Google+和Facebook和Twitter.谷歌在2011年终于拿到了开发社交网络的权利，于是它放弃了Buzz推出了Google+，它比Facebook更为清晰，也具有较高的私人特征。Google+的“Circle”能够让你将好友分组，与不同的小组可以分享不同的东西。Facebook迅速模仿Google+的做法，让用户可以更方便的发布更新，而且可以选择哪位好友可以看到更新。而Twitter则是对所有人开放，它的特征之一就是它的“list”，它可以让你看到少数人的一些更新。
Springpad。这个新发明的记事本App允许用户可以通过网络或者是移动设备将自己喜爱的东西保存下来，还可以附加上一些有用的信息，比如价格对比和电影的放映时间。Springpad让用户可以与任何人分享这些东西，其默认设置为隐私，这个程序的口号是“与你所信任的人分享，发现”。
Instagram。是的，这是一个允许用户为照片添加喜欢和评论的开放式网络。但是Instagram最基本的功能是照片分享工具，之所以能够受到4000千万用户的追捧，是因为他能够让手机照片看起来很专业。
Pair。Pair可能是社交面最窄的社交网络，它只在两个用户之间建立联系。他就像是一个即时信息一样，能够让两个人之间相互分享照片，视频，还能够合作画画，以及记录两个人的活动时间。
随着社交媒体的大肆发展，这种小范围，自我意识浓重和控制隐私良好的社交网络的出现是不可避免的。根据互联网数据资讯中心Pew的数据显示，2/3的美国人现在都在使用社交平台。而且大多人表示，主要的原因是要与现在的亲戚朋友保持联系。在Pew的受访者中，只有9%的人将结交新的朋友作为使用社交网络的动机。
当然对于市场营销这来说，这可是个挑战。如果人们关掉了社交圈子，那么口头信息传播是很慢的。出于这个原因，2011年，只有Facebook在众多社交网络中，拿到了31亿美元的广告费。因为他采取的是复古的广告形式。Facebook是靠点击率赚钱的。不管用户是否会分享这个广告的内容。Twitter是将市场信息更有组织的融入到用户渠道里去了，根据EMarket的调查显示，去年Twitter的广告收入是1.395亿美元，平均到每个用户身上只有区区的72美分。
事实是，Dunbar是正确的：我们人类需要隐私和亲密的感情，所以我们只想跟有限的人来分享我们的事情。市场营销人员当然也能够获得一些成功，或者是在Facebook上点击“Like”按钮。但是在小的社交圈子里要想维持持久的联系，他们就必须想一些有力措施，比如付费广告。
• Google+ vs. Facebook vs. Twitter. Google (GOOG) finally got social networking right in 2011 when it gave up on Buzz and launched G+, a cleaner version of Facebook with strong privacy features. Google+’s “Circles” allow you to sort friends into groups, and then share different things with different circles of friends. Facebook rapidly copied the idea by making it easier to post updates to select groups of friends. And while Twitter is open to all, one of its popular features is “lists” that allow you to view updates of only handfuls of online contacts.
• Springpad. This innovative note-taking application allows users to save items they like, via Web or mobile, and appends useful information such as price comparisons or movie times. While you can share items with anyone, the default settings are private, and the app’s slogan is “share and discover with the people you trust.”
• Instagram. Yes, this is an open network that allows liking and commenting on photos. But Instagram is primarily a photo broadcasting tool, and its rapid growth to 40 million users is driven by how easy it is to make your mobile snaps look professional.
• Pair. In perhaps the ultimate narrow social network, Pair builds bonds between only two users. It acts as instant messaging on steroids, allowing photo and video sharing, joint sketching, and a recorded timeline of activity between a couple.
This growing interest in smaller, ego-boosting, privacy-controllable networks was inevitable, as social media reached mass scale. Two-thirds of Americans now use social platforms, according to Pew, and the majority say “staying in touch with current friends and family” is the main reason why. Only 9 percent of respondents told Pew, when asked, that “making new friends” was a motivation.
For marketers, of course, this is a challenge. Word-of-mouth messaging spreads more slowly if audiences are closing off digital circles. For this reason, only Facebook has succeeded among social networks in generating significant advertising revenue—$3.1 billion in 2011—because it has resorted to old-school ad formats. Facebook makes money on cost-per-click ads regardless of whether its users share the content with each other. Twitter, which has tried to embed marketing messages more organically in user streams, had only $139.5 million in ad sales last year, according to EMarketer—a paltry 72 cents per user annually.
The truth is, Dunbar was right: We humans need privacy and intimacy, and we have limits on how many people we want to share with. Marketers can certainly shoot for sporadic viral success, or the click here and there of Like buttons inside Facebook. But for sustained communications in a world of smaller social circles, they may have to try something more aggressive—say, paid advertising.
