fraternities where all the \u201Ccool kids\u201D were. (See the movie for a dramatization of this).\nFacebook was able to gather thousands of users \u2014 half the Harvard undergraduate population \u2014 in less than a month. It was immediately useful because the user base was instantly robust, and the site had features that facilitated interaction, keeping users coming back.\nThough Facebook is now a 500+ million user giant \u2014 and no longer exclusive at all \u2014 Zuckerberg got past the initial chicken-and-egg problem by going after a tiny subset of the potential users for his site and making them believe they were privileged to be part of it. Luxury brands use this psychology all the time. Websites like Gilt Groupe use \u201Cmembers only\u201D tactics to get people interested in joining. As they say, people always want what they can\u2019t have.\nHow Tumblr Did It: Make It Useful Even If You\u2019re Alone\n\n\u00A0\nMicro-blogging platform Tumblr began as a nonthreatening way to keep an online journal. What made Tumblr really take off were social features like following and reblogging, but those features came well after Tumblr had a large following itself.\nTumblr now averages millions of posts per day and billions of page views each month. It bypassed the chicken-and-egg problem because it started off as something that anyone could do by themselves: click twice to post anything on a blog. Thousands of users joined because it was useful to them; social features tacked on later fueled explosive growth.\nOther examples of social networks that used standalone utility to bypass the chicken problem to some degree include LinkedIn (a free place to host your resume online) and, for bands, Myspace (a free webpage to host your songs and announce shows).\nHow Twitter Did It: Cater to Geeks and Influencers First\nTwitter may have been the social network most mocked by mainstreamers in the beginning, yet it now boasts more than 190 million accounts. Many of those accounts belong to the old mockers, moms and technoramuses who now talk about tweets on cable news \u2014 people who never would have adopted Twitter before the network effect took hold.\nTwitter solved its chicken/egg conundrum by focusing on acquiring tech-savvy early adopters who were influential among geeks. The site catered to them, marketed toward them and basically let the nerds run wild (letting members determine the way Twitter should be used, and then developing the site around those use cases).\nHow Foursquare Did It: Use Game Psychology\nFoursquare is a good example of a social network that is not very useful unless there are people to share it with. Founders Naveen Selvadurai and Dennis Crowley tapped into their video gamer roots and built a system that made users feel like they were playing a game rather than using a social network. Badges for visiting new places, points for using the app frequently, and the ability to stake claim to your favorite local spots and become a Foursquare \u201Cmayor\u201D helped bridge the gap between \u201CI have no friends on it, so why should I do it?\u201D and \u201CAha, this is actually useful,\u201D once more people were on the service.\nOf course, Foursquare\u2019s successful use of games to grow its network gave rise to scads of imitators. Whereas some people have game mechanics fatigue by now, when done correctly, games work and will continue to do so.\nRepeating The Experiments: How Hashable Is Doing It\n\n\u00A0\nIn science, hypotheses are proven (or disproven) by repeating experiments and achieving identical results. Yavonditte and crew hypothesized that the success of the biggest social networks is scientifically repeatable. Here\u2019s how Hashable is testing that hypothesis:\n\nStart small and exclusive. Hashable started out as invite-only, focusing on the tech scene in New York City.\nMake it useful as a standalone app. Hashable becomes an address book and digital business card, and is a tool for making introductions to users and nonusers alike. \u201CHashable can be used with people that are not currently users,\u201D says Yavonditte.\nCater to geeks and influencers first. In an effort to reach influencers in the New York tech scene, Hashable has been inviting groups of potential users to its offices for personalized demos and exclusive, early versions of its iPhone app. Yavonditte demonstrates how to use the app, and everyone in the room uses it to \u201Ccheck in\u201D with each other, making new networking contacts in the process. Then Hashable sends these new users out the door, who then convert their friends to the service. By targeting respected people with large numbers of contacts, Hashable hoped to spark growth. It\u2019s apparently working.\n\n\u201CWe're focusing on outreach to certain types of users \u2014 heavy social media and Twitter folks that also happen to be interested in tech industry,\u201D says Yavonditte. \u201CBut this is quickly spreading outside of that.\u201D\nUse game psychology. Hashable hired Chris Carella, longtime game designer and founder of Super + Fun to architect the game aspect of the platform, which includes points for making intros and checking in with people, rewards when introducees connect, and leaderboards showing the most influential people in various segments. Hashable recently hosted a party (in real life) for the top 100 New York users at the Gold Flower Restaurant in Chinatown. Free cocktails and vegetable dumplings for power users are apparently quite motivating, as competition to be on the leaderboard was fierce.\n\n\u00A0\nThe Challenge\nThe challenge of all social software is breaking out from tech insider circles and into the mainstream. Using the techniques that successful social networks have employed to break free of the chicken-egg dilemma, it\u2019s possible to repeat science and build an early adopter following. At the end of the day, however, in order to reach the mainstream, a social app has to have mainstream appeal.\nAll the right techniques used with the wrong product is like a henhouse full of sick birds. If no one wants your chickens, it doesn\u2019t matter where they came from. Get the product right, however, and a few network-growing tactics can launch you on your way to Internet fame. Or wicked good omelettes.\nMore Social Media Resources from Mashable:\n-  290+ Social Media Resources From 2010 -  10 More Creative Uses of the New Facebook Profile [PICS] -  Reddit Political Action Committee: We\u2019re Not Happy With the New Net Neutrality Rules -  10 Predictions for the News Media in 2011 -  Sports and Social Media: Why the Best Is Yet to Come "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/12/28/social-startups-early-adopters/>